i tell you lot what. just reading this thread has really got me going again. I`m starting to spin a plastic globe, that sits on a blokes desk, on the 4th floor of my glorious work place, watching for a way east. People are saying "oh here he goes again. the escapist, cant handle the real world. substituting love and commitment "... maybe thats true. I say a happy happy , "oh well !" to that !... the only thing that reminds me of the real world is the sad looking infected , lonely tree outside my window.

I agree with ya Ted about 1st world criminality. It seems so high up that we mostly dont see it. We have to look for it. The 3rd world threat to a traveller is generally in ya face, so that scares us. But like you i didnt see it when i was there. it was all just smiles and interest help and loads of laughs.

I wonder if the pinnacle, the epiphany, the golden moment is there. we just have to keep building to find it. So more trips have to be !....... Going away indefinatly doesnt seem like its just for other people , to me now....So the loose plan now is, to get the flat done up sparkling, so as to rent it out. graft for a couple of years, growing blisters on my dreams. (heard that the other day , not sure where, and like it - had to use it !) and just go. surely its that simple..

in the mean time i have listened to what you lot have said and have stuffed myself with an interest for my non working hours. A shiny new camera. gonna wander the streets and capture stuff. fulfill my artistic pretentions ! and take that gommy expression off my face... mind you i was reading yesterday about photo restrictions. like you have to ask permission and pay for taking a photo of major landmarks here in london, unless you can prove you are taking the shot for personal reasons that are not a desire to blow it up. Or not for business reasons. Let them stop me ! pahhhh !

I`m lucky really, to have come back into a job, even though its a low payer. I see that there are alot of riders who have come back to no job and even no place to permanently live. Good luck you lot. its probably just round the corner !

what you up to then people ? whats the plans ? who wants s by the thames then ?

Dude... You are my mirror image from down south !!!!!!

I couldnt put how I feel into any better words than that...People say and think the same about me..

"When are you going to get realistic"

"When are you going to settle down"

"Shouldnt you be putting money away for a pension instead of "wasting" it on bikes and travel"

"When are you going to stop wasting your life"

"You're 30 now Ted, don't you think you should grow up and get a career"

"You're going to die lonely and broke"




Just a few quotes of the week

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Fine ,let them think that .
Just be very glad that you aren't one of them .
We need the masses to be that way ,so that we can be the way we want to be .

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

What have you done when you got back ????

Bought an F650 Dakar. No seriously.

Left uni, started travelling, and never stopped. Tell you what. People stopped talking to me like they are to you. Has to do with age. The older you get and still remain the same free spirit, they turn to accept the alternative lifestyle for a legitimite lifestyle.

But now I'm 12 years older than when I started and I'm more with Dick. Travelling is not as exiting as it once was as everything become routine if you do it long enough. But that's where motorcycling while travelling is so amazing, because you do it for the biking and seeing scenery, and less about seeing every single Church. Three months is about long enough. Just have to justify the cost of getting the bike there. But a 5 week trip to Europe cost as much as a 3 month bike trip to keep it into perspective.

As for living a sustainable lifestyle, you guys in the UK are limited as was I. So I moved to Aus where you can do adventure rides all year long.
It's all about the lifestyle.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

well...I am sitting here just on the outskirts of the Gobi desert in Mongolia (on a very bad internet connection ) and came across this thread.
Simon and I started our trip almost 7 years ago and the plan was for 2 years. 2 years came and we felt like we had only jsut begun - we couldnt stop. so here we are 7 years later and still loving almost every minute of it.
there are good and bad times..and being ill on the road is no fun at all.
However, after all this time we still get those same questions.
Our reply - this is now our 'normal' life. How do we survive financially we are often asked. We do what we can when and where we can...write for mags, sell photos, give presentations. it all helps.
The luckiest thing about our trip is that we (Simon my husband of 14 years) do it together...so as sweet and sickly as it sounds...wherever he is is where my home is and vica versa!

if you can travel with a loved one and they love the travel just as much as you - you are in trouble - you may never stop!

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Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com

I've been home for a month.

I'm voluntarily unemployed.

I'm living with my girlfriend's parents.

Rock and Roll.

Birdy

Ps.
I've also got a plane ticket to return to South Africa, where I am going to be doing any work I can so as not to be in England.

Pps
I am also currently writing a book about our travels in Africa.

ıts always nice to be back home ...

great to sit on my own toilet again ...

its always nice to see friends for 6-8 months ....

great to plan the other trip ....

its always nice to "on the road" ...

great to reach the destination point ...

its always nice to be back home ...

AND .... Wonderful to live this "boring" life ........ ....

Future ??? .... i think nothing will change...i will again travel ... maybe with different vehicles ..... maybe closer destinations ... maybe for shorter periods ...but eventually will be on the road ...whenever and however possible ....

Got back from trip in 2006 - cut short due to injury

Old job available so back I went......
[nice your back]

Rented a house......
[why don't you buy]

Bought a 4x4 to travel in as unable to ride bikes for while.....
[when are you going to settle down?]

Did the 4x4 up......
[stop wasting money and think of the future]

Couple of short trips to Europe but too expensive....
[you need a reality check]

Missed the bikes.......sold the 4x4
[stop wasting money, she'll grow out of it]

Applied for NZ visa (never been but looks nice!)
[never happy with what I have]

Granted permenent residency.... moving May 2010

Just a summary of whats been going on for me [and my parents comments]

Bikers welcome to stay with us!

Becky

Well our trip is jsut ending (the cars still on the ship), and we have decided to emigrate to Australia, where I have easily found a job (one application and phone interval all from Goa). The main motivation is the fact that we brewed a baby due in May.

But keeping the landie, and still planning more small scale adventures, and at least one massive one, but most probably by boat rather than land .....

For us there are loads of good things to occupy us, most not travel related. But amongst them all travel is the one that makes you dream the most!

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

L�gion �trang�re - Site officiel

but forget how old you are and find summit else!

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We've been back after Cape Town to Uk for around 6 mths. My husband is ... not good about it. He is really disillusioned and grey. The kids LOVE been back in 'normal' school, same place for more than a few days/weeks. Me? Well - I like it, I think! We've moved to a new area.

There's a lot I miss, warm weather, friendly people, outdoors - but it's just too transitory for me on a long-term basis. I want to get stuck into 'living' but that's not easy either and will just take time.

I think short breaks is a good tip. Although that runs opposite to most over landers' experience who come back and have to rough it in this country for a while until they get more financially and/or socially stable. Maybe that is what makes it particularly hard?

A tricky question that Ted. I've spent the last four or so years grappling with that one and can only summarise as thus:

• Got back after a year on the road in the Americas and spent about a month in the shed drinking tea, listening to Test Match Special and applying for jobs.
  
• Found myself working back in Cambridge, discovering inane things such as 'Mitcham's Corner' and 'The Queen Elizabeth Bridge' which had been flushed from my memory.
  
• Put in about as many miles commuting to work in my second year back as I had rode whilst away!?!?
  
• Became VERY bored with riding in the UK (maybe due the the motorway miles above). That said, I think I'll take a little trip to Morocco this spring.
  
• Carried on living in Brighton and met a good bunch of folks through another Britonian I bumped into in Durrango.
  
• Learnt how to sail and realised it affords the freedom crowded Northern European roads don't.

That's it!

BTW MikeS, I may be up in your neck of the woods again this Summer. If you're about I'll drop for a pint.

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Two wheels good,
Four wheels bad (unless it's two bikes).

http://www.markincyberspace.com

Good stuff Marky. let me know when you're up this way!

Barely ridden here either since I got back, a lot to do with boring motorways and grey skys, but mainly because the old b@stard doesn't start very often

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Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

Maybe you need to get a job / start a business as a motorcycle tour guide?

we were famous for the first few weeks when we were back in Singapore. Suddenly, Singaporeans on the road became very friendly when they saw my bike and putting thumbs up to me.

Managed a lot of interviews, presentation and media coverage. also rejected a handful of them as they were using us to help them make money.

then, work came.

the work kept us tired and time filled. We did not have time to think about the trip that we went thro from 2008-2010.

slowly, the society forgets about this crazy couple that went around the world on the motorbike.

we found our life aimless. joining the society being in the rat race.

we want to make changes in our environment, like applying what we experience in other country in Singapore, to help and improve productivity.

We want to help and motivate fellow country man to travel as we did.

We want to see our friends and family again.

but...

what are all these for?
we can't be in full control of our life.
when we tell others about our trip, they do not understand why we did it.
Their crucial question was: how much did we spend for the trip.
They didn't ask who was the nicest person we met.

back here were we were living, in an Asian society, in a busy city of Singapore, my wife and i have to make some money first then we can move on for the next trip or another environment.

a truck driver earns about SGD$1500 per month. (US$1172)
a fresh diploma holder earns about SGD$1800 per month. (US$1406)
a fresh uni grad earns about SGD$2000 per month. (US$1562)

my last salary drawn from my previous boss was SGD$1850.
a new car, Volkswagon Golf cost more than SGD$100,000. (US$78130)
a 3 room government funded apartment cost SGD$300,000. (US$234390)

we need to join the rat race to save up and go for the trip again.