INDEX (newer on top)

⚫SOLO travel RECORD times & EXPLOSIVE tires (video)
⚫Buenos Aires (+video)
⚫Carretera Austral (Chile)
⚫Parks, rivers, lakes and a sudden u-turn (Argentina)
⚫The most surreal day of our journey! (Chile)
⚫Ruta 40: Going south again (Argentina)
⚫This is how much it cost us to travel around South America for 1024 days
⚫Uruguay (+video)

So I think I finally found the time I needed to start sharing my story in the HUBB too.

I've been an Horizons Unlimited member for 8 years now (wow time flies!) reading, being inspired and getting all those info I was searching for my travels in Europe, Africa and South America!

To be honest I once starter a thread while I was planning the trip but then I gradually stopped sharing for some reason.

I think the quarantine in Argentina (the lockdown continues here) will give me the opportunity to make a comeback

So here's the story, at last:





- The route -





- Our story -

We are Alexandra & Stergios, a couple from Greece traveling around the world on a Vespa PX200. Our story started in Greece in 2013. At that time, we didn’t know each other. Different reasons made us leave the country, but we had something in common: the socioeconomic crisis which affected our lives and suffocated us.
We first met by coincidence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and soon after that, we started a “test-ride” two-up in South Africa and Lesotho. The Vespa made it and we discovered that we make a good team. So from that day back in December 2014, we’ve been traveling together. Our RTW journey is a lifetime project and we promised not to stop until we’ve been to every corner of our planet.



- The vehicle -

Our vehicle is a 2003 Vespa PX200, 2 stroke, one cylinder, air-cooled, 200 cc’s. Simple engine, simple to maintain, simple to fix.


Kitsos our Vespa




- The plan -

The plan is as simple as it gets: A journey all around the world!

In October 2013, I (Stergios) started from Greece, traveled to Italy and from there to Morocco (by boat). From November 2013 to January 2015, I crossed through Africa going to Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho.

After a “test ride”, 2-up with Alexandra through South Africa and Lesotho, we continued together to South America. From January 2015 to March 2016, we traveled in South America. We crossed through Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Brazil.

Our next goal is to continue traveling in South America and in Central America and from there, to the United States and Canada. Alaska will be the finishing point for the trip in the Americas. Asia and Oceania will be next and maybe one day we’ll be back to Africa, from where everything started…



- Budget / Funding the trip -

When I decided to leave Greece and set off for my RTW trip, I was almost broke. So what I did was to work for one summer as a seasonal waiter in a Greek island and sell everything that could be sold from the stuff I had (my bicycle, my other motorbike, my extra motorcycle gear, some clothes, my mobile phone etc). I was lucky because when I started counting my budget, I found out that a scholarship I had been granted from my school was finally credited to my account, as well as the severance pay owed to me when I was made redundant. So, I had managed to start my trip with less than 10,000€ in my pocket. When Alexandra joined me, her main source of funding the trip was the savings she had for her PhD.

During the preparation of the trip, some people (through the businesses they run) who liked my idea of traveling RTW, supported it by providing me with useful gear: spare-parts, cameras, helmet. More supporters came along the way, who provided us with camping gear and a tent when ours had started to fall apart. Moreover, we should mention the donations made by people who appreciated the work on our blog and our videos, or simply the concept of our trip. The part of our trip that started on the 2nd of January 2019 is also self-funded – we worked hard the last two years – but we also have the support of some brands/companies that provided us with new gear and of course, all our friends from around the world who support us by making donations.

Initially, the only “work” on the road was to update the blog with new stories and publish videos and pictures on our social media accounts. Gradually, we realized that traveling, shooting videos / pictures and writing are the things we love most, so we decided to dedicate ourselves to all the above and take things more seriously. Being able to make a living from what you love is for us one of the most important things to be happy. It is a difficult road we chose, but hasn’t every road its difficulties?



- These are some of our favourite photos -​


Traditional means of transport (Sahara Desert, Morocco)





Flat tyre on the road to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)





Petrol station (Burkina Faso)





Lome Beach (Togo)





“Love attack” on the road to Abuja (Nigeria)





In the jungle of Cameroon





Children looking at the Vespa (Congo)





Traveling by “taxi” (Congo)





On the highway from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi (D.R.Congo)





On the highway from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi (D.R.Congo)





River-crossing with “Congolese Lines” (D.R.Congo)





Locals helping push the Vespa (D.R.Congo)





Morning coffee (Namibia)





Enjoying the view (Lesotho)





5,000 meters above sea level (Bolivia)





View to the volcanoes (Bolivia)





Lost in Uyuni Salar (Bolivia)





Million star hotel (Uyuni Salar, Bolivia)





Making new friends (Peru)





Freezing cold, strong winds and lack of oxygen (Andes, Peru)





Mano del Desierto (Atacama Desert, Chile)





Family photo (Chile)





Drinking and chatting in the woods (Chile)





Peaceful moments in Patagonia (Chile)




Carretera Austral (Chile)





Mount Fitz Roy (Argentina)





Ruta 40 (Argentina)




- And some of our favourite videos -

























So these are just few of our best moments on the road.
I will start unfolding our story asap and maybe add an index in the begging so that you can read the thread easier.

Cheers,
Stergios

__________________
RTW 2-up on a Vespa scooter