This post will help me prepare for my next trip - to the “Stans” - by pointing out things to change and things NOT to change..

Let’s start with the positives:

First, my 2005 GS, which ran like a champ. No issues and it even survived a crash no worse for wear. It uses 1l of oil every 6,000 miles. It finished the 11,000 mile trip trip with a little more than 40,000 miles on the odometer.

Second, my mindset. I was positive, kept my sense of humour, and except for a few mild cases of boredom, held up well. I rode 3 months alone and two weeks with my wife, so it was a pretty good mental test. I think it would have been nice to have ridden with other bikes for some of the trip, but this has downsides - in particular having to ride at someone else’s pace.

Third, using phone-based GPS instead of the Garmin I started out with. True it meant buying multiple SIM cards. But they were cheap and easily found. With the phone, I had much more precise navigation - particularly when finding addresses in cities. I also had integration with route planning software such as Google Maps and maps.me.

Fourth, the Sony A6000 performed brilliantly. Excellent image quality in a very compact package. It represents great value compared to the 6400 and 6500. I edited on my 2016 iPad Pro with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, both of which are powerful and easy to use.

Finally, a combination of Travelocity, AirBnB, Booking.com made finding accommodation a painless task, even when booking with less than 24 hours till arrival.

And now, the negatives

I pre-booked too much of my accommodation and did not leave enough time for “exploring”. I could also have used 50-50 road/off road tires, which would have allowed me to be more adventurous in my route selection. Heidenau K60 Scouts will be used when my journey resumes.

I spent too much time in big cities. This is a double edged sword, as I got a lot of good street photography opportunities. But I could have been more balanced in searching out great scenery off the beaten track.

I could have sought out more local contact, by being more outgoing. Now, I met a lot of people and did make some good new friends, but I will only give myself a 6/10 here.

I did not exercise or read enough during the trip. Both had been my pre trip goals. I had enough time, but did too much web browsing instead. This is down to a lack of mental discipline. I lost 2lb in weight, probably down to eating nothing between meals, and (unfortunately) not drinking too much alcohol. I did manage to eat healthily, with lots of fruit and vegetables. I had a slight cold for two days, and a slightly queasy stomach for three - not bad!

That’s it for what went well and less well. I hope this was useful!