Hello everyone.

In the next "few" lines I will try to describe the journey that my wife and I did in this october (21st-30th 2015) with a scooter. In addition to travel, we will try to describe our preparations and other things, because this is our first big trip with a scooter which we recently purchased.


part 1 Wildest dreams

In mid-August during the biggest tourist crowds, unbearable heat, work and obligations, after a few s in the shade under the tree on the beach, the question was asked: „Where are we going to travel this winter?“. After a couple of quick-response answers, Sicily and a short visit to Malta comes to our mind. How are we going to get there? Should we try with the bike? Definitely yes!
We never went on long trips with the bike, so everything had to be carefully planned and tested in the next two months. After the first idea of traveling we've put together a couple of plans in the next few days, and chosen plan B will be explained in detail in the sections that follow. We got all the equipment for the ride, two new suits, two new rain suits and two new helmets and other equipment such as, gloves belts and so on. In early September this year we tested the bike on "long-distance" driving by going to Split and back in one day, to get a picture if we can handle it, can we drive more than 500 kilometers in a day, can we ride for couple of days in a row, can we drive without some potential problems (back pain and other things). These so-called tests went without any problem, and I have to mention that on those "preparations" we had a good time. We also bought camera SJ4000 (Chinese Go-pro), for very small amount of money because we wanted to film the whole trip, something in drive lapse and something in short videos. With the camera we acquired an additional camera Nikon S3600 for taking photographs. I have to mention that since my wife and I are employed, all of these "tests" were done on our free time, and of the two months of summer, we did them in only three or four days. Only thing from bike equipment that was still questionable was communication between the driver and passenger and we wanted to have
that while traveling. After a long and exhaustive search on the internet, forums and various articles on motorcycle communication, and the types and models of communication, we decided to go the cheapest way, purchase on E bay cheap "Chinese no name" wired communication with a microphone and earphone to your ear. We were not sure how will it work and we did not want to spend big money to devices that are quite expensive, and perhaps would not have been good. The „no name“ communication proved to be simply desperate. Up to 60 km/h it was acceptable, and above 60 km/h you are better without it, and the earphone after a while begins to pinch in the ear. But the good thing of this communication is called chatterbox. To improve the quality of communication, It came to my mind to buy PC headphones and connect them through this communication. I bought a pair of headphones, slowly and gently disassembled the, re-soldered with quality audio cable, isolated contacts and put them in our helmets (we have Nolan helmets with preparation for communication). The difference was drastic, quality and volume was drastically improved, and so we got a good quality sound up to 110 km/h. Price of this „home made“ communication was around 20 US. The only "drawback" was, that we were connected with audio cable while driving but on the helmets I installed audio pins for easy connection and disconnection. After all that, our equipment was ready and we just need to make a reservation for hotels, buy tickets for ferries and take care of all the other things. In mid October we finalize our job and family obligations, and we were ready to go. We bought tickets for the ferry (return) Dubrovnik - Bari and Pozzallo - Valletta and Pozzallo and book a parking in Pozzallo for the bike. Through the "web", we found restaurants with local food for every place where we went or passed. Detailed planning of the routes we've done over the "web" as well
The equipment that we prepared for the trip:
- Nolan Helmets N44 (drifter I) and 85 (drifter II)
- Suits (motto and rainy) and other equipment (gloves, belts and so on.)
- SJ4000 camera with all accessories (mounts), camera Nikon S3600 and two mobile phones
- Communication with extra batteries and spare audio cables
- Power bank external battery (with two outs) for mobile phones and camera
- Various cables, chargers, SD cards and more.

We took some clothing and spare shoes in case of need, and it all fit in the bike without additional saddlebags. We took a small backpack I've kept on the fuel tank, but we used it only later when we took souvenirs and more. We even for this occasion made (bought) helmet stickers with the image of Eddie.

I have to apologize in case of grammar an other mistakes because English is not my native language. We are new to this so later on we will put some photos
to be continued ...