A Dream Lies Broken
When 'this thing' that has since taken hold of my every waking hour was first conceived about 4 months ago, it seemed at first like a childish escape. One last adventure before i turned 30, which is obviously when you settle down, get married, have children, grow old etc. (Right?) It would only ever be a dream, or watching others travel on TV or the net. Then, as I started reading a bit into it, I started believing…. No - I was becoming convinced - that this was achievable…
My partner, Susie, and I have been planning this trip properly since Christmas, the conversations that have filled our evenings have all been about the journey or at least trip related.
We had a basic budget, and knew roughly how much we could save – I should point out that we’re living in NZ, and are to return home next year – Instead of flying back, the idea was to travel back overland. I have a Triumph Tiger1050, it’ll be 18 months old by the time we were to leave, I know it’s not the ideal bike to take, but it’s MY bike, and after initial concerns about parts and fuel quality, I had all but decided that all would be good, if we traveled mainly on tarmac.
Then, last night it all went wrong. After some (very concise – thanks) info from Keith1954 re carnets, (we’re both traveling one way remember) we decided to sit down and draw up an accurate budget. We’d reckoned that 35k NZD would be enough to complete the journey, and we could just about save (and justify – this is where it gets objective) this amount.
Anyway, it turns out that we need 51 000 NZD between us to make this a reality. Please, somebody tell me this isn’t so. The main costs, apart from eating sleeping & fuel, seems to be the carnet – I reckon the bike will be worth 12000 NZD when we leave – and the cost of flying us and the bike 3 (yes 3) times means it all adds up.
I will attach a spreadsheet detailing the costs for everyone to peruse if you wish..
Please don’t get me wrong, I am of the opinion that anything is achievable as long as you are prepared to work hard or sacrifice elements of your life-style to suit, but I think it’s more than I’m prepared to give, at this point in my life anyway.
So we will travel on the way home, yes, tour Oz, maybe a little of America, maybe not. We could have missed out bits, stopped & worked en-route, left same time the following year, etc but none of these things fit in with our longer-term plans.
Forgive my sombre tones, but i am gutted
Joey
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