Hey guys,

So if all goes according to plan I will be able to travel for about 15-16 months starting in July/ August 2015. Long time to plan, and things might change overnight in some countries as we've seen in the last few years but unless a country has turned into being an active war zone I would like to more or less stick to the planned route.

I travelled for 29 months around South and Central America (first 23.000 km on my xt 550, then another 49.000km on a pulsar 180 cc I picked up over there), starting in Patagonia and made my way all the way up to Mexico.

One thing I learned from that trip is that plans are made to be changed.... !

Anyway... I have two routes laid out and I feel like i should have enough time to cover the distance and get myself to NZ by the end. Germany is the start because even tho I don't live there anymore I was born there and the end will be in New Zealand since I went to school there and always wanted to go back at some point.

Route:

Germany -> France -> Italy -> Greece -> Egypt -> Sudan -> Ethiopia -> Kenya/(Uganda) (-> Madagascar) -> India/(Nepal) -> Bangladesh -> Myanmar -> Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/(China)-> Malaysia -> Indonesia/(Philippines)/(Papua New Guinea) -> Australia -> New Zealand.

Alternative Route:

Germany -> France -> Italy -> Greece -> Turkey -> Iran -> Pakistan -> India/(Nepal) -> Bangladesh -> Myanmar -> Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/(China)-> Malaysia -> Indonesia/(Philippines)/(Papua New Guinea) -> Australia -> New Zealand.


The bracketed ones are countries I would love to go to but will see ... Depends on time/ money /etc.

I would really prefer to go by the first route but it involves shipping/ flying the bike several times more than it already is and since I think I will need the money for the last couple of months I would drive the alternative route if it meant that I would save a lot of money and time.

But the again I met a bunch of bikers who'd been to Iran and said it was pretty much the highlight of their trip.

I would appreciate any comments really, especially those from people who've already been there and can give me any help concerning bike travel, customs, what I need/ don't need and where to go! Is there any countries on my list where I would have trouble entering with a bike? I'd love to go to china but I think that's probably not gonna work. Maybe tho I can leave the bike in one of the nearby countries for a few weeks and head over the border anyway.

The picture is of the panamericana, about 500km south of Lima.

Mark

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