Wow,

NICE plan - congrats my friend, and I thank you for the added inspiration for our endeavours kicking off in 2011.

As a "KIWI" - and I know you have a plan already - but I must recommend you reconsider not stopping in New Zealand. I've travelled a fair bit, ridden extensively in the USA and would say, we have some of the best roads/scenery available. Think of Colorado X 100 = South Island NZ.

We are so far from anywhere, you won't ever be closer!

Two weeks (3 or 4 would be better of course) would do the South Island, and 2 weeks would do the North Island.

If pushed for time, skip the North Island (Where I live) and do the South.

Our hospitality is huge - hop on Kiwi Biker - New Zealand motorcycle community and I'm sure you'll have numerous offers of guidance and accommodation. If I can help in any way - please holler.

Whatever you decide, I salute you and wish you safe travels,

Cheers

Pete

Hi, my kiwi friend!!!

I'm seriuosly considering NZ after listening to Kiri Te Kanawa on Tarakihi.

However, this is THE question:

How do I get there AND then to Australia AND then to South America without being broke a month later?.

Hola from Andorra,

Maybe you want to add one country to your list ?
You have a couch here in my home !

I wish you a very nice rtw trip !

Gracias, cocozz

At least the areas that I´ve got any knowledge of, you generally seem to have it worked out pretty well.... and naturally, the plan is just a plan, that can and will change along the way.

Europe:
I´d still consider doing Scandinavia, especially the Norwegian coast, even though it is a bit expensive, but the vistas are just unreal. It does, however, rain a lot in there, so you´ll need a bit of luck to catch it at a good time... and if your from Spain, it´s not impossibly far to do some time later. If you do go that way, Lapland (north Finland) is also great in the midsummer, when the weather favors you. Norway is definitely more spectacular, but Lapland has its own charm, too. If riding south to Helsinki, I find the eastern part of the country more exciting than the west.

edit. If you go Thessaloniki, dont miss the Meteora monasteries, or the Athos mountain. I might consider going a little bit further south in Greece, too - Santorini was especially great, but requires taking ferries. Might be possible to find a boat to take you to the Turkish coastline from somewhere near Athens, too.

Asia:
China seems to be possible, but needs to be arranged well ahead, and also very expensive, so a short crossing to the KKH makes sense. There´s been some information about Vietnam also being possible just lately, but only if arranged much like China, so a big headache, and lots of money spent. Burma seems nearly impossible.

Going via Iran to Pakistan to India (skipping China & Afghanistan) has been possible, but getting Iranian visa may be a problem for certain passport holders; it´s a great country with wonderful people, and the same goes for Pakistan; you´ll probably monitor the political situation in both countries anyway, before making decisions.

Cambodia, Laos & North Thailand all highly recommended, and do take your time and enjoy. Dont forget to take in some curvy roads around Chiang Mai, too, you just won´t find better roads for motorbikes anywhere!

Indonesia was great, too - we just made a huge mistake, as we only got the 30 day visa-on-arrival. 30 days wont make any justice to that country, it´s one of the most fascinating places I´ve ever been to, and hauntingly beautiful. But going is slow, and when and if the ferries will leave, etc., seemed like anyones guess.

South Africa:
Could be worth doing small detours to Lesotho, Swaziland and maybe also Kruger National Park, it´s very different than Etosha in Namibia, for example. Unfortunately I never had the time to go further north than Inhambane in Mozambique, but the country was fascinating. I´m not sure, if I´d ride all the way through Zimbabwe, I might try to go north to Lake Malawi (havent been there yet, though), and then go to Zambia & Vic Falls. The falls are at their best, when water levels in the Zambezi are high, and it could be worth checking them out from both Zimbabwean and Zambian side, like I did. There´s activities for several days in the falls area. The Okavango Delta could also be worth a detour, if your timing is right. There´s also lots and lots of wonderful places to see further down in Namibia, I´d allow at least a few weeks there.
(But do note, that my info from these southern African countries is from 2001/2002, so this may be partly outdated).

Australia:
The southern part of Western Australia was well worth a visit in my opinion, and everyone kept raving about the Kimberley area (between Darwin & Perth) even though we never had the time to go there (we went east, crossing the Nullarbor)... but that sure would be one hell of a detour, for which you´d need at least several weeks. And parts of the south resembled the Mediterranean to me (the latitudes are similar, too, even though this is southern hemisphere of course), so if your from Spain, I dont know if that´s a good or a bad thing. May be you´ll want to see northern Queensland and other tropical regions more.

Wow, dude, thanks so much for this huge reply.

I've avoided obvious areas because I already know them well (like Scandinavia that you mention).

If I have to be honest, I'm having serious thoughts about Australia, I dunno if, at last, I'll end up going there. It looks way too similar to any European country. I have mixed thoughts about it. Will I get the type of adventure I'm looking for?. Who knows.

China: just five days. My original dream project was through Mongolia and down to Tibet through the east coast of China, but then I started reading. It pisses me off a LOT to have an escort following all my steps just because the government doesn't have self-confidence enough.

Yes, I'm following the political situation in Iran and Pakistan with a lot of worry. I might end up flighting the bike from Kazajstan. In that case, maybe I'll end up jumping to Mongolia and flying form UlanBataar to India, if things get too tense in the middle east.

Africa: I'm still deciding if I shoudh follow east or west coast. I'll keep you posted on that.

Thanks again for your time.

Regarding Australia, I think if you go to its northern regions, you´ll probably feel just as far away from home as you would in equatorial Asia, for example.

Our original plan was to go from Timor Leste to Darwin, but as we were coming from Sumatra and Java, and reached Bali, we heard their president had just been shot, and he narrowly survived, but the situation in East Timor just seemed too unclear, and as I was traveling with my girlfriend I simply felt uneasy taking her there.

So we wimped out - a real shame on the other hand, cos we missed all of Nusa Tenggara then - and freighted by air from Bali to Perth (by Quantas, and VERY expensive, cos went via Melbourne, about 1200 euros just for the freight!!).... once again, if we´d had more time, we could´ve waited for the situation in Dili to calm down, or we could´ve shipped onwards by sea, saving money.

We had the option to go to Darwin, too, but a few Aussies we met in Indonesia, strongly recommended that in March, Perth had better weather. The rainy season had hit the north hard that year, I think. Prices for freight were roughly the same, and for us, Australia was all new, so it didnt really matter. We had only about 5 weeks left, when we arrived in Perth, so could not see but a small part of the country, and couldnt really explore the backroads.

But if you´ve got more time than we had, I think there´s all the adventure you can imagine to be found there. I definitely would not skip Oz - and I´d try to find some time for eastern parts of Indonesia as well. That region is probably not short on adventure, either.

Some places are like Europe but in the north and central parts it's a bit different you can ride for hours and not see a soul and in the dry season (March till December) it is about 25-30C every day blue skies cool nights and a billion stars in the sky and the camping is safe and plentiful

here is a few shots from the Pilbara region where I currently live before I head off on my RTW in August only planned the Americas side of thing so far (go to Burning Man Festival in Nevada then ride somewhere, prob south? )

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Damon

I dreamed a dream that i was a dream, so when i woke i decided to live life like it is a dream

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