Need suggestion/advices 3years RTW. Dep. July from Belgium
 

Hi guys,

I finally get the bike and budget ready.
Now I am at paper work and general route planning.
For now, I know that I will be leaving in July.
It will a 3 years minimum RTW trip on my motorcycle, so I have time.

If leaving from Belgium in July, what are my options ?
- option 1 : if I do, let’s say’ nord kap in Norway , then south to st pietersburg’ i will be there in septembre. Is Mongolia, tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan etc to India a good idea ? ( bad season I think)
- option 2: drive south trough Russia to Iran
- option 3: soit trough balkans’ then Turkey’ Iran etc
- Option 4: Africa trough east costa ( Morocco etc)
- option 5: Western Africa , but what’s the easiest way to reach Egypt from europ by motorcycle ?

Asia is a must go for me, but driving there after septembre is maybe not a good idea.
If I start by Africa, reaching the west side seems complicated.

Any advice is more than Welkom

Cheers,
Yassine

Hi Yassine,


Cool plans! I'm sure you'll have a great experience whichever route you choose.



Where exactly in Belgium are you from? I have experience with a number of those regions and the related paperwork. I'd be happy to meet up for a chat to share insights.
I live in Leuven.

HI !

I am from Rixensart.

yes we can meet up whenever you are available with pleasure !

regards,
Yassine

No advice from me, just my thoughts if I was in your situation.

July is too late in the season to head east, too much of a rush for the weather window in the Stans/Mongolia.
Nordkapp then down through Africa - for me I would want to start somewhere a little easier than Africa.
On a RWT I would want to do the Americas at some stage so that’s where I would start.
Ship RoRo Germany to Halifax. There’s time enough to do the Dalton then head south - so much to see and do. Head into Mexico Dec/Jan then slowly follow the dry season south.
Ship from Argentina to South Africa and up the east side - ferry to Saudi (I would avoid Egypt) in the early spring, then you’ve got the whole summer to head east.

Strangely, I am in a similar situation only leaving in September. We’re shipping into New York and riding the Appellations before going across and down into Mexico in Dec/Jan.

Maybe see you on the road
bier

First of all, most of your route options are currently impossible. Why not go the other way RTW and give Asia a chance to open up again?

Comments in bold below

RTW
 

Hi Yassine,

had to smile when reading your question about route planning. As on my RTW (1999-2005) I went from Germany first to the North Cape and then to St. Petersburg before crossing into Asia in Istanbul and I had also intended to travel for three years ;-)

But as others have pointed out above, the world is a bit different now and border crossings and visas are not that easy anymore.

eurasiaoverland has written a very good answer, only one word in his answer I would change: impossible to very difficult or very hard.

On my RTW I did Africa as the last continent. Africa was the most difficult, and as it was the last, my budget was really limited and doing Africa on a very limited budget is not making things easier/better. To enjoy Africa you need to be 'fresh' and 'curious' and not travel weary. So I would suggest to do Africa first. But as been said above, some of the borders might be very difficult to cross at the moment and maybe a few years down the road they will become easier.

The most difficult day of your journey will be the one leaving home.

Enjoy your planning

mika :mchappy:

Hi guys,

So if I understand your advices well’ i should stay in Europe hahahaahah
Just joking.

More seriously, my options are then :
1- Africa first’ so I go south to Morocco ( west Africa doh ) and then follow the Easter cost to the South Africa … then 2 options, north via Eastern Africa or crossing to South America… but maybe the season will not be the best at that time as I am leaving Europe in the summer.

2- shipping to America in the summer, but north or south America ? In South America in septembre The weather start to be good right ?

And I leave Asia and Mesopotamia region for the last part in these 2 cases.

Thank for your advices guys !! I am but lost.. I never planned a trip that long hahah:Beach:

Short question :
If leaving in end summer, doing a south to North America is nit better than the opposite ?

Ps: RoRo in Germany ?

Comments below:

I think you need to do some general research into the geo-political situation in the world. Keep reading on this site (it's not just a forum).

I think most things have already been said :innocent:

It seems that at the moment you could travel to the middle east - even though Pakistan-India is still closed and even the ferry Iran-VAE does not seem to take tourists.

Many people are travelling South Africa and neighboring countries which could work for you, too. If you start organising now you could have your bike in Cape Town before you arrive. Alternatively of course, just visit the Americas first. Not everything is open and easy yet (no regular ships to pass the Darién Gap at the moment, for example) but most seems to be possible.

Cheers,
Benjamin

South America is immense - so there's no way to generalise. However, I will try to do that to give an idea.

Patagonia in winter can be very cold, and it's always windy. I've seen snow in TdF in November (early summer).

Brazil alone is huge, the northeast coast can be wet in and the whole east coast can experience heavy rains in summer.

In the northern Andes the "rainy seasons" are around the equinoxes - it's rarely for long periods - usually short heavy downpours.

The clue to the weather in the rain forest is in the name...

The other key factor is altitude - you can be near the equator, but at 5000m AMSL it can be well below freezing point.

www.climatestotravel.com is good for details

Note: I am referring to summer and winter in the sense used in Europe and North America. In much of SA "winter" means the rainy seasons.

My trip will be to ship into New York in September and ride the MABDR south. I am reliably informed that late September, early October is the best time to ride through the Appalachians - warm temperatures with no humidity or bugs. We will be in Texas by November which, in general, has good winter weather. My research leads me to believe that it is easy to follow the dry season south from Mexico in December.
I’ve done a lot of the western side of the US and will hopefully return at some stage to do Alaska but it’s not in my top 3 destinations so we’ll have to see.

There is a RoRo service from Germany to various points on the eastern seaboard - Olaf of ‘in-time’ is on this forum or just Google.

Hope this helps

Thanks guys for all your inputs !!