Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to the forum, and looking forward to learning more about this global community. While I'm not a rider myself (yet?), I have a background in logistics and have always enjoyed planning trips. I've been asked to plan an epic trip from The Netherlands to Thailand for an American friend.

I am just getting started on figuring out what I need to learn in order to plan this, and he is currently looking at a possible June departure.

The tentative (and VERY rough) itinerary is Netherlands-Germany-Austria-Hungary-Ukraine-Russia-Kazakhstan-China-India-Nepal-India-Balgladesh-Myanmar-Thailand. I'd love to be able to route him through Tajikistan, northern Pakistan and on through to India, but that is out for political and safety reasons. He is planning to go alone at the moment, but would be open to travel partners (temporary or otherwise).

Google maps is only getting me so far, given the state of "roads" for a good chunk of the trip, and I'm hoping to find some tips on this site. I know I'll need to learn about costs involved, distance between fuel stops, converting baggage to hold fuel and water, what to pack (and what not to), visas, international drivers' license, cost of expected (and unexpected) bribes, dos, and don'ts, etc.

I know there is a lot of valuable information in the forums - and I intend to read as much as possible - but I wanted to put this out to the universe and see what might come back.

Besides reading posts here, what else should I be doing?

Cheers,

Lescad