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Route Planning Where to go, when, what are the interesting places to see
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



 
 
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Old 24 Feb 2011
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Boulder, CO, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemuli View Post
One question from my side:
Quite many seem to travel from west to east. Why this way? Why not from east to west?
Is it due to climate (easier to avoid rainy seasons) or something else?
Fantastic question, it made me think a lot about my route decisions.

Climate is a unquestionably big factor in deciding where I go when, but it doesn't really decide which direction I travel. Just as easy to make plans in the reverse direction, especially with the type of wandering route I am planning.

The reasoning I used is somewhat like this:
  • Several destinations in Europe are listed equally as my #1 destination on this trip, but it is a very expensive place to travel. I thus do not want to start there so that I can practice traveling frugally before arriving.
  • Asia (southern portions) and Africa (except Egypt for the Pyramids) hold the least interest to me. I thus do not want to start with either of those.
  • My starting location is thus South America, Australia, or Russia/Mongolia.
    • Australia & Russia/Mongolia both involve shipping the bike immediately, and I would like to ride away from home.
    • South America involves only a short boat ride around the Darien gap.
  • THUS: Start with South America.
  • I want to arrive in Europe relatively early in the trip, but I need to be there May-September roughly for good weather.
  • I could arrive in Europe directly from South America, but it makes more sense to travel up through Africa for many reasons.
  • THUS: Next up is Africa and Europe
  • From there, I just need to look at the climate to determine where I will go next.
Now, I should note that I consider all of this subject to change.


For example, if shipping directly to Europe from South America would save me $4000 over shipping to South Africa, I would probably do that and adjust my route accordingly.

Or if I decide I absolutely must get to Russia/Mongolia early on, I could go there after South America, and travel west to Europe, then south through Africa.

I have also considered trying to work in Europe for a year working as a Software Engineer so that I can both work up more money and spend more time in an expensive place I am looking forward to visiting. If I do that, it could change everything about my route from then on.

I may even decide to completely ditch all the above and rework my route from scratch.
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