PanAmerica: 4-6 months...

[pecha72]

For me, this isnt going to happen in at least 1 1/2 years, because I´ve just finished a trip from Europe to Australia, so I wont have a budget for this in a long time...

But someone at work today asked: "What is your next trip?" and the thought of the Americas instantly came to my mind.

Is it true that you can actually do it all the way from Alaska to Ushuaia WITHOUT carnet, provided you are willing to go around a couple of countries maybe?

As a Finnish citizen, is there anything regarding paperwork, that might stop me flying to the U.S., and buying a suitable bike there, which I would then prepare for the trip, and start off?

Considering the euro/dollar exchange rate, that would probably make a lot of sense, at least right now. Used bikes in the U.S. seem to cost less than half of what they cost here. And I would probably buy something thats easy to get spare parts everywhere, and not too old anyway. Africa Twin seems to be hard to find in the US... how about a Suzuki Vstrom 650?

Heard lots of stories about the big cities of South America like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo... they really that bad, or you always hear only the bad ones, never the good? I´d probably take my girlfriend with me (she was with me, we rode 2-up to Australia) so her security is something I always worry about. Previously I´ve come along fine in Johannesburg and some other places guidebooks rate as dodgy, but I understood that if there are even more dangerous cities in the world, they are probably in S.America.

We didnt carry a tent through Asia, but might do that in the U.S., to keep the costs down a bit. Can you compare accommodation options in South and Central America to Asia (where there was cheap options available almost everywhere)?

How about the northern and southern ends of the journey, about what time of the year do they normally get too cold to ride? Im from a cold country, so Im used to riding at +5 Celsius, but when it gets to zero, I probably wouldnt plan on doing long days of riding. Any high mountain passes in the colder regions, that might get snowed in?

I know that budget on such a long trip largely depends on your spending habits, but those who have ridden this route, may I ask how much you estimated per day for different regions, and did you manage to keep to this budget?

If you had 6 months, what would be the best time to start from the north (I would guess it would be around April) ?

A tour operator from Finland is doing this with a group at the end of August.. and they only have like 72 days to complete it. Hopefully Im able to do this sometime, and with a bit more time to spend.