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20 Jan 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mattcbf600
Too much? Too little? Or somewhere in between?
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Only you will know and only when you are "there".
On hotel receipts, your supposed to get one of them stamped by an hotel or "gastinitza" (crap spelling?), for your emigration checks. We tried for days to get one. Most places don't seem to know what you are talking about. Took us 4 hours to get into Russia at Kersh. 2 plus to get out.
Horny looking immigration woman in Kirsh though. High boots and all 
On our route through southern Russia, every town had a checkpoint on the road IN and OUT of the town. Documenti!
Keep your PMR radios out of sight if you have them. They wanted 100 Euros as a fine for not having the correct documents (Russian), for them. They settled for $50 USD.
Don't drive at night  and don't be too ambitious with your daily milage... see above
John
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20 Jan 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redboots
Only you will know and only when you are "there".
On hotel receipts, your supposed to get one of them stamped by an hotel or "gastinitza" (crap spelling?), for your emigration checks. We tried for days to get one. Most places don't seem to know what you are talking about. Took us 4 hours to get into Russia at Kersh. 2 plus to get out.
Horny looking immigration woman in Kirsh though. High boots and all
On our route through southern Russia, every town had a checkpoint on the road IN and OUT of the town. Documenti!
Keep your PMR radios out of sight if you have them. They wanted 100 Euros as a fine for not having the correct documents (Russian), for them. They settled for $50 USD.
Don't drive at night and don't be too ambitious with your daily milage... see above
John |
Cool - thanks for the info John - I hope this doesn't count as planning too much   
We've still not looked at exactly what documentation we need, past knowing at some point we need to apply for the Visas, we figured we'd be able to work the rest out from there....
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20 Jan 2008
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Hi Martyn, Matt, Tprata and Bootsy
I have the perfect way to put it that any biker will understand.
Too much planning = Target Fixation and we ALL know how bad that is.
Only thing I have to know about Morocco is read Tims posts, then I read them again make some notes on what I thinks important, and then re read them. Simply the guys amazing and has covered everything that needs to be known about that country, and judging by the reading 95% from personal experience.
Morocco is what I call an at home adventure as it’s literally on our doorstep, and it’s a place where you have to travel for a while before your out of your European comfort zone. I’m starting to think Morocco’s getting to be the Adventure Motorcyclists Thailand, you know kind of a rite of passage on a trial that’s been travelled by so many that the trails now a 4 lane highway with UK Toilets 7/11s and petrol stations every 50 yards.
“dreadful feeling of loneliness I endured” WTF you telling me there wasn’t a single person around that you could share a smile with, not a bar you could go in to to have a drink or eat in.
I spent 3 days in hospital in Thailand with 8 breaks in my Tibia Plateu with just a minimal grasp of the language and I had a blast, being rude with all the nurses even the pug ugly ones, I learnt how to cook Thai style because I hobbled to the kitchen and sat with the old lady cooks, I washed my clothes with the locals I even named the hospitals cat (for catching roaches and mice) My Ma which means NOT DOG which everyone thought was crazy/funny (Ting Ton/Sanook Farang) from the white guy.
I bribed the local police to take me and the bike to Phuket (250km), rented a room in a Thai building, made friends with the neighbours (45 year old bargirls) and again had a blast for the next month, banging Australian/American/Japanese tourists and pretending I’d got my leg shagged by a rogue elephant in Chaing Mia to all the locals.
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']But travel isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be. [/FONT]"That's what makes it an Adventure"
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20 Jan 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mattcbf600
We've still not looked at exactly what documentation we need,
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ICMV & IDP
John
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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster
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20 Jan 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mattcbf600
We've still not looked at exactly what documentation we need....
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Don't remind me...
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21 Jan 2008
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wow!!
hi
thanks all for your input, i think my little spark of a question turned into a bloody great fire!!! but it's all good
i think im going to sit on the fence of the under/over planning think, going to get all the documents sorted and buy a few maps, just to give myself a ruff idea of where im going, but iv'e been backpacking for the last couple of year and i do like the "making it up as i go along" think and getting told about things from people i meet and i am lucky that i dont really have a timescale just a buget, one good thing about being selfemployed!!
but sounds like loas is being a pain in the arse with bikes now, so going to have to keep tabs on that, thanks again all very good debate, cheers
trev
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21 Jan 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juddadredd
“dreadful feeling of loneliness I endured” WTF you telling me there wasn’t a single person around that you could share a smile with, not a bar you could go in to to have a drink or eat in.
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Seriously dude... we're not all gruff, aged adventure bikers here - some people like me are just starting out and discovering what's out there.
I've been married just over five years and never been away from my wife for that long - I'm what you would call a home comforts person, I like to be at home surrounded by my family and friends - I find it very difficult to not have them on tap - it's the biggest challenge for me... had you read a l ittle more of the blog post that quote came from you may have noticed.....
Quote:
It takes work, it takes dedication, and most of all it takes more than 2 weeks before you start to lose the feeling of being ‘away from home’ and instead start to adopt the feeling of ‘on the road’ - I may change all the tags for my articles to ‘away from home’ until todays post; it would be more fitting.
I envy people like Wilfred Thieger and Ted Simon, people who can pick their things up and depart for the wild regions of this planet and enjoy them without the pull of family. Perhaps that’s too strong, Wilfred loved his mother dearly and his letters home show how much he missed her and his brothers. He had no close tie to a wife, a partner, certainly no close tie to anyone other than his aids and comrades on the road.
Wilfred Thieger made his friends on the road, employed them, and took them with him ensuring a constant companion that was there when he needed a crutch. Ted Simon on the other hand, as he says in his own books, has lost several women to his travels; something which he says he doesn’t regret, but still…. perhaps that’s something I’ll never be able to achieve. I must find a way to do this without the heartache of wanting a family who does not wish to travel this way.
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I talked to a lot of people on the road, I shared many mint tea conversations, and learnt a lot about those people - I enjoyed it greatly. But it was still very very new to me and I found the lack of English conversation a problem... I suspect had I planned a little more and spoke a little more French I may well have enjoyed those conversations a little more and it would have tempered the loneliness
John - cheers for that - most helpful.... {runs off to google stuff}
MacP - careful now we don't want to over-plan this thing.
travelingtrev - cheers for the thread matey - most enjoyable!
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21 Jan 2008
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Morning All, (yawns pulls pants from between bum cheeks and scratches balls)
I'm not gruff or macho I'm 5 6" and 10 stone and a young 38 years old (20 year old girlfriend helps) and the newest rider of the bunch, it just made me laugh with all the planning that the loneliness got ya, got me to so don't worry about it too much a couple of emails from a few friends on here and I was feeling much better.
It’s nice to see other people’s views on how they prep for the big off but people confuse the hell out of me with constant planning and readjusting of the little things that don’t and won’t matter once in the seat and riding off to god knows where.
When it come to communication I’ve found smiling like a mad man helps greatly, pointing and waving of hands also helps as does having a bottle of some kind about to share and just like that you’ve not only made a new friend but all the locals come out to look at the crazy English guy on the bike that’s too big for him, and small children with dirty faces and hands that are always in your pockets, will quite gleefully poke you with small sharp sticks.
My best non conversation in the 2 years I sent around SE/Asia was being quite drunk (I don’t normally drink) sitting in a hotel bar in Cambodia watching two gay dogs shagging the hell out of each other, all the guys didn’t speak English but we all know what each other was thinking (bloody lucky dogs).
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21 Feb 2008
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I am planning a ride (Not only planning, I AM RIDING) this May from Ushuaia to Prudhoe Bay. I have to put in lot of time for planning for this trip because of Visa, shipping, and my poor linguistic skills ( no Spanish, and couldn't find a Spanish teacher in Dubai). I am an Indian living in Dubai. Visa requirements for Indians are very difficult and most of South & central American nations don't have any counselor service in Dubai. I am flying between Dubai and Delhi for each visa. You don't belive how much i am spending on Visa and travel related Visa. It is more than my entrire trip spending. I don't know when the I will get all visa and ship my bike from Dubai to Argentina. I hate the planning part  . Look forward to feel the snowy and chilly wind of Ushuaia and meet fellow riders en route. 
Nelson
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