Hi everyone,

my girlfriend and me are going to enjoy a bit of a break from work-life and are currently trying to figure out which routes to take. Our trip will be starting in August (not too far away) and we have around eight months to go. I'm not trying to have a very detailed plan or itinerary, for me it's part of the whole adventure to just let go! Some tips on where to go and what to see would be great though, especially some off the beaten track advice!

We'll be travelling 2-up on my F8GS. In between rides we also want get some trekking & outdoor acitivities in. We're not in a hurry, we don't want to break records. On my trip to South America we covered around 16-17k miles in 6 months, that would be our max. pace.

I'd appreciate your input and feedback around the following general ideas:

1. Ship our bike to Halifax, go across Canada and then head South along the Westcoast towards Central & South America.

2. Ship our bike to Tacoma, go North through British Columbia to Alaska, turn around and then head South along the Westcoast towards Central & South America.

3. Ship our bike to Tacoma, maybe spend some time in British Columbia but start heading South quickly.

Are we too late in the year for the first two or should we be fine for either one of those? Is there good reasons to prefer one of the other?

In Central America we would like to spend maybe a month or so to go diving and surfing and generally take some time to relax and hang out.

We would like to make it as far as Buenos Aires to meet some friends and ship our bike back to Germany. It seems like Trans-Canada could be done in 1.5 months, Tacoma to Panama City 1.5 months, then Cartagena to Buenos Aires another 1.5 months, based on rough distance (Google Maps) only, equalling maybe 150 miles a day, everyday. So if I plan with 6 months (some buffer for changes) it actually seems doable? Any of the above to muuch of a stretch?

Thanks a lot for your thoughts,
Thomas