Need objective advise on my around the world journey 2020
 

Hey guys,

New to the website, I was recommended here from a thread I started on adventure rider. https://advrider.com/f/threads/ditch...world.1399037/

So a short synopsis is I am currently 34, I was medically retired from the Army in 2013 after I spent 17 months in a treatment facility from injuries I received in Afghanistan. It took until now 2019 for me to condition my mind psychologically to manage and rebuild my life to start the serious preparations for my around the world journey. I want to live in each country for a few days or up to a week that I travel to, not just ride through. I am doing this solo and I have limited social dynamics back home. My current tentative start date is August 2020.

Here is a fast synopsis of the current macro overview:

1. Bike - I just bought a 2019 DR 650, picture attached. (I picked this instead of my current GS 1200)
2. Outfit the bike - I have a whole thread listed above on the details
3. Get all the required insurances (Medical, security, etc) - I can purchase these the day prior if I wanted
4. Get my travel shots - Not done yet, will do 6 months out
5. Get out of the lease for the house I am renting - This is done and I sold a lot of my possessions and the rest is going into a storage unit I already now rent.
6. Acquire miscellaneous gear left - Gopro, decent camera, and waterproof riding gear
7. Ship the bike and head over - I got the quote already and I can fly for free overseas as retired military on a military space A flight.


Here is where I need objective advice:

Currently, I will not be able to financially start outfitting my bike until April, which at that point moving forward my finances are completely cleared up from my retirement and I am good to go indefinitely, but it is a few months before when I originally wanted to leave in June. To financially outfit my bike, ship it, buy all the insurances, and head out it would be August possibly until I fly over.

The issue to me is I was going to ship the bike to Spain and ferry it into Morrocco and ride through northern Africa, hop into Jordan, and come back to northern Africa to have my bike shipped into Greece where I could go all through Europe and eventually make my way to Asia. I figure if I start my journey in August, it might be getting cold by the time I get into Europe. Ideally, I'd love to travel through colder climate regions spring-summer time and travel in more traditionally hotter climates in the wintertime, giving me the most ideal riding weather year-round.

So my question is if I leave in August - September and I want to stay in a mild to warmer climate year-round riding, any recommendations on a different starting entry point/path globally for my journey to where I could ride into the fall without being in 30-degree weather within a few months?

Hello vagabond2020 and welcome to the forum,
It sounds like you have given this some thought but my first observation is that your proposed route across North Africa is not currently possible starting with Algeria being off limits as is Libya further long. It is possible to head down through West Africa from Morocco all the way to South Africa where you can turn around and head back up the east side if you have a mind to.
I suggest that you start by reading a few of the ride reports and see what routes other people have taken and during what seasons they were there, you will find yourself spending more than a few days or a couple of weeks in some countries.
Hopefully others will be along to make suggestions as to which route you might think about, the other thing to research when planning your route is which countries don't allow US passport holders, Iran and Sudan both make it difficult which is a shame as they are great places to visit but there is usually an alternative.

Mark,

Thank you for the response. I just looked at a map of Africa and you are right about the physical barrier to northeastern Africa, are they restricted from the State Department as a security risk? I have put a ton of time into research for most facets of my planning process and I feel fairly comfortable with most of it. I just bought the DR 650 instead of taking my GS 1200 and I already have the mechanical aspects down and what logistically, for the most part, needs to happen. There is a mass amount of information out there, I am new to this site, the route planning and my starting point is the only really vague part to me at this point.

I agree on the point on what countries don't take U.S passports. I want to have a path I can take around the world that will give me a good flow to go from country to country. I agree too that I will most likely be spending more time in some countries than others. I will check out the ride reports as you suggested.

Hi Vagabond

Is South America on your itinerary? Not done it myself (yet) but have done the east route up from South Africa (which is great) so wondering if going down through South America, then ship to South Africa and ride up to Europe from there might be an alternative?

Only did South Africa to Ethiopia so missed the Sahara but weather was all good (I did start June to early August)

Just a thought.

You bring up a good point and I am in FL, that would making shipping pretty easy too. I have a friend that is in the Suriname military and I could use that as a starting point in South America. I might want to avoid Venuzula though because it is in disarray right now.

I need to find a trip report or someone who has visited there recently to get some good information on that. You are right though I could ship from South America into South Africa and make my way up to northern Africa and from there Europe.

Here you go:
https://www.avvida.co.uk/

Hello


First have a look at klimamaps of the world, then you can figure out when is the best time to travel by motorbike in each country.
Depending on your "travelspeed" (different by every traveller) you can plan a basic route around the world.
Plan enough time for shipping between continents depending on your budget.
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/get-ready/shipping

Next is to check if you can travel that route or if some countries are a problem for you (passport,visa) or your bike (CDP,no Independent motorvehicules possible, only guided.like Thailand, China, Myanmar, check here on the hubb for the latest info).
Once you have that there is the problem when you need a visa, can you get it on the road or only in your homecountry. Many of those visa are only valid a short time before entry.


For your current plan to ship to europe in August, I would say start in nothern europe, then travel south and head into Marokko and spend the "winter" in africa (but I don't know where and when to go there from marokko).
Alternativ, start in August at home and head into mexico and central america, then spend the "winter" in south america.


For visa, south america is pretty easy, central asia is a nightmare, southeast asia and australia/NZ O.K. ,don't know about africa.


have fun planning


sushi

I'm going to suggest that you are trying to start with too narrow a focus. There are many flaws with what you've written so far in this thread--for example, you cannot cross the Morocco/Algeria border, although you can take a ferry from Europe into Algeria easily enough; Libya is currently unsafe no matter who you are or how you're traveling; avoiding Venezuela as an American is not a choice, since they won't let you in; etc.

There are similar limitations scattered throughout the world. Trying to plan at this level without enough background understanding will just lead you into a variety of dead ends. We are privileged as more or less financially secure Westerners, but the world doesn't actually revolve around our desires the way it used to in our favorite fantasies.

I'd suggest: start with one or more of Chris Scott's books if you haven't already done so. Hang out on sites like this one--far better than ADVrider unless you intend to stay USA-centric for the rest of your life--just reading whatever comes up to accumulate background information. And use the weather as one of your central organizing principals, since not doing so will make you miserable, perhaps immobilize you completely, and may even get you dead.

Motorcycles and bad weather don't mesh well for most people, and this includes rainy seasons, temperate zone winters, hot seasons in an increasing percentage of the globe, and more. If you're starting in September it would make perfect sense to head south into Latin America--with a few minor cautions about rainy seasons and occasional hurricanes. The whole of Central and South America are accessible without insoluble visa issues, carnets, or even non-Latin-based languages (for the most part).

Exploring southern Europe before heading south into Africa would also make sense, although Africa's not as straightforward as South America for the less-experienced. That would also be a reasonable time to start off in SE Asia or the subcontinent, but it's probably best you be comfortable with psychotic drivers and traffic if you do this.

Not so good heading into autumn: northern (followed by Central) Europe, mountainous areas all the way across to South Asia; much of Russia, China or Mongolia, and more.

I've gone on too long already, probably the result of that extra cup of coffee. I don't know if the above is helpful, but I hope so and wish you well on your journey--the one labeled "life," not just the portions conducted on two wheels. Keep posting up here when you feel inspired to do so!

Mark

I have not travelled RTW so my advice is worth little. However in my planning I have started doing short trips away to work as a shake down on what to take and what I can handle/like etc.

I have found that being middle aged with a knee replacement I need more rest time than I thought.

Is that worth doing if you haven’t already.

Have fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mark,

When I say this I mean it, I really appreciate you taking your personal time to communicate with me. I don't mind the cold hard truth, in fact, I seek it. I can't properly start to build my representation of how to plan a journey like this if I don't know to take my mind down the proper planning path. There is a ton of knowledge out in the world, but it's not about reading everything, it's about reading the right material.

Funny you mention Chris Scotts book, I actually already bought that and I am currently reading it and I have no desires to stay in the U.S, I can do that type of traveling much later in life if I wish, I need to maximize my vitality and youth to do what I am planning currently.

I agree with you on the weather, I did not mention that in my pretext of what I was saying in my original post, but I had pondered upon that.

I agree with you that I have many fundamental flaws in my knowledge on what countries would be off-limits or issues for my motorcycle overland travels, I guess my goal with posting this was to get a macro shotgun blast synopsis of what I am doing with the hope of creating a crude framework from others with experience to create a path for me to start my planning cycle.

So end state for me is to sit down and write out continent by continent and region by region the weather (Temperature and raining seasons) and start my planning cycle around that in combination with open-source security analysis of each country. I think the nucleus of that research will naturally create my path, along with some objective criticism of others on here with more experience than me.

So another question you might know, what is your experience with storing motorcycles overseas? If I get down to a region and the weather in the next region is going to turn, I can fly back to the U.S until the season permits and keep going. I could possibly rent a storage unit or pay a dealership to store it?

Sushi,

Thanks for the objective knowledge. I agree with you and from another post on here from Mark, that I need to do a security assessment in combination with seasons for weather in each region. My path for travels will naturally start to unravel.

From what you and Mark said, it seems South America in the fall might be a good option, I need to sit down and go region by region and do my research on the seasons and off-limit countries.

I found a report (attached) that is from this site: https://southamericabackpacker.com/s...erica-climate/

Per the hiking website, it says "These months have been selected based on a number of factors including, weather, temperatures, transport accessibility, prices, and overall attraction availability. However, with countries so vast in size, all of these things vary hugely from one end to another."

I will research the validity of this chart, but I figure backpacking chart would correlate closely to what I am doing on a motorcycle, being exposed to the elements constantly.

So I went to the state departments website to find the security threats for South America and Africa. South America looks pretty hospitable, besides Venezuela which is obviously restricted.

Africa has a lot more concerns shipping from South America to Africa, it almost seems like it might be better to ship into Morrocco from Brazil and once in Morrocco if I have locations I wish to see specifically in Africa, I can fly into the specific locations and rent a vehicle, I am not sure it's worth riding through high-risk areas alone. From Morroco, I can plan around the seasons to start my way to Europe and beyond.

So the first phase tentatively could be South America starting September 2020, I could arrange the shipment of the bike ahead of time so I can start in September in accordance with the seasons.

So after looking at the map from limited research, I see a possible way to see South America in the following order:

1. Columbia - Ship the bike in here from Florida. I will have to avoid the raining season which is October and November.

2. Ecuador - From Columbia ride in and the weather in September through November is good.

3. Peru - From Ecuador ride in and the weather in September through March is good.

4. Bolivia - From Peru ride in, but raining seasons starts in November, so I want to be there and out prior to that.

5. Chile - From Bolivia ride in and the weather from September through February is good.

6. Argentina - From Chile ride in and the weather is good from September through February.

7. Uruguay - From Argentina ride in and the weather is good from September through December.

8. Paraguay - From Uruguay ride in and the weather is good September through March.

9. Brazil - From Paraguay ride in and the weather is good September through March. I can ship the bike from Brazil to Morocco in northwest Africa.

Hey man, I appreciate the reply, I agree it's about what we can handle, I am taking the same approach, I am going to go 100% while I have the youth and vitality.

Couple of quick points: You’re going way overboard on your security concerns. The US State Department may have access to certain forms of information, but their ground personnel are largely ninnies who are forbidden to leave their precious safe zones. There are better sources of “security” information, including these forums. Note that the above holds true for all levels of skittishness about foreign travel.

Second, I’ve never heard of anyone shipping from Brazil to Morocco. I’d be inclined to doubt that it’s practical—or even possible—whether by air or sea. Of course, I haven’t looked into it and you’re welcome to prove me wrong.

And sure, you can fly into various cities and rent local transport, but that’s going to be unpleasant, inefficient, ridiculously expensive, and wholly unsatisfying. You’ve already said you don’t like cities; now you’re going to see an entire continent by flying into major cities, then trying to find vehicles to rent, making your torturous way out into the countryside(s), then back again? Yuck.

I’m pretty sure you didn’t find this stuff on The HUBB or ADVrider, and I’m positive it’s not based in any Chris Scott book. Guess it’s time for me to step out of this discussion and let it go wherever it goes.

And again: hope that’s helpful.

Mark