Dreaming of a motorcycle trip to distant climes? This section will help you to plan your trip, whether it's to the next state, country or all the way around the world! Start here!
The Achievable Dream 5-part series - the definitive video guide for planning your motorcycle adventure. Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
You could just get on a plane with your credit card and passport and buy or rent everything you need when you get there. That includes the bike, riding gear, etc. etc.
Gear Up! is a 2-DVD set, 6 hours! Which bike is right for me? How do I prepare the bike? What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers! "will save you a fortune!"See the trailer here!
So you've done it - got inspired, planned your trip, packed your stuff and you're on the road! This section is about staying healthy, happy and secure on your motorcycle adventure. And crossing borders, war zones or oceans!
On the Road! is 5.5 hours of the tips and advice you need to cross borders, break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Tire Changing!Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
With an HU blog, you'll get a lot more readers than in some obscure corner of the web, it's all set to go, no setup required, and it's free! Start your Travel Story Blog right now!
800+ HU Communities in over 115 countries! People who want to meet travellers - yes that's YOU - and can provide local assistance, and may be your new best friends!
Make a DifferenceTips on fundraising or donating time and energy to a cause.
After the big trip - Was the trip the best - or worst - thing you ever did?
Resources and Links
Horizons Unlimited Presents!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
"It has me all fired up to go out on my own adventure!" See the trailer here!
Meet people who don't think you're crazy for wanting to ride your bike to South America or across Asia! They will encourage you, share their experiences and advice on how to do it!
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T-shirts Cotton or synth sweat-wicking t-shirts with the cool Horizons Unlimited graphic on the front and a snappy slogan (changing every year) on the back.
Calendars Featuring the 13 winning photos from the Horizons Unlimited annual motorcycle travel photo contest!
World Map Sticker for PanniersShow your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
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Videos - Watch and Learn!
Horizons Unlimited presents!
Achievable Dream The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
"The series is 'free' because the tips and advice will save much more than you spend on buying the DVD's."
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I have no idea how to start a poll; but I propose a poll where one would vote for the best motorcycling country.; and to keep it usefull I propose that members DON'T vote for their own country.
further I would like to add the category of worst country.
Items to consider, Roads, safety (crime), landscape,cost, climate, friendliness of the locals, even quality of local , roll all this up and come up with the best and worst.
__________________
To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.
Some hard decisions to be made on this one, but boiling it all down:
Best - Overall, France (particularly towards the south), but pushing it a close second is Western USA
Honourable mentions go to "West" Africa from the Atlas mountains to Senegal and the Balkans
Worst - SE UK or LA (take your pick), but a tie between parts of Southern Italy, Switzerland / Austria, some bits of East coast USA for third place. All are either too busy or too bureaucratic. The Toyko region of Japan just avoids the drop zone as the "charm" hasn't worn off yet.
Best: New Zealand. I've toured through the Islands twice on rental motorcycles. Terrific riding and roads, great people, beautiful scenery, etc.
Worst: Indonesia. Traffic can be nuts, especially within 50 KM of Jakarta. Some areas are lovely, but overall I found riding there to be more of a headache than anything else.
Location: Back into the hamster wheel again, in Oslo - Norway. Did a 5 year RTW trip/250 k kms, 2014-2019
Posts: 1,496
For the total experience - riding, roads, meeting locals, food, culture, climate, costs etc
1. Indonesia - truly exotic, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Flores - just gorgous. Friendliness of people - I was invited to stay at locals and they didnt allow me to pay for my food. I was warned about local police and corruption. Instead when I asked for direction for hotel/accomodation the police escorted me to hotel and PAID MY ROOM. This happend two times. Beat that!
2. Laos - fantastic bike roads, beautiful people, friendly, hospitable - children are waving at you as you pass villages, serene nature, cheap overall.
3. New Zealand - awesome scenery and roads. Friendly, helpful and hospitable locals. A bit expensive though.
Bhutan, Nepal, Kyrgizstan and Australia are close behind.
Worst - Cambodia. Bad and boring roads, unfriendly locals, totally destroyed nature (chooped down all trees) corrupt police, terrible driving.
OTOH, in the UK we have the RFL but it does seem to me that the Austrians actually spend their road-related income on the road infrastructure, probably in recognition of the value of such tourism (and, anyway, those high passes need good roads).
e.g. the GrossGlockner highway.
Other roads among the Austrian tolled system are privately owned; in a simillar manner to here in the UK where we have privately owned bridges spanning key river crossing locations but the Austrian tolled private roads tend to lead to the high ground only i.e. there is no compulsion to travel that route.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g6snl
Best - anywhere not the UK
Worst - UK ( car drivers can't see motorcycles )
I have been wondering how this may be affected by the introduction, reported to be next year, of driverless cars into the UK.
I am reluctant to nominate any particular country for best or worst on the basis that many physicial attributes don't change significantly across national borders (geography, geology, flora, fauna, even road surfaces in some cases).
It seems that only the people change.
I was pondering on this while recently returning to the UK and observing numerous Sunday riders "at full chatter" on the passes of the Vosges and a few other roads, pillions hanging off the back and the forks fully compressed into downhill hairpin bends.
Registration plates were French, German and Swiss in the main.
My tentative conclusion was that the UK may not be one of the worst places to ride a motorcycle (that also depends on why the riding is taking place) but it can't be up there with the best.
Austria may have sorted themselves out in the digital age, to be honest I've gone round forever. The annoyance is that they'd let you stop to buy the carnet then 200 yards up the road stop you again for the road charge, then five miles later for the pass. Very much a feeling of local roads for local people.
To anyone from the Austrian Government; you've lost 20 years of fuel, , food and hotel duty to the Czech Republic and France because they probably make the same charges in a more convienient way.
Absolute nightmarish traffic, literally every cliche you've heard about the driving there is true. I spent a week in Delhi and after a few days my hands would begin to shake just walking towards the bike - my system was already firing up the adrenaline from so many near death experiences.
Best - also India.
Get away from the populated central north and it's amazing. Misty mountain roads in the NE, up around Darjeeling and Sikkim, and the whole Kashmir / Ladakh area. The Leh-Manali highway, Spiti Valley, and everything around there. Jaw-dropping.
Honourable mention to Kyrgyzstan for best roads, too.
Honourable mention to Kyrgyzstan for best roads, too.
The drivers though, still think they are on horses. Love organized chaos like in Indonesia and Vietnam. But erratic random driving is the worst to anticipate: Kyrgyz, Mongolia and China lead the way.
It's France and Germany for me.....in that order. Having said that I have limited experience. Spain is ok, Italy was not one of my favourites, Holland and Belgium were boring.
Sometimes we can get a nice surprise when we look at our own countries. We tend to take them for granted.
Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's thelist of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now, and add your information if we didn't find you.
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
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"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.