exactly right my friend, i was not asking questions. just giving advice to those who want to listen

sorry but this i disagree. Riding a motorbike through foreign countries in an environment that is unfamiliar is the definition of adventure.

ad⋅ven⋅ture –noun
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

Great to hear my friend. This is also how i travel, its really a great sense of freedom.

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http://www.andrewmclagan.com

[quote=andrewmclagan;232287]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodger
Ask a hundred riders for their views and you will get a hundred different answers .
There is no right or wrong .
Your original question Andrew was so broad that it wasn't really a question ,it was more a statement of your own philosophy

exactly right my friend, i was not asking questions. just giving advice to those who want to listen
quote]


Welcome Andrew,
Can you tell me how long have you been on your
moto adventure so far ?

thanks :-)

ok a little about myself

Im 25 years old and i call Australia home from time to time. I Have been travelling since i was 12 years old. My mother was and still is one of the most well travelled people i know, any money she ever had she would spend on travelling with her children. at the age of 19 i began travelling with my friends and then by myself. I have been through south east asia 4 times. Pacific islands twice. western and eastern europe and the united states. Been through 3 passports and overseas for just under 5 years in total.

After completing university I had no ambition of joining the rat race any more then it was necessary to save some money to travel.

I have also been riding dirt bikes in Australia since i was young and having experience in asian traffic from living in bangkok for a year and owning a motorcycle.

My current trip so far has been: Sailing philipppines on a friends yacht for 3 months, Borneo by hired bike for 2 months and now I live with some malaysian friends in Kuala Lumpur and have been for a month. My plan is to ride a honda xr400 i have here to Germany where my girlfriend lives through China...tibet...nepal..india..etc......

I dont profess to know everything all i wanted to do in this post is share what i have learnt in my life so far. Im young and i have a long way ahead of me and allot to learn yet and i look forward to every day.

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http://www.andrewmclagan.com

I feel that the point you are making is more a case of you're imagination should neither replace the real thing, nor become a bench mark by which the real trip is measured.

This is sound advice and common sense if people stop and think about it.

However, imagining the trip and planning for the trip, planning for the trip and doing the trip are all seperate processes, and entities. So, they should be treated as such.

We took a heinous quantity of stuff: a lot we never used, and some was invaluable, despite only being packed on a whim. We planned our route in ridiculous detail, partly because the only release we had in the 2 years we were saving up was pouring over travel guides and blogs. Our planned route went out the window the second day into our trip and we felt not one jot of disappointment!

We used maps and locals to navigate, but GPS made finding our hotel in a foreign city or guaging distances to the next fuel stop far easier. All the tools I took were mostly useless, but only because the bike did not break down. I'll take them with next time too even if they never get used: if I do break down, I'll be glad I had them.

I think planning is an integral part of any trip, whether basic or in detail. One aspect is simply good practice: do you have all your papers for the places you want to go? Do you have enough old Y-fronts to wear, soak up oil or both? Other parts are simply the therapeutic value of feeling involved in your trip even if you can't go yet.

I say plan as much as you like, but without letting the plan govern the trip: only offer advice once in a while.
Buy as many bits and bobs as you like as long as you realise that they should only compliment the trip, rather than make it. If they don't compliment it at all, don't be afraid to send 'em home...

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

The problem was that your original post was a bit of mess and it was not clear to me about what exactly you wanted to say.

I myself also don't plan too much, I never plan places to stay as I don't know my exact route and more importantly, timeframes. However, some planning must still be done, or call it gathering some basic background information. If you plan to drive though China as you said, then you probably know that you just can't enter with your own bike without arranging a guide long before hand and going though pile of paperwork. There are countries where you just can't appear on the border and hope you are in. In China they just will send you away if you don't have pre-arranged your trip and paid $$$ for it.

About gear, yes, many people take too much. I have also minimised my gear as I have gained experience, have tested several different gear and have found my favorites. This process goes on. But on the other, super minimalist end, there is traveller who only has credit card with him, nothing else. Is that good? I think balance is somewhere in the middle.

You go with XR400. This is not a big bike, so your luggage space is limited and that forces you to find tent, sleeping bag, clothes and other gear that is compact, but gives you enough protection in remote mountain/cold regions, gives good size/benefit ratio. "Any gear" will not do that well.

Dreaming about (new) gear and imaging you'll need it very much and how good it is before you have actually used it is just psychological consumerism issues we face often. There is worth to read paperback about this topic titled The Paradox of Choice: Why less is more. It discusses topics about false expectations, buyers remorse, why we are unhappy at supermarket shelf where we have 100 different yogurts to choose vs small shop where there are only 3 different ones on sale etc.

Ask a hundred philosophers their opinion and you'll get two-hundred opinions.

Andrew, I don't mean this as in any way a criticism, but again, it's one of those things where what suits one person may not suit another, plan/don't plan, stress/don't stress, and the same with your philosophy.

Now that doesn't mean shut up, because whilst we're all different we also have some similarities and someone might well be the type of personality which is suited to yours. That said there'll be other people for whom your philosophy is a totally unworkable anathema. I fear i'm one of them.

I'm a planner and a dreamer, I love to do it, I'll spend hours, days, weeks, months, years dreaming, doodling, researching, reading, and generally enjoying myself. I'll do it for some trips I know I'll never take (50cc Honda Scooter to the Pole anyone?) but I still enjoy it. That said when I'm on a trip most of those dreamy plans go out the window, I go with the flow, if something comes up, good or bad, I'll likely go with it instead. I did the student backpacker thing round Oz, read the Lonely Planet cover to cover before I went and the only use it got when I was there was to block the gaping rust hole in the boot of my Holden HQ. But I still hugely enjoyed the read before I went.

Still the great thing about philosophies (and bars) is that we can share about them for hours.

PS. For sale 1987 edition of Lonely Planet Guide to Australia, some dust damage.

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Technology and Adventure

No disrespect intended to those who like doing stuff the hard/traditional way, but I cannot see any problem whatsoever in using gizmos or high tech items when off doing your bike adventures.Especially if it solves a problem in a useful way.

Coming to the last part of my ride around Australia Solo,including a fair piece of off-route riding,I have my bike packed to be totally self-sufficent in spares and repairs as well as a substantial supply of fuel and water for the remote areas visited.......space and weight on my bike is a premium and some gadgets are a godsend....and I would go so far you might be more than a little stubborn if you didnt appreciate them,even if you dont use them.

Considering the amount of punctures Ive had, I so wish that I had bought a new Slime powered tyre inflator out here...very much more compact than a foot pump/reliable/robust and a lot better than pumping 5 puntures up in one day by hand in the mud( especially as 1 footpump and 2 hand pumps have been broken on the trip ) why would you not have one?

I lug around a Eee micro-lap top, its not much bigger than a conventional paper diary and it plays music/internet and can process and enhance or discard my digital camera photos as well as being a diary.....I can also recharge it in the out back with a solar-recharger that is no bigger than a mobile phone.Ive used it to show people I meet pictures of home or the trip that has sparked a few of their imaginations into doing something like me.

Every bit of clothing I use is of some high-tech origin that packs down tiny,washes easy,doesnt stink.....and I am carrying more clothing than normal as this is also a holiday as well as bike marathon for me.

Why carry a huge canvas swag, when you can carry a high-tech hooped bivi bag that is more waterproof and weighs 1/15th of the weight?

LED lights that last 50x longer than the old torches, we all use them now because there is no reason not to.Documents and anything official are carried as normal, but full colour copies are on my email account as well as the bikes service manual/my job CV/passport and medical docs...and all on my flash drive as well, the size of a stick of chewing gum......tech junky or sensible?

In fact the item that is the most bulky is my Lonely Planet guide ( I am on holiday as well,good guides and things to do ) If I had that on a flashdrive,that would be a substantial amount of weight saved.

I see...
and there was me calling me granny in
to learn a new way to suck eggs

Andrew,

I think part of the problem with the negative replies you have had is not that people disagree with your statement that the simple way is often the best. It's more that your post comes across a bit: "I've been reading the HUBB for six months, can see where you're all going wrong and am now going grace you all with the benefit of my travel experience..."

I'm well aware that this probably not what you intended to do, but you couldn't have chosen a worse forum to inadvertantly suggest this. Partly due to the independent and self-reliant nature of adventure motorcyclists and partly because of the enormous amount of adventure experience most of the regular posters on this forum have.

Matt

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http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

Matt, I think you are right in that there is a lot of experience on this forum and I don't think that Andrew is the first to misjudge the 'audience' by any means.

Experience varies as do peoples ideas of adventure. I often read things on here that I think are complete rubbish but then I realise that they are written by someone in America, for example, who tend to have a different point of view.

As for planning a trip, I don't think any two people have the same idea. For some the whole ethos of the trip is minimalism and low budget, some the trip is about the bike and the riding and for others it's about the places you go and people you meet. We (my wife and I) did a trip from the UK to Capetown in 1992 and our problem with planning was finding any information at all but nowadays we're awash with information and opinion which I'm not sure is a good thing. Once you set off on your trip these days many 'adventurer's' seem to be reliant on technology (GPS, satellite phones, laptops and internet) but for me I can't see what is wrong with a map and a few letters from home every six weeks waiting at 'Poste Restante' somewhere.

Even the term 'Adventure Traveller' seems to be telling you what to do and how to do it. Of course a certain amount of preparation is essential - if you have limited time and a limited budget good preparation can save you a lot of both.

We should each do our own thing whilst discussing the options on here in general terms rather than critisising people for not being 'hardcore' or 'pure' enough.

Just my thoughts...I have begun to read up about/ research into places before I go there which means I prevent myself from the joys of my childhood when I discovered things for myself. I was eager and ecstatic at each new finding. I'd like to try and repeat that somewhere. Linzi.

I liked your post very much, Andy, and the general theme behind it.

Sometimes we talk about gear because we're at home, and not out under the stars - or the rain!

Nice one!

This is the crux of the problem. If you've got loads of time, you wouldn't be worried about getting lost for a while, stuck for a few days or so in a town sorting paperwork or parked up for a week waiting for parts. Sadly, a lot of us are not in a possition (or don't have the balls) to take six months or a year out. We have to try to fit our own adventure/journey to a fixed timeframe.

The concept of adventure is also very relative. For some it's taking a two week package holiday in a different hotel from last year. For others it's an unassisted trek through the Amazon.
I once had a conversation with a farm worker in Hampshire who had just retired. He was born on the estate, worked and lived there and was being allowed to live out his retirement in the cottage where his father had grown up. I asked him if he'd ever travelled. "Oh Yes" he said. "I once went to Winchester when I was a lad"

I can emphasise with you Andrew, and I agree with you pretty much in everyway..

Before my first major trip I was obsessed with being prepared for every eventuality. I didnt have a route planned or even any maps but i did have pretty much everything I could need wherever I went... My bike was really heavy and a bitch to pack. I think most of us start out that way if were not seasoned travellers.

Did I over prepare, overpack and worry too much ?? DEFINATELY...

I used maybe 20% of what I took. As a mechanic, I took tools and spares(and i used them after crashing in the remote pampas).. Without them I would of been stranded, and without water and food ... ???? Who knows.

Did I need my GPS ?? NO, I didnt but it sure helped after 12 hours riding in 70mph winds and entered a chaotic city at night with no idea of where the campsite was and finding the way through places with no signs and people to ask...

When I travel now, im very much a light weight traveller. Impriovising and using inititive instead of having the "special kit". Being prepared for an emergency isnt selling out, its just making sure your dream doesnt turn into a nightmare.. Being underprepared for a dangrous situation just makes me think your an idiot, not a traveller.

I love your ethos of travelling and I try to be like that but obsessing with being "the real deal" just makes you sound like your trying to hard to prove something to yourself or others... Who knows though, I cant judge you off a post on a forum and I wont try to.

I really cringe at the people who have everything planned to a T as well ... It doesnt seem like an adventure to me at all (actually its just like a boring checklist), but its what makes them happy. Its not for us to say they're right or wrong.. its just their way.

Of course, there are always going to be the types who have "all the gear and no idea"... I think many of these people love the idea of travel and adventure, they just dont have the balls or the oppurtunity to actually do it for whatever reason , so just buy all the kit instead... Touratech and BMW basically exist off these people and market themselves accordingly.

Looking at your own way of travelling, some may say that your reliant on people helping you, so cant look after yourself if things go wrong.. Some people really love being totally self sufficient...

Everyone has their own way to do things and no one has the right to tell anyone else how it should be done.... Theres your way, theres my way and theres their way !

Ride safe buddy and enjoy !

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.