Short period. Same start. Somewhere new. How?
 

Many of us are limited by responsibilities such as work or kids etc. This means that long trips are often impossible or few and far between, particularly where overlanding is concerned.

For those of you in that position, if you want to do a bike trip (instead of jetting off on a plane), what are your tricks for making the most of that 2 or 3 week summer holiday?

More precisely, how do you manage to see something new bearing in mind you start from the same place?

As it happens your timing for this question is perfect. Adventure Rider Radio (ARR) have just done an episode with a guy that plans in greta detail short tours - there are also links to his website that gives tips on planning.

Anyway here is the link to ARR - https://adventureriderradio.com/adve...entures-better

You still can jet off on a plane. Rental bikes are a thing in most places where you might want to ride. I've ridden rental bikes across New Zealand and North Vietnam, and those were great experiences.

The other option is to put your bike on a truck (using a commercial hauling service), ship it somewhere nice, then fly out to meet it at the start of your holiday.

In Europe, there are also options to skip long boring transit stages. E.g. from Estonia, I can use the Helsinki car train to get up to the Arctic overnight; a ferry from Helsinki or Liepaja/Ventspils to get to Northern Germany in about 24 hours; and the ÖBB Car Train to get from Hamburg or Düsseldorf to the Austrian mountains overnight. And when you compare to the cost of fuel, consumables, and hotels, then the vehicle-carrier trains and ferries are not a big expense.

Interesting. You're in the same boat as me.

My problem is that if i want to see something of Italy or France or Spain to takes me half my holiday just to get there and back.

The shipping option is interesting. I looked into it briefly but I think I picked the worst year to get an idea of its potential.

Rental is also possible, but expensive, I imagine. And only outside Europe, I think.

Ideally I'd like to use my bike during the summer holidays. Particularly as I bought it for that reason.

There's several companies that ship / truck bikes regularly UK to Spain, and especially close to Morocco to get you most of the way there.

Rental is "expensive" versus your own bike, but factor in shipping / flights, and depending on how long you're going - for a week, it's a bargain, for a month it's way too much. Worth checking!

Ask motovedu.ee for specific quotes (they group and organize shipments to popular destinations like Northern Italy and Barcelona). There's a thread on biker.ee right now where a guy wants to share a one-way trip to Milan/Bergamo - 325 EUR + VAT, all-in.

The trick with motorcycle shipping is that you can stack two bike transport frames on top of each other inside a standard trailer, in which case you're only taking up about as much space as two europallets. So shipping two bikes is much cheaper per bike than shipping one. I know that from Estonia, DSV has been willing to truck-ship bikes all over Europe - and I think Motovedu is using them, just providing its own frames.

Absolutely. A week's worth of V-Strom 650, including full gear rental, out of Auckland or Christchurch, cost me less than seven hundred euros! Considering that I got to ride a brand-new bike, didn't need to worry about insurance, depreciation, tires or maintenance, road taxes etc., that's dirt cheap. (How many owners get less enjoyment out of their motorcycle per season than I did in a week of riding some of the world's best roads?)

I will say that, when it comes to travelling further afield, rental sounds like a winner.

I don't regret one bit shipping my bike across the Atlantic when I rode Argentina as it was a 3 month trip and a dream come true, but the chances of a long trip like that again is slim now.

As such rental might well be the option (even if it doesn't quite meet my fussy, inner criteria of adventure overlanding!)

What about staged trips?
Ride your bike as far as you want, in the direction you want to overland for your allotted holiday time then find a place to store it. Fly out to your bike the next holiday season and carry on.
Plenty of people use this technique,it’s something we are seriously considering ourselves.
bier

It's a nice idea.

I guess it's dependent on a good network of reputable motorcycle storage options at various points along the way.

HU Communities?

I know 2 people who did it round Africa and a couple who did it travelling to Siberia doing ROBs and Telegraph and home again to Western Europe in 2/3 week chunks.
It’s surprising how many people travel like that in or on vehicles, there appears to be plenty of storage facilities around the world - it doesn’t have to be specifically for motorcycles.
bier

That is actually encouraging and something I had never considered before!

I'd sort of written off long trips in far-flung places until my kids had left home. They're barely in school....

As long as you're DOING it, HOW doesn't matter :)



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