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Travellers' Advisories, Safety and Security on the Road Recent News, political or military events, which may affect trip plans or routes. Personal and vehicle security, tips and questions.
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #16  
Old 25 Apr 2020
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Portugal permanent, Sweden during summer
Posts: 480
Stuck in the garage

I am stuck in my own man cave.
My garage.
Or more correct. By moving to another garage.

Finally time to make some progress.
Both with moving and projects.

lunch brake by the river.

Could be much worse.
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Corona Virus - where are you stuck?-img_20200408_072917.jpg  

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Corona Virus - where are you stuck?-04-lunch.jpg  

Corona Virus - where are you stuck?-05-kaffe.jpg  

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  #17  
Old 4 May 2020
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Posts: 13
Not that it matters,but I relocated to a nicer, cheaper place by the beach in Estaleiro Brazil for the time being.
Borders mAy not reopen for a long while. Options are limited, as are the return flights to the United States. Leaving Sunny (my beloved bike) behind and flying home may be the only option available in the next several months.
Trautman Witte (Woody-owner of Woodys Wheel Works, a dear friend who supplied me with a wheel set for this journey) has offered me work in Denver as well as support to get me back on my feet if I was to abandon the bike and fly home.
Hey....it’s an option. Not ideal, but I love the guy and it helps me fight feelings of desperation and hopelessness. I’ve paid rent here for a few more weeks. I’ll see how shit pans out.
TG.....I know you check out HU often. If you see this, please know I appreciate the offer for help
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  #18  
Old 22 Jun 2020
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Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 20
Motorcycle travellers stuck around the world

You might find this article interesting, it's on 14 bike travellers all trapped in different countries around the world... https://www.madornomad.com/motorcycl...y-coronavirus/
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  #19  
Old 6 Jul 2020
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Portugal permanent, Sweden during summer
Posts: 480
Stuck before the trip started

This was not supposed to be just any year.
But THE year.
But I am stuck in Sweden, before I took of.

4 years ago, my wife decided to start a new life without me.
I still had some years left to work.
I am 63 years old this year. I decided 3 years ago that 63 would be enough and retire at that age. Everything went according to plan. I am now retired.
Kids have left home since before.
The plan was also to sell the house. To be able to travel free, without paying for and worrying about a house. Job done. House sold. New owners 2 weeks from now.
I needed another type of bike that those I have. They are more classic bikes that have been restoration projects. No long distance bikes. So I bought myself a Suzuki DL 650. XT model. And modified.
Money is needed. Even the pension will cover part of budget travelling. So I saved some while I still had a salary.

=>
* No family
* No job
* No house
* Bike ready
* Money in the bank


But I needed somewhere to live. As a base=> Portugal has 9 month of MC season, compared to 3 as we have in Sweden. (That is why we build so nice custom bikes i Sweden. We have 9 month i the garage every year)
* Apartment bought. Small and cheap. Just to Lock up and leave when I want.

Plan was to travel around in Europe. But to make the trip of my dreams. South America. Long time ago, I was in Ecuador. Since than I have been dreaming of doing SA on bike (or back packer)
* Shipping is booked in container to Valparaiso

Than comes Corona. And stops my dreams. Just when it was time to start. After 3-4 years of planning, preparation and dreaming.
I know I should be happy for a lot. And that things could be much worse.
But it is just a common pattern in my life. That when I have passed hard times and am ready to enjoy something. Than some shit happens.
I am sober alcoholic since many years. I have been through 2 divorces, one other crashed relation lately, endless numbers of redundancy processes at work, stress from work that almost put me in hospital, 2 heap operations, 1 heart operation.

I can't help it. But I feel like Sisyphus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

As soon as I think that something is over.
The struggle to get the stone up that hill.
Something/someone makes it roll down again.

And at my age, I do not know if I will get more chances.
=> I get depressed and are ready to give up.

Best is to lower ambitions and expectations.
With no expectations, there will be no disappointments.

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  #20  
Old 6 Jul 2020
GPZ GPZ is online now
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Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 74
That all sounds very familiar...
I often feel that long term my life is heading towards a pointless dead end.
But you have to keep planning adventures of some kind or other. If you stop dreaming, it all stops.
You've got Portugal - covid-19 will be over some time!
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  #21  
Old 8 Jul 2020
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Aalst, Belgium
Posts: 61
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik_G View Post
This was not supposed to be just any year.
But THE year.
But I am stuck in Sweden, before I took of.

4 years ago, my wife decided to start a new life without me.
I still had some years left to work.
I am 63 years old this year. I decided 3 years ago that 63 would be enough and retire at that age. Everything went according to plan. I am now retired.
Kids have left home since before.
The plan was also to sell the house. To be able to travel free, without paying for and worrying about a house. Job done. House sold. New owners 2 weeks from now.
I needed another type of bike that those I have. They are more classic bikes that have been restoration projects. No long distance bikes. So I bought myself a Suzuki DL 650. XT model. And modified.
Money is needed. Even the pension will cover part of budget travelling. So I saved some while I still had a salary.

=>
* No family
* No job
* No house
* Bike ready
* Money in the bank


But I needed somewhere to live. As a base=> Portugal has 9 month of MC season, compared to 3 as we have in Sweden. (That is why we build so nice custom bikes i Sweden. We have 9 month i the garage every year)
* Apartment bought. Small and cheap. Just to Lock up and leave when I want.

Plan was to travel around in Europe. But to make the trip of my dreams. South America. Long time ago, I was in Ecuador. Since than I have been dreaming of doing SA on bike (or back packer)
* Shipping is booked in container to Valparaiso

Than comes Corona. And stops my dreams. Just when it was time to start. After 3-4 years of planning, preparation and dreaming.
I know I should be happy for a lot. And that things could be much worse.
But it is just a common pattern in my life. That when I have passed hard times and am ready to enjoy something. Than some shit happens.
I am sober alcoholic since many years. I have been through 2 divorces, one other crashed relation lately, endless numbers of redundancy processes at work, stress from work that almost put me in hospital, 2 heap operations, 1 heart operation.

I can't help it. But I feel like Sisyphus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

As soon as I think that something is over.
The struggle to get the stone up that hill.
Something/someone makes it roll down again.

And at my age, I do not know if I will get more chances.
=> I get depressed and are ready to give up.

Best is to lower ambitions and expectations.
With no expectations, there will be no disappointments.

I feel your pain, I retired first of May, after 45 years of working and saving. Planned to go for a long trip. Does't seem to happen soon and my health is declining fast...

I know a couple around here, both around 40 years, quit the job, sold the house, where ready to leave for a RTW in May...
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  #22  
Old 9 Jul 2020
brclarke's Avatar
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Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
Posts: 812
Quote:
This was not supposed to be just any year.
But THE year.
But I am stuck in Sweden, before I took of.
I feel a lot of sympathy. I'm 53 and had always planned to retire at 55 and start riding around the world. As I close in, though, I realize that it's going to take more money than I thought, so I'm planning to push things back a few years.

But then I consider that with age comes various other issues, and maybe I won't able to physically do the epic world ride if I push it off too far in the future.

Life is full of hard choices!
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  #23  
Old 15 Jul 2020
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 834
Quote:
Originally Posted by brclarke View Post
I feel a lot of sympathy. I'm 53 and had always planned to retire at 55 and start riding around the world. As I close in, though, I realize that it's going to take more money than I thought, so I'm planning to push things back a few years.

But then I consider that with age comes various other issues, and maybe I won't able to physically do the epic world ride if I push it off too far in the future.

Life is full of hard choices!
Maybe you need to change to a comfortable car with aircon - but you dont have to stay at home
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  #24  
Old 16 Oct 2020
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 13
After more than six months stuck in Brazil, waiting for the land borders to reopen, I finally found a way to ship the bike home ocean. I’ll be flying out soon to meet it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pana...7298313642308/
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  #25  
Old 17 Oct 2020
brclarke's Avatar
Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
Posts: 812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfy View Post
Maybe you need to change to a comfortable car with aircon - but you dont have to stay at home
Ugh. There's a reason why motorcyclists call them cages.
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  #26  
Old 10 Nov 2020
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: South of the border (MN)
Posts: 170
I'm currently stuck in the USA and would rather be stuck where the infection rate is lower.
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  #27  
Old 11 Nov 2020
Registered Users
HUBB regular
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Esperance, Western Australia
Posts: 92
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik_G View Post
This was not supposed to be just any year.
But THE year.
But I am stuck in Sweden, before I took of.

4 years ago, my wife decided to start a new life without me.
I still had some years left to work.
I am 63 years old this year. I decided 3 years ago that 63 would be enough and retire at that age. Everything went according to plan. I am now retired.
Kids have left home since before.
The plan was also to sell the house. To be able to travel free, without paying for and worrying about a house. Job done. House sold. New owners 2 weeks from now.
I needed another type of bike that those I have. They are more classic bikes that have been restoration projects. No long distance bikes. So I bought myself a Suzuki DL 650. XT model. And modified.
Money is needed. Even the pension will cover part of budget travelling. So I saved some while I still had a salary.

=>
* No family
* No job
* No house
* Bike ready
* Money in the bank


But I needed somewhere to live. As a base=> Portugal has 9 month of MC season, compared to 3 as we have in Sweden. (That is why we build so nice custom bikes i Sweden. We have 9 month i the garage every year)
* Apartment bought. Small and cheap. Just to Lock up and leave when I want.

Plan was to travel around in Europe. But to make the trip of my dreams. South America. Long time ago, I was in Ecuador. Since than I have been dreaming of doing SA on bike (or back packer)
* Shipping is booked in container to Valparaiso

Than comes Corona. And stops my dreams. Just when it was time to start. After 3-4 years of planning, preparation and dreaming.
I know I should be happy for a lot. And that things could be much worse.
But it is just a common pattern in my life. That when I have passed hard times and am ready to enjoy something. Than some shit happens.
I am sober alcoholic since many years. I have been through 2 divorces, one other crashed relation lately, endless numbers of redundancy processes at work, stress from work that almost put me in hospital, 2 heap operations, 1 heart operation.

I can't help it. But I feel like Sisyphus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

As soon as I think that something is over.
The struggle to get the stone up that hill.
Something/someone makes it roll down again.

And at my age, I do not know if I will get more chances.
=> I get depressed and are ready to give up.

Best is to lower ambitions and expectations.
With no expectations, there will be no disappointments.

Feeling your pain, Erik.
In 2015, my ex decided, one month after we finished a 5 year self-build house and two weeks after we bought her a new Toyota, that she didn't want to be with me. Pure coincidence on the timing, I'm sure.
So at the age of 64, earlier this year, bike freight was booked, air tickets bought, visas in place, medical insurance paid for, along comes Corona. Two days before the bike was to be shipped, in March, I read the writing on the wall, and pulled the pin. Rural Western Australia has escaped the worst of it, and at least I hadn't (quite) resigned from my job, so there are worse places to be trapped. Now turned 65 and just waiting for the Aussie border to open up again, and a vaccine to prove to be effective. The best you can do is try to keep your body fit and your mind occupied.
I don't know how many more years of motorcycle camping and adventuring I've got left in me, but I'm sure as hell that I'm not going to go gentle into that good night, but will rage, rage against the dying of the light. Thanks, Dylan Thomas!!
https://scontent-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...53&oe=5FD12E0D
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