Im am desperatly wanting to do a 6 month trip to South America.. My problem is that at the moment im working for £10k a year with debts of over 7k. My other problem is I have no savings and cant afford to ship my bike or even survive 2 weeks. The only good thing is i already have my KTM 620 adventure but alas not the £1000 to get it to SA. I am a qualified bike mechanic and experienced computer technician but i feel these skills will be not required in SA so no chance of "working my way around"

Any suggestions ??? I was thinking of doing a TEFL (teaching english qual) but not sure where this will get me..

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

I'd have thought that an experienced bike mechanic & computer tech would be capable of earning considerably more than £10K?

If you're currently living & working in a depressed area, perhaps you should consider relocating for a year or two to go where the money is?

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My photos: www.possu.smugmug.com

It was hard for me to get back into a normal life after sailing around the world.
So I then went out and bought a Dakar and took a small job to save money and do more travel. It worked for me.

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leaffreux

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Hi all,
It really is fascinating to read your stories, they are moving and inspiring. At the moment I am taking a year out from college and education. I am 17, haven't yet passed my bike test, and ride a Vespa 50 which at the moment is seized up and in the garage. I think I will find it easy to save up for a journey around the world if I live cheap before and during the trip and get a cheap bike to do it on (obviously not this one lol!), but I don't think I'm ready to do that. Could any of you recommend to me some less committing journeys that will fulfil my motorcycling passion in the short run? Obviously finance is a big issue here, and things are still unclear because I don't have a bike yet.
Thankyou, from James.
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Unseize your Vespa and start exploring your own country. It's beautiful!

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

What a fantastic thread for a late afternoon in February, stuck in the office and dreaming of riding off over the horizon!

Over the years I bought into the 9 to 5 routine and of course it doesn't take long before you want the trappings to go with that routine. A new car, a better place to live, holidays etc. Before you know it instead of you owning your lifestyle, your lifestyle owns you.

I've been invited onto a trip this spring and can only do the European section because my past record of instant gratification has meant I cant afford to do the whole thing. I'm not complaining though because I'm slowly but surely paying off my debts and will get to have a 3 week adventure with some great people in some of Europe's most amazing scenery and I've no doubt it will leave me with a hunger for more!

For the record I'm selling a lot of my unused possessions on ebay.

necessity is the mother of invention as they say

Another approach to travel is to go more cheaply. Fair enough if someone wants to use expensive gear and travel expensively and can afford it, but it can also be done on a much tighter budget. It would be a chance for a rich city type for instance to live a complete adventure if they used a second hand, small bike and camped rather than the obvious top shelf style. Or to throw off the years and make like a kid again. Just travel. Linzi.

Very true...

my first big trip I went totally overboard (although nowhere near to the levels of some people).. I was so obsessed with having the best kit and all the gear for every eventuality..

I guess we all get back from our travels regretting money spent on many totally useless and redundent items..

My current travel bike has cost me £2500 and thats prepped !! Bar petrol money, im ready to go !

People, dont get obsessed thinking you need £10,000 and 3 aluminium panniers full of water purifiers and satalite phones etc !!

Iv seen more than a few people here say they would go if they could afford it and then talk about the £800 GPS and £1500 shiney pannier set they've just bought for "the weekend"

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

Selling both cars and both sports bikes 25/30 K, already brought the travel bikes and 80% of kit so by August the house should be well and truely rented and we'll be off. When we get back if we need cars for work we'll buy a couple of old knackers until we have enough for something better and then the five year cycle will start all over again

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Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand 2016
Buenos Aires to NYC 2012-2013: www.facebook.com/curryhunt
India and back 2009-2010:

how I ve done it in the past. eat cheap food that is good. Rice, etc. bake your own bread with a bread maker. save 400.00 a year. Cook with a slow cooker and eat the same dinner for 3 or 4 days. Helps that I was a chief at one time. Stop buying things that I don't need to save. Make your own coffee. In two years that can be 2 or 3 grand. How you live. Can you handle a small cheap room with someone else?! save 3 grand or more there if you rent. My Job skills that can be use anywhere. Security, window cleaner , cook, janitor, truck driver, taxie driver, limo driver , computer tec. Yep I get bored every 3 or 4 years and change what I do. I ve camped out for up to 3 months to save money. Gone to the exstream at that time of washing up in lockable washrooms. If I couldn't afford a bike , I would hitch hike to go where I wanted. If you want a place to come back to consider building one of these rolling cabins. Gypsy Rose Many varations on it can be made with an old trailer trailer frame or flat deck trailer. 16 x 8 trailer or smaller. If you look on the site somewhere there is even one that uses shipping pallet as most of the framing. Build one and you can stay in a friends yards for cheap. How much lumber can be had for free? Trailer frame? Craglist maybe? Dream don't die just the dreamer. The greatest thing in the world that defeats all to many people is how they think. As long as you think you can and it's posible and worth it then you will do it.
davek:funmeteryes :

Does anybody could tell me if the budget I made for my next trip is realistic or not ?

The trip:
- France to Tunisia by boat
- Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, stopping in Cairo for a few weeks (I have relative there)
- then Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambic, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa.
- then flight from South Africa to India with the bike
- then from India to France throught Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, etc...

I'll ride two-up with my girlfriend on a KTM990adv. The trip will last from 10 to 12 months. We've already been in almost 30 countries with that bike (> 110.000km), I know how to maintain it, how to take care of it, in which condition it is, etc... so we *should* not have problems with that bike... I mean nothing impossible to fix...

We're gonna do it on the cheap, with a lot of camping, cooking ourselves, etc. Nothing but a 5 stars trip! We are 24 and 30 so we don't care a lot about comfort...

As we already spent quite sometime on the road we already have all the gear for us and the bike, nothing to buy.

The budget:
- boat from France to Tunisia: 700euros
- flight from South Africa to India (2 persons and a bike): 2500euros
- parts for the bike (tyres, oil, etc): 1500euros
- fuel: 6.5L/100km during 40.000km = 2600L with an average of 1.2euros per liter = 3120euros
- 40euros/day (without fuel) for 305 days (10 months) = 12200euros
- paperwork (visas, carnet, insurances at borders, etc): 1000euros
- additionals savings "in case of": 3000euros

Total: 24000euros

We hope to spend less but that's the money we would like to have on our bank account before we leave. I always like to leave with more money than we need so that we know we won't run out of money in the middle of India or be in trouble if we need to book an emergency flight back to home...

Does it sounds good to you ? Way too much ? Way not enough ? Almost correct ?

This is an interesting thread!

I'm 34, wife is 27. We are planning Trans Africa next year, taking 10 to 12 months and then she wants to do the career thing. I don't argue, cause I know she'll get over it within a few months of getting to the UK and then we can make plans for the next trip and how to finance it.

Finances: Well, we were lucky enough to buy a house in South Africa and get about 24% growth per year for two years before the recession. We were also lucky enough to have a huge deposit to put down so we have a minuscule mortgage to deal with. We have been traveling on short trips for a while, so we're pretty much geared up and ready apart from a few small things because of changing our vehicle.

I'm a photographer/videographer and write some travel articles for magazines. This does give me the advantage to work while we are travelling and hopefully get some money back after the trip.

I have to say though, if it was not for this house and our investment in it, we would not have been able to do this at all! We are planning on settling in the UK for a while, earning the pounds instead of South African Rands, so selling up and moving on is the plan right now.

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Dawie du Plessis
www.pictureafrica.org
www.photographersa.co.za

I can do this route three times with this budget

I just want to be sure my budget is over estimated, not under

<font face="Lucida Console" size="2"> I agree Britain is a beautiful country with great scenery and lots to do, not too demanding and everywhere I go there will be someone who understands me! Not so sure about going around on the Vespa though, I'm 6 foot 3 and get backache after 2 miles. It's not quite got the pace for a B road never mind a countrywide tour!