Im sooo fed up with saving and waiting to go travelling. Its really getting to me now. Iv not been away for nearly 2 years now due to saving and prepping and im getting VERY bored and claustrophobic.

Im still thousands off my saving target and starting a new job which forced me to buy a car has stopped me saving for the last 3 months (and counting)

I've still got another 15 months before I can afford to depart and its driving me CRRRRAAAAZZZY !!!

As soon as I put some money away, i get slapped with a big bill or expense whcih sets me back again.

Im considering getting a loan now and doing it on credit but its truely the path to the dark side in the long term

Anyway, that feels a bit better now. Its good to vent

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

I believe Emillio Scotto set out with $300 on his Gold Wing .
Not an ideal bike ,by current thinking, and not a whole lot of money .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

That wont even get me to the Airport

Im determined that I will save £10,000 and ride all of South America and Australia without coming back in debt that i will have to pay off over years (and thus stopping future plans)

Just really pissing me off now. Im sooo impatient.

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

Bought a CAR!! Travel on CREDIT! Ted old boy, you truly have gone to the dark side! And what happened to your girl friend? Hey, why not shag some rich mid forties divorcee that is looking for a bit of "excitement" in her life and get her to finance the trip?

I'm sure there had to have been a good reason for buying a car....like you don't like riding in rain?...or gets too cold?

So you are working at a bike dealers now? How's that going? Any money to be made working there?

Saving is always tough, combined with serious expenses it becomes almost impossible. Can you move home or in with relatives? Sell everything you have that you really don't need? Sell that car and get an Aerostitch and commute on your bike? (Lawyers in San Fran ride to high end court dates wearing their $5000 suits....Aerostitch over it. No worries.

I'm stuck too....lots of us arm chair adventurers are. Getting clear and getting out there is very tough....staying out there once your out is actually easier.

Going the credit route would be a disaster unless you never plan on returning or you have nothing to lose. (or that the bank can take).

You could apply for a dozen credit cards and max them all out then split...but
they'll find you. Been tried before. Interpol.

Good luck, think outside the box. Sacrifice. Beg, borrow ...or steal...no, skip that last bit. Bad Karma will follow you and ruin your trip!

Patrick

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Yeh but Emillio did it and you haven't !

MMMnn ,I think Mollydog is right , you are young ,single and need to think outside of the box !!

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

I will do it. Im just very impatient and want to do it NOW !

Im debt free, I have a few grand tucked away and have the bike prepped and all my gear ready. I just need another £7k for flights and living expenses and im gone.

I needed to get a car because firstly I want to keep the bike as mint as possible for hardcore travelling and not rack up high miles through wet dirty city cummuting. I have to wear a flipping suit too which is aukward on a bike and I also need the car for other family obligations too (driving elderly family about etc)

I dont start the job in the bike place for another week. Because ill be on probation, they will only pay me minumum wage until my salary review after 3 months . Still, its better than what im doing now (soul destroying IT)

Iv got my plan and ill do it, I just want to do it this year. I didnt count on set back in my saving plan.

I cant think of "outside the box" ideas !! Im not prepared to steal or con money out of people just yet LOL

The EX girlfriend is the reason Im not already there and had to pay off £8000 worth of debt that she dumped me in. She screwed me over big time.. BITCH GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I was only having a little rant anyway

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

Hi Ted,

We met at Horizons names Lee I ride a F650 Dakar and live local to Ripley, the best way to save up is not to go out I know it hurts and it almost killed me, but that's the only reason I can get away next month.
I'm due to leave on the 1st Aug (Had Visa Problems) taking the GF with me for the first 3 weeks in Europe then she's flying back and I get to go to Africa until spring, then it's over to South America and work my way up north for a while.

It also helps if you get some great sponsors like Metzeler, they have just given myself 4 sets of Tourance and Enduro 3 Tires to take with me and a huge discount on any more that I need.
If you visit my site you can see who have sponsored my trip so far, there are others that are also going to help out on the way round, without my sponsorship deals I would have been £1,000s of pounds worse off, so it's always worth asking.

Ride safe

Lee http://www.f650ridetheworld.com

Hey there !!

Dont think i have your cockney enthusiasm for blagging freebies

Ill check out your site though. Have a great trip dude.

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

Can't you get a few weekends away to test out all you equipment, you are only a few miles from Wales, that's cheap enough, and a shakedown for your bike as well.

I do and have done numerous times. Sadly a weekend in Wales is not scratching my itch.

I dont neeed a weekend break or even a holiday. I need to pack up and leave for a long tour of distant lands.

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

Mr Magnum,

Dude! I hear ya!!!

One not-so-fine day, I found myself in almost £12000 debt, with a boyfriend who had managed to get himself sent back to Oz (denied entry after overstaying and was promptly put on a plane outta here). Soul destroying, because the only thing I wanted to do was to find a way to get on the next flight, and there was absolutely no way that I could see a way that that would be possible (man I have never wished so hard for someone to pay everything for me!! No sugar daddys in site)

Today, a few years later, I have that ticket booked, a visa approved and a whole new life waiting for me, sans that boyfriend and becaause I have always wanted to go, rather than going because of someone.
I never ever, when I felt more stuck and stagnant than I ever thought possible, thought that I would be grateful for the time I had to stay to pay my debts.

Thanks to that time I got my bike license, have since been on several trips (a couple of nice big ones too) and have a whole new take on life's hiccups.

I can't really describe how absolutely soul destroying it can be to feel so stuck, but if you dig deep and come out the other side, there are whole countries that await you Ed.

Go with coins jangling in your pocket and that mischievious grin on your face and you will be able to go as far as your bike will take you. No looking back, no chalking up a second period of being stuck because of debt, just new horizons and new adventures.

Someone cue the bike riding into the sun set and some soppy music



Okay, so that was a bit mushy and not really very useful.
What I had to do though was take a big step back, regain some objectivity and launch into finding a job that wouldn't make me want to kill anyone and would pay me as much money as I could feasibly get; become the worlds best hermit and not spend any money that I absolutely didn't have to; and develop saintly patience.

I decided, after about 6 months of that that it might drive me insane, so opted for living a little too and dealing with the fact that I would probably have to change my goal date... but then let myself have the flexiibility to think of making the goal possibly even better than it already was.

That's my 2p anyway.

Oh, and have rants and tantrums and drunken evenings (cheap mind LOL), it's therapeutic.

I don't know if that helps, but it was therapeutic for me to write it too.

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Yeah what Shells says is very true, what's happened to your misses by the way? Take her with you and make her pay for everything, go on be a BUM

Blag me I don't Blag who says I Blag I only ask for kit that I know will be of use on my trip, and will stand up to an indepth review, like Metzeler, Scottoiler, Hex Code, Pure Hydration, Mr. Funnel, MotoPumps, Hennessy Hammocks, Green Leopard and all the others. LMAO

I offer to review their kit, offer links on my pages, and pimp products like when I was demoing the GS-911 Diagnostic Code Reader for all those BMW riders at the June Meeting. So it's not really Blagging it's getting value and marketing their kit as a thank you for putting a little trust in me and my trip.

Or then again you could sell a kidney, pay a visit to the Sperm Bank, become a Blood Donor or my favorite become a Gigolo

Hmmmm was a nasty break up last year.

She was a bit of a bunny boiler to be honest. She asumed I was cheating on her because I emailed a girl on my Spanish couse (I wasnt by the way, it was legitiamte essay stuff). She was VERY jelous (cant blame her)

Well, she smashed up my flat up and trashed all my stuff and did one with our joint travel savings. Gets complicated after that.

Gigilo huh !! Where do I sign up ??

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

Cheer up Ted ,you are more than half way there !
I imagine you'll be selling the car before you go so that's not a total loss .Very good of you to transport your elderly relatives around - Ted's a good boy really !!!
I wouldn't worry about keeping the bike pristine for your trip , it won't stay that way for long and a month into the trip you'll wonder why you bothered .
Just keep at it mate , put away the pennies ,stay away from baccy ,whisky and wild ,wild women .
That comes later !

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

The car wont be worth crap. Only cost me a £800 but its the expensive that goes with it. Insurance, tax, MOT's. The real killer is the price of fuel. In a car it makes you cry.

1L of fuel costs about £1 and it uses twice the fuel that my bike does

On a good note, I don't smoke or drink excessively but the wild women have me suckered every time


Ill get there in the end but i cant STAND the waiting.

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