An anecdote on the subject (approximately translated from French)... It's from an Italian journalist who made a succesful world-record breaking attempt at traveling around the world in 90 days with less than 5 dollars a day. He met an old Chinese farmer and told him his story, and the farmer replied: "Only a Westerner could take such a beautiful thing as traveling around the world, and spoil it in trying to make it a record".

Pierre (& Merritt too)
http://www.photobiker.com

I could be wrong,but i'm with Pierresas on this , if it becomes a competition your missing the point.
(unless of course it is a competition or commercial enterprise)

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Personally, I want to avoid shipping the most possible, start A, go east and maybe return A from west, with a bunch of kilometeters on my counter and images from the world forever recorded in my brain cells.
Saying so, its offcourse not a competition, more as said something spiritual, competition is closing of the mind following rules, travel is opening of the mind to the unknown ruleless.
Competition makes people evoluate...they say, ok be so, but it has serious limits, it's not because I win some olympic game that I will feel I reached the top, strange how it would make me love myself and forgett the vital rest..!
If the one making competitions is afraid of the unknown and doubts his capacity "facing" it, then I understand he needs cubical rules to evoluate, but wow... the guy miss so much believing only in himself, evolution.??
I prefer thinking something else will open me to a higher level and teach my soul.
The Indians sure were right saying; your worst enemy is within yourself.

Just relax and enjoy real life as long as it lasts, what is more important?

Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt595 (edited 05 March 2005).]