I'm in the final planning stage of my trip. I leave in July but before I go I'm running a workshop at the UK HUBB meeting in June.

I went to the UK HUBB meeting last year and it was excellent. Lots and lots of good spaekers all with great tales of their travels. However, it was clear to me that there was something missing. For those of us who are planning a trip it would be great to hear more about the pitfalls and problems of this, the most crucial stage of the trip, the planning.

What to take? What to leave?
Paperwork
Insurance
Preparation of bike, body and mind.

All of this (and more) is crucial and scares the hell out of me as I go through it but I'm sure that once I'm on my trip I'll forget all about it. Next year I'll be able to give presentations of my "year off" travelling around the world but I will have forgotten what it was like BEFORE I set off and I'll have forgotten what advice to give people who are planning a trip. Seasoned travelers forget what it was like "before the first time" and can sometimes be a bit blase "Oh, I just bought a bike and a map and set" NO THEY DIDN'T!

So, if anyone out there has any advise they would like to pass on though my workshop please post it there. It could be advise you wish you had before you went, or you could be in the planning stage and have come up with a great idea that would make the process easier. Are you planning a trip and have anything you want to say to people?

I think the main thrust of my workshop will be to try to deal with the whole process and all the paperwork that is needed before you even set off. Hopefully, having just gone through the process I can save some people some time but explaining what I did and what they do/don't have to do.

If you are coming to the UK HUBB meeting and are planning any trip then please come along. I'm planning on it being more of a discussion rather than a lecture. We can all compare notes, share advise and hopefully benefit from it. Equally, if you've been on a trip then please come along and share your advise.

If you're in USA/Canada, then I'm also running this in Canada in August - three weeks into my RTW trip.

Cheers

Dom

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I learnt the VERY hard way...



ALWAYS KEEP YOUR PASSPORT, DOCUMENTS & WALLET IN A WATERPROOF HOLDER IN YOUR JACKET AND NEVER LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT.

Also, always keep an emergency credit card and cash hidden on the bike as well as copies of important documents.



They are probably the most important thing you can ever need while on the road. You can lose everything else but these !!

Laugh at me here [url=http://www.touringted.com/2008/01]Touring Ted

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

IMHO, the key is to bear in mind that most of what you fret and stew about before leaving doesn't really matter much in the end. There's way too much to do anyway, and unless you're superhuman in a variety of respects (organizational skills, multipath tracking of issues and information, methodical resolution of an endless list of tasks) you'll never get it all done....or alternatively you'll never actually leave because you're not yet ready.

You're never fully ready. In the end, you just leave.

I fully intended to have a GPS on my bike for this trip (after getting lost in various Italian cities in the dark during rush hour on my last trip, looking for hostels which I hardly ever found). I didn't get around to it. Everyone riding my model of bike says you can't possibly survive without suspension upgrades; I never got around to this, either, and am still on my original shock and spring at 80,000 miles. People said the same thing about the seat, and in the end I agreed--so I bought an Airhawk in Europe and have used it for the past 55,000 miles.

In other words, do what you can and/or feel like, then take off without regrets. It'll be fine. Most of it doesn't really matter--it just seems to matter when all you've got to occupy your time is hanging out on websites with lots of people who think it matters.

One contrary note: there are a few things which actually do matter. On my bike, the doohickey is one such item. Concentrate on these sorts of issues as a first priority, because unlike improved brakes, re-jetting for marginal increases in horsepower, or specifics of tire choice or clothing brands (or whatever), they can ruin your trip.

Hope that's helpful. I'd hate to be thought of as one of those people who "forget what it was like "before the first time" and can sometimes be a bit blase...." I haven't forgotten; I'm just smarter now than then, and I'd like others to benefit.

Mark

(from steamy Belem, soon to cross the Amazon on my way homeward)

He's right ya know !! Well said Mark.

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

As someone preparing for my own RTW trip, what would be most useful is information about preparations which either (a) increase the chance of a successful trip or (b) must be made in advance.

For example on the later point, I know that Russia requires significant advance planning if you want to visit Mongolia, because you need a double-entry visa. Are there other countries which require such advance planning?

Personally I plan primarily for the catastrophic (e.g. health issues, safety, bike breakdowns, how to get into various countries, etc.) and leave the day to day stuff to work out itself as I go along (e.g. where I am going, when I arrive, etc.).

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Traveling The World Since: 2011
Blog: The Seductive Life (General Travel)

Dom....look forward to seeing/hearing you in Nakusp this summer.

Don't know that I have a top tip but I do know that I've a tendency to probably spend too much time 'on' the bike on my various trips and maybe not enough time 'in' the various places and communities. That may be related to the usual time constraints that my trips seem to often be under (maybe not a prob for the RTW folks who have no fixed times).

I've actually had lots of great experiences when through circumstance or bike issues, I've been 'forced' to slow down or stop. Kinda paradoxical - (travel's best when you don't) - so now I do try to conciously stop more often take a few more pics etc.

I try to remember that you can never do a trip for the first time ever again.

Let me know if you need a place to stay for a couple of days in Red Deer.

Stephen

I think the answer to this topic is different for each individual. An example being a conversation I had with a friend in north east Pakistan, my wife had fallen off and broken her arm, he needed to leave and sort his visa in Islamabad for India, we had to ship her bike to Goa and fly her there as well and I had to ride solo to meet her in Goa.
The morning he left to ride 600k down the KKH it was if he was off on a Sunday morning ride around Buckinghamshire, no preparation, just start bike and ride off saying "cya in India" as did I a week later.
My point being that I spent 18 months crossing t's and doting i's(but not the above problem) looking back most of it really didn't matter, it comes down to the individuals frame of mind, the only thing we came across that could of stopped us was paperwork issues at borders or the weather but we were determined to succeed.
Most people don't plan each year they live at home in advance and trying to do it for a trip is always going to be a balancing act, you just live on the road and not at home and solve problems as they appear.
As a foot note thou we didn't really go anywhere uninhabited, if there are people living nearby problems can be sorted.

Cheers
Pete

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