Hey well this is my first post (woopie!)

I was planning on doing a London to New York trip with my brother, but plans have fallen through.

So I was wondering if anyone knew if there was a record for youngest person to ride around the world (or London to NY if that counts!)

I am 20 and might be leaving in 6 months! I was also wondering if my age might be a problem in any country? From what I can tell it should all be ok (beside the inability to drink legally in the US!)

Thanks

Pympster

I know a Guy he was 22 when he startet from England. But he only made it to Australia. He is not going further yet.

I think too that the Age is not that problem.

Enjoy the trip and take enough time.

greetings from nepal

I think you'll find you are not alone at that age. As an example, I first started international travelling when I was 20 and did a fair amount of riding in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Longest single ride on that journey was NYC -> Guatemala -> LA.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

Welcome to HU!

Don't know for sure the youngest recorded, but I believe there is at least one younger if memory serves. Be interesting to find out for sure. Quite a few in your general age range.

Main thing is to just go and do it and have a great trip!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Well I suppose that means there shouldn't be any age related problems (hopefully) Though not sure how keen my parents are on me going off by myself guess I'll see if I can find someone else as "invincible" as me

A guy called James Heaney One Route | James Heaney | War Child is said to be the youngest Brit to have solo circumnavigated the planet by bike. He got back this summer. Nice guy, drop him a line.

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Thanks for that I just popped him an email

One thing that might be worth considering is the definition of 'round the world' for record purposes. From what I recall it's a distance of 30,000 miles and you have to pass within 5 degrees of two antipodal points, like the UK and New Zealand.

What bike are you on, I thought getting a license under 21 was a problem these days? Small bikes rock though!

Ah I see thanks for that! Well I've actually got a Triumph Sprint GT 1050, but I don't think that will be very good off road...

Yeh it can be more difficult as you are restricted for two years, but I did my test when I was 17!

I probably will end up getting a 600 not sure which though!!

I was totally green when I first set off (I'd had a license for about three months) and took an Elefant 750 - amazing bike but a pig to push off yourself in the sand. My next desert racing bike is a 125!

What route were you thinking of? Central Asia is a bit more beauraucratic but well worth it, the ride to 'the door to hell' in Turkmenistan is one of my favourite biking memories

Hahah sounds amazing, hmmm not really sure was thinking

UK->France->Belgium-->Germany->Poland--> Czech republic --> Slovakia -->Ukraine -->Russia --> Kazakhstan then back to Russia

Not sure of that Vs the turkey and stan route, any ideas?

That route sounds good and is keeping the visa situation simple. Culturally central asia is very different from Russia, they have a rich Islamic history and all follow the 'Turkish model' - they are an amazingly warm and friendly people. The old silk road cities of Buchara and Samarkand have some fantastic old buildings, the tomb of Tamerlane etc if you like that sort of thing. I went down through the Balkans, Greece > Turkey > Georgia . Azerbaijan > Ferry to Turkmenistan > Uzbekistan > Kazakhstan > Russia then headed back West. I was supposed to do TJK and go over the Pamir highway, having seen Colebatchs photos I REALLY missed out so have to go back next year and rectify that! If I was doing it again I'd take the southern route partly for this and also to see if I could ride the Nagorno-Karabakh trail in Azerbaijan on a bike. Its a walking trail, but it's in Azerbaijan and bears witness to what was by all accounts a very brutal and under-reported war between AZ and Armenia.

A lot depends on what sort of riding you want to do. If you want to do more off-road you need much more detail in the planning as to what is good and ultimately that will decide. The southern route would probably add 400 quid in beauraucratic bull, but may be worth it. If you leave in May/June either route will be fine weather-wise. Russia is amazing but the scenery can be a bit monotonous depending on how much you like pine trees!

Hmm I'll have just over 3 months to do it, so my thinking was if I'm tight on time roads in Russia will be slightly better? The other problem is all the border crossings might keep adding up on time so I'll end up being late back for University at the end of september!

Well the original plan was more off road, but since I'm riding solo I think better to stay more on than off.

I think I'll look into both routes now thanks

In three months you should probably stick to the straightforward route if you're flying over to Alaska and doing the 'round' route.

One option might be to do a circular route that goes into Mongolia then doubles back on itself. In 2005 a couple from Rotherham did this in about 3 months. Mongolia is properly wild, would be a very different section from any of the rest. When you are in a hurry you can eat some serious miles through Russia (two days from Moscow to Rotterdam for example)

You get bugger all done in the first term of uni anyway!

I've done bugger all the first year and second year seems to be going the same way...

Yup sadly when I realised it was a solo trip Mongolia became a straight nono

Still seems tricky to find out shipping information that is accurate and up to date! That's the scary bit that I'll lose two weeks to just getting it from Russia to America!