Hi guys, new member planning a big trip here

[Uyar91]

Hi all,
After reading for a while decided to make an account here.
I'm planning on driving this route starting from the Netherlands this coming July and I'm planning on taking as long as I feel is needed.
Only experience I have on motorcycle trips is a month long 8000 km trip from the Netherlands to Southern Spain, but during this trip I only slept in hostels and B&Bs and now I'm planning on primarily going camping to keep the costs down.
If you guys have any stories about an earlier experience somewhere on this route or any advice regarding border crossings or shipping a bike. Or any advice in general please feel free to drop it here.

[mark manley]

Hi Uyar91 and welcome,
Just about all of the questions that you will have about travelling this route will of been answered already, the task is to find them. I would start with the ride reports and see which ones cover this route then work your way through the continents, trip planning and vehicle sections and a picture will build up of what is possible and how to go about it.
When you have done your research come back with specific questions that you cannot find the answers to.
Don't think that your relative lack of experience should be a barrier to making a trip like this, people have done it with less.

[markharf]

OP, you're very early in the dreaming (a.k.a. "planning") process. As suggested above, you really need to be reading trip reports and planning threads, since no one is going to provide you with the whole picture in sufficient detail just because you ask for it. The other obvious thing to do at this stage is to buy a guidebook or two. Chris Scott's books are the standard for overland motorbiking, and there are others.

What stands out for me immediately (and indicates clearly that you're early in the process) is that your map shows some highly-improbable route choices, including Lebanon/Syria, Eritrea, and Burundi.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

[AnTyx]

Originally Posted by Uyar91

now I'm planning on primarily going camping to keep the costs down.

Same advice as I gave to someone else before... bring a tent, but don't make it the center of your strategy.

In Western Europe, the cost of a tent pitch in a campsite is not less than the cost of a hostel bed. And in a hostel, you get a roof, heating, and a shower. Once you get out of Europe, accommodation simply becomes very cheap. Camp on the days when you are far out in the countryside, the scenery is beautiful, and the weather is nice.

Brief notes on your route:

1) You're going through Switzerland which means an expensive highway vignette (unless you want to stick to local roads for the challenge of it), but you are completely bypassing Austria and the North Italian mountains. Carinthia and the Dolomites are some of Europe's best riding areas - don't forgo them in favor of the boring and stressful autopista on the flatlands.

2) You're spending time in Albania and Macedonia, but completely bypassing Bulgaria - any reason for that?

3) If you make it all the way across Turkey, you absolutely owe it to yourself to ride in Georgia. It is one of the world's great tourist destinations, and with plenty of interest to moto travelers.

4) ...meanwhile the south and especially southeast of Turkey is super tense - it's essentially the staging area for a war that Turkey is fighting in Northern Syria, and locally with the Kurds. I'd cut through the center and avoid the border areas.

5) To my understanding, there is no open land crossing between Lebanon and Israel (and Syria is still closed for war). Maybe go from Turkey to Cyprus (check the border formalities between North and South Cyprus) - there's a ferry service from Limassol to Haifa IIRC.

6) Crossing the Sinai on a motorcycle is a question mark. Sometimes it's forbidden, sometimes people make it through. Be prepared for delays and trouble.