I'm posting this from the lounge at Glasgow airport. I popped over for a bit to see my dad who has been unwell. Heading back to Australia now to finalise my plans.
In the meantime here's itinerary for the UK leg..
Rose Terrace. Perth Scotland
9th August - Arrive Manchester. Pick up bike.
10th August - Manchester to East Kilbride. Fit more parts.
11th August - East Kilbride to Perth
Leaving on the glorious 12th from Perth
12th August - Leave Perth for Ardlui
13th August - Ardlui to Whitby via Girvan
14th August - Whitby to Halifax
15th August - Yorkshire finalising bike
16th August - Yorkshire finalising bike
17th August - Huddersfield going away party
18th August - Hang over
19th August - Halifax to Bristol, then Yeovil
20th August - Yeovil - adventure film festival
21st August - Yeovil - London
22nd August - Ace Cafe London. Leaving for Paris 12:00 mid day .... heading south
My wife, Lorraine heads to Paris on the Eurostar. I head for Paris by road & ferry.
23rd August - Eiffel Tower - Jules Verne Restaurant
24th August - wave bye bye to my wife. Aim for Istanbul .. the adventure really begins
For those who don't know, the Horizons Unlimited website is a major source of information for travellers on motor bikes. Set up by Grant and Susan Johnson several years ago they aimed to help others needing support advice and general help to motorcyclists worldwide whilst travelling, wherever that is.
In the last few years , local get- togethers have been arranged in various countries for all members of the site. These end up being major events with workshops, presentations, advice and occassional beer or three.
The Australian meet happened last week end in Queensland. OK Queensland is on the opposite side of Australia, but decided to get there anyway. Luckily i had some work stuff to do in Brisbane on the Friday which eased the expense.
I've put together this little video, Simon and Lisa Thomas provide me with some inspiration.
This has a lot of the stuff I want to show on my trip. It has similar feel as Gaurav Jani's films, probably made with a slightly higher budget, and possibly lots of free bikes and servicing. If Triumph loan me one of those new Expolorer's I reckon I could do much better :)
I've let things slip a bit, my Dad has been has been fairly sick recently so everything else is not really that important at
the moment.We put him on a plane a few weeks ago, concerned he'd lost a fair bit of weight and wasn't eating properly. A short while after getting back to Scotland he was taken into hospital. He has now improved a lot and is eating properly at last. Shouldn't be too long till he gets out and can go on the adventure he's been thinking about for quite some time now.
He has been talking about returning to a place
where he had a life before us lot, his RAF days in Germany. For one
reason or another, this hasn't happened. Now I'm thinking about flying to
UK, picking up a car and taking him to a place of his youth before it
gets too late for both of us.I'd have to fit this in between now and me setting off on my adventure. I'll give it a couple of days and then decide.
still planning
Back to the task in hand.
There is now just over 9 weeks to go until I leave for UK. Have I organised everything? No chance!
I now have my Indian and Pakistan Visa. I'm about to apply for the Carnet de Passage which costs a small fortune. I need to finalise a few items such as ..
all jabs up to date
look at bike transport from Kathmandu to Bangkok, and Singapore to UK
get work up to date so that I can actually leave for 3 months
get fit (been a bit slack recently)
get episode 1 of Video complete (only about 10% to date)
get website professionally completed
figure out final route - via Quetta or KKH
check budget $$$ - still no idea!
sort out luggage system in full (that may have to wait till UK)
sort out spare fuel
sort out tyres
MOT
New clothes and boots
camera gear and storage
spare sprockets, levers and cables, bulbs, fuses etc
I feel I'm getting way too far behind in my preparations.Work has been busy and I find it really hard to devote energies to various things. I think it has something to do with "emotional maturity" where I struggle to cope with several things at once. These days I can only do one thing at once so have to make a choice what I'm up to that day! If I simply had a "job" I doubt I'd care so much but running a business has a different mindset, one you cannot easily disconnect from. Business has been hectic, I have had to turn away customers which I hate doing.
It's hard to stay focussed on this when your heart is elsewhere as I've mentioned, but there you go, I made the decision to do this and I have to keep moving.
I should mention I caught up with some fellow "Hubbers" the other week. See Horizons Unlimited website which is about people who travel on bikes. I could have stayed all day to chat, hear others adventures and gain some insight on best way to do things.
Here's a couple of tips picked up. Try having a "United Nations" sticker on your bike. Apparently it aids border crossings. Not sure if it helps near Afghanistan border though.
Or another, have a document made up which declares Insurance cover for various 3rd world countries rather than pay some dodgy bloke at the border. I reckon the insurance they sell you would be worthless anyway and if you have an accident, you will end up paying the locals not to lynch you.
I'm looking forward to the Hubber's official meeting coming up in Brisbane next week. I'm staying in nice local hotel and hiring a car to get there. Well it is a 5 hour flight away so its not exactly around the corner and I can't take a tent ... or maybe I'm missing the point of all this adventure travel.
Will post some pictures and stuff next week, and possibly some more travel hints & tips :)
