The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
– Lao Tzu
So after two years of dreaming, scheming, planning and preparing – including a not-inconsequential ‘shakedown’ trip around Australia last year – I have begun my next adventure.
The Concept:
Sydney to London, overland, by motorcycle. Ideally, without resorting to planes wherever possible.
Inspirations for this kind of trip include Ewan and Charlie in the Long Way Round, Ted Simon in Jupiter’s Travels, and dozens of people on the ADVRider and Horizons Unlimited forums – if you’re at all interested in one day doing what I’m doing, start there!
The Plan:
Starting from Sydney, ride to Darwin, ship the bike to Dili in East Timor, then cross the land border into Indonesia. Island hop across Indonesia to Sumatra, then use another ship to cross the Malacca Strait to Malaysia Work my way up the peninsula into southern Thailand and on to Bangkok, before looping east and north through Cambodia and Laos. Cross back into northern Thailand and then across Myanmar (Burma, for the older set) into northeastern India. Around Darjeeling, pass through Nepal and back into north-western India. Depending on the security situation, move into Pakistan and exit north through far-western China to Kyrgyzstan. Do a big loop through all the Central Asian ex-Soviet republics – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan – before crossing Iran. Either directly, or via Turkey, loop through Armenia and Georgia before transitioning from Asia to Europe at Istanbul. Finally, crossing Europe and on to the finish line in London.
The Numbers:
12 months leave from work, 12 month lease on my apartment, 2 years of skimping and saving money.
Roughly 35 countries, depending on the final route and the path across Europe.
Roughly 45,000 kilometers, again depending on the final route taken.
The Company:
I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet someone crazy enough not only to want to do this trip with me – but someone crazy enough to quit her job and commit to actually making it happen!
Ghighi will be making an appearance later on the blog, as she will be joining me in Malaysia once she has tied up all her loose ends at work.
That’s all for now, but I will start posting updates from the road soon!
