Changing Plans Is Part Of The Plan

My father would suggest that the more appropriate title of this post would be "Having No Plan Is Our Plan." Although from the outside looking in it may appear so, but we prefer to think of it as flexibility and open to new things.

So for those who are new here, or those like my mother who emails everyday and still finds the whole process confusing (I would say I think, but in fact I know, that this is due to us and not any faults on her side), here is a summary of the original plan, the new plan, and where we are right now. WITH visual aid courtesy of the German:

Original plan: The three of us (The German, his brother, and me) planned to ride to Novosibirsk, meet Jannick's girlfriend Anina, and then ride Mongolia together.  From there we would ride to Lake Baikal, drop Anina off and continue on to Vladivostok. From there we would ship the bikes to Korea, ride Korea, ship the bikes to South America, and ride on up to Newfoundland.

Then we found out German vehicles are not allowed in Korea.  Apparently this only applies to  German and Croatian vehicles, someone did not sign some silly paper somewhere (or had something to do with the country not really existing at the time) and so getting in is a chance.  With luck the official also does not know it, and you get in like the German did 6 years ago.  If you are unlucky you just shelled out 700 bucks to put your bike on a bonded truck (another chunk of change) that will take your bike to the port, where you can pay 1200 to send it on to South America.

More money than we were willing to chance.

So then we looked at direct to South America from Vladivostok. With prices ranging from 3000 - 6000 per bike, we just laughed.  We can buy NEW ones for that.

But that meant Jannick was on his own. He really wanted to ride across Russia. And though he is German his bike is Swiss. (Even German licenses are accepted, just not the vehicle!). We were not willing to ride and risk being stuck with thousands of dollars in shipping bills, for bikes that were worth only 2.

So in Mongolia we split up, us looking into selling our bikes there, and Jannick went into the Gobi to play cards with Anina.

We met again at the Mongolian border to travel to Lake Baikal and the island of Olchorn.

Then we picked up our new Mongolian visa's and headed back to Mongolia, saying goodbye to the avid card players, Anina flew back to Switzerland and Jannick continued onwards to Vladivostok, where he will ship his bike to Thailand, and from there who knows!  But South America is still on his list.

Our list includes a 9 day stopover in Seoul, mostly so I can eat. (Seriously, I miss Japan, I ache for it.  Korea I just ache for the BBQ and Dukboki, which I ate for breakfast). Then onwards to Bangkok, where our new plan is to buy scooters and burn over South East Asia for a couple of months.  Then its open to New Zealand or waiting until Spring to buy bikes in the USA.

Leaving Ulan Bator:

To chase summer! It SNOWED in UB today, we are sitting here sweating in Seoul! 

And though I will miss Mongolia, I will not miss UB. I love this picture, Seoul, where crossing the street with a walk signal actually means crossing safely as opposed to dodging the oncoming slaughter of cars who are blatantly ignoring any and all traffic rules (both of the red light means stop as well as pediatricians have the right of way).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Banging Our Heads Against The Chinese Wall

As I write this I am sitting in a rooftop ger in Ulan Bator. We were trying to keep the blog somewhat chronological, but between having bad or no internet connections we have not been so successful.   (And that is ok, no one wants their trip to be dictated by a blog!)

My original plan was to ignore my physical reality and just write up a bunch of auto-posts so people can have some idea, albeit a delayed version thereof, our exploits. But I am abandoning the idea. I will still back track a little in the future, but for now we have a little real time news. 

(This is mostly in order to stop people from scratching their heads and going, huh, whaaa, they did what, she is where???  but I thought...)

Our original plan was to ride our motorcycles (Betty and Wilma, two BMW F 650 GSs) across Russia, to Vladivostok, and from there we would either ship to South America, or we would go to Korea and then ship to South America. From there we would ride up to Newfoundland where we would drink a beer with family and friends, and I could squish my nieces and nephews.

Plans change. (The how's and why's of sacrificing to the motorcycle gods,  I am saving for my Chasing Summer article.  But as that may not be out for  a month or more, a short summary of what is presently running through our heads I will provide here!)

As the quotes to ship our bikes began to roll in our hearts sunk deeper and deeper into despair. From Vladivostok we would need to rent an entire container.  To the tune of thousands per motorcycle.  Even if we could fill the container with other bikes, the price was still thousands per motorcycle. We were ok with the low 2000 range when it was 700 to get to Korea, then another 1200 to get to Chile, because we planned to ride for 3 weeks in Korea before shipping.

But

And there is always a big but,  German (along with Croatian) vehicles are not allowed in Korea.  Temporary import or not. Yes Patrick rode his bike there 6 years.  Pure luck. If you are lucky then you get through.  If not then your bike goes on bonded trucks, your out another couple hundred (at least) and for that money you do not even get to ride!

So what are we to do?

IF China allowed bikes in we could ride in China. But at 300 dollars a day for a guide (but that can be split between as many group members as you wish. But even if we had 10 other bikers with us it would be too much!) not only is the price insane, it also takes away from all the freedom of riding your bike in the first place.

We then looked at buying a bike in China. We thought that perhaps the problem was just foreign vehicles,  as foreigners do ride bikes there, why not us?

Well, it would appear everyone rides in various degrees of legality, few with any real legal status, and most rely on the kindness (or the indifference) of the local police. We are still looking into it, but the fact that others say you can do it, does not mean we will do it.  Neither of us have any real interest in seeing the insides of a Chinese prison, even as a “scare tactic” that would not last longer than a few days. (I'll own it, I shit my pants just thinking about it.)

So what are we to do?

Chasing summer is still on the table.  Instead of South America we are looking into New Zealand, as we can buy a bike there for what we would have paid to ship ours.

That means selling Betty and Wilma.

We are also meeting my parents in Thailand in November. That got us thinking.  And looking into online forums. Perhaps instead of South America we could ride South East Asia.  Six – seven months in paradise on earth, surely there could be worse fates for us?

This would mean selling Betty and Wilma, and instead of buying 650 ccs, we would go for 125 ccs, maybe even go for a Scooter, we did a scooter in Cuba and it was awesome!

There would be no thinking if it was not for China! Then we would simply ride our bikes through China, into Laos, cruise Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and ship out from there!

But the Chinese Wall shuts out the whole of Asia to our bikes.

The plan is still to ride home however, only now we stay on the other side  of the world while we wait for Spring to hit the United States, where we plan on buying new bikes and riding onwards to Newfoundland. We are not willing to become backpackers, just an exchange of wheels!

Where we still plan to drink beer however, and squish nieces and nephews, as well as chew on Ms Q's baby! As Shaq, the best dog ever, would have told you, it is not so easy to escape my love! If we can not go through the wall, we will just go around it!

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Banging Our Heads Against The Chinese Wall

As I write this I am sitting in a rooftop ger in Ulan Bator. We were trying to keep the blog somewhat chronological, but between having bad or no internet connections we have not been so successful.   (And that is ok, no one wants their trip to be dictated by a blog!)

My original plan was to ignore my physical reality and just write up a bunch of auto-posts so people can have some idea, albeit a delayed version thereof, our exploits. But I am abandoning the idea. I will still back track a little in the future, but for now we have a little real time news. 

(This is mostly in order to stop people from scratching their heads and going, huh, whaaa, they did what, she is where???  but I thought...)

Our original plan was to ride our motorcycles (Betty and Wilma, two BMW F 650 GSs) across Russia, to Vladivostok, and from there we would either ship to South America, or we would go to Korea and then ship to South America. From there we would ride up to Newfoundland where we would drink a beer with family and friends, and I could squish my nieces and nephews.

Plans change. (The how's and why's of sacrificing to the motorcycle gods,  I am saving for my Chasing Summer article.  But as that may not be out for  a month or more, a short summary of what is presently running through our heads I will provide here!)

As the quotes to ship our bikes began to roll in our hearts sunk deeper and deeper into despair. From Vladivostok we would need to rent an entire container.  To the tune of thousands per motorcycle.  Even if we could fill the container with other bikes, the price was still thousands per motorcycle. We were ok with the low 2000 range when it was 700 to get to Korea, then another 1200 to get to Chile, because we planned to ride for 3 weeks in Korea before shipping.

But

And there is always a big but,  German (along with Croatian) vehicles are not allowed in Korea.  Temporary import or not. Yes Patrick rode his bike there 6 years.  Pure luck. If you are lucky then you get through.  If not then your bike goes on bonded trucks, your out another couple hundred (at least) and for that money you do not even get to ride!

So what are we to do?

IF China allowed bikes in we could ride in China. But at 300 dollars a day for a guide (but that can be split between as many group members as you wish. But even if we had 10 other bikers with us it would be too much!) not only is the price insane, it also takes away from all the freedom of riding your bike in the first place.

We then looked at buying a bike in China. We thought that perhaps the problem was just foreign vehicles,  as foreigners do ride bikes there, why not us?

Well, it would appear everyone rides in various degrees of legality, few with any real legal status, and most rely on the kindness (or the indifference) of the local police. We are still looking into it, but the fact that others say you can do it, does not mean we will do it.  Neither of us have any real interest in seeing the insides of a Chinese prison, even as a “scare tactic” that would not last longer than a few days. (I'll own it, I shit my pants just thinking about it.)

So what are we to do?

Chasing summer is still on the table.  Instead of South America we are looking into New Zealand, as we can buy a bike there for what we would have paid to ship ours.

That means selling Betty and Wilma.

We are also meeting my parents in Thailand in November. That got us thinking.  And looking into online forums. Perhaps instead of South America we could ride South East Asia.  Six – seven months in paradise on earth, surely there could be worse fates for us?

This would mean selling Betty and Wilma, and instead of buying 650 ccs, we would go for 125 ccs, maybe even go for a Scooter, we did a scooter in Cuba and it was awesome!

There would be no thinking if it was not for China! Then we would simply ride our bikes through China, into Laos, cruise Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and ship out from there!

But the Chinese Wall shuts out the whole of Asia to our bikes.

The plan is still to ride home however, only now we stay on the other side  of the world while we wait for Spring to hit the United States, where we plan on buying new bikes and riding onwards to Newfoundland. We are not willing to become backpackers, just an exchange of wheels!

Where we still plan to drink beer however, and squish nieces and nephews, as well as chew on Ms Q's baby! As Shaq, the best dog ever, would have told you, it is not so easy to escape my love! If we can not go through the wall, we will just go around it!

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Anyone Looking To Ship A Motorcycle From Russia To Chile In October?

Trip planning is in full swing and we have run up against our first full snag: shipping the bikes from Vladivostok to Valparaiso.  When Patrick shipped his bike from Korea to Chile he paid just under 500 US for the bike.  We were hoping around 800 per bike either by air or by ship from Russia.  The quote came back, we can not ship per bike, we need to rent an entire container.  For close on to $5000 (we were quoted 4, 500 but that does not include harbor fees in Chile,  so we are thinking in the end it will be more like 5,000).  The thing is a container fits up to 8 bikes.  We are 3 bikes.  That means 5 more could fit and that would bring the costs down dramatically (although cheap it will not be).  So if you know anyone with plans to try and get a bike out of Russia in October in the direction of South America, pass on our address!

Patrick In Mongolia:

But that also means it is crunch time.  We have 4 months (more or less to the day) before we head off on our world trip.  (The date is flexible, Patrick wants to leave the 25th or 26th of May.  This is when the house in  Tuscany becomes available and the rest of his family head to Italy for 2 weeks of vacation.  I am torn between this is much better than working, and that 4 extra days of work brings in enough money to finance half a month on the road). But then life is short, and this was really hammered home last week when I lost my Aunt Liz to cancer. There is one good thing that comes out of the grief of a loss, it really brings home just what, and who, is important. 4 days of work is very little in the grand scheme of things, and Patrick's family have become mine.  In the end what will I gain from those 4 days working versus the memories of the 4 extra days in Italy with family?

Season's Greetings From Newfoundland!

A late post and late Christmas wishes to those who celebrate the season from Newfoundland!  Patrick and I are celebrating this year with my family as next year we plan to celebrate it in Ushuaia Argentina with other motorcycle travellers.  I have celebrated in Switzerland with his family, and I have come home alone to celebrate with my family since moving to Germany, but this year we decided that this was the year he would finally experience a Newfoundland Christmas.  I have gained 8 pounds and couting.  He has gained nothing other than a Newfoundland accent.  This seems highly unfair to me!

In the coming months we will be busy preparing for our around the world trip which will begin June 1st.  I promise to post the developments as they go.  A massive component will be making "lists" to make sure we actually do everything we need to do.  I wrote a little about these lists on my personal blog so I will not repeat it here.  But let us say that you would be surprised at how much you can achieve when you indulge in a little anal retentiveness! 

And for your viewing pleasure I leave you with Episode 8 of Journizing The Throne Of The Gods.  Southern Bulgaria is proof as to why you need to be open to new experiences on the road, because if we had stuck to our original plan we would have missed the absolute bikers paradise that southern Bulgaria in fact is!

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Season's Greetings From Newfoundland!

A late post and late Christmas wishes to those who celebrate the season from Newfoundland!  Patrick and I are celebrating this year with my family as next year we plan to celebrate it in Ushuaia Argentina with other motorcycle travellers.  I have celebrated in Switzerland with his family, and I have come home alone to celebrate with my family since moving to Germany, but this year we decided that this was the year he would finally experience a Newfoundland Christmas.  I have gained 8 pounds and couting.  He has gained nothing other than a Newfoundland accent.  This seems highly unfair to me!

In the coming months we will be busy preparing for our around the world trip which will begin June 1st.  I promise to post the developments as they go.  A massive component will be making "lists" to make sure we actually do everything we need to do.  I wrote a little about these lists on my personal blog so I will not repeat it here.  But let us say that you would be surprised at how much you can achieve when you indulge in a little anal retentiveness! 

And for your viewing pleasure I leave you with Episode 8 of Journizing The Throne Of The Gods.  Southern Bulgaria is proof as to why you need to be open to new experiences on the road, because if we had stuck to our original plan we would have missed the absolute bikers paradise that southern Bulgaria in fact is!

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Trip Planning: Tip #1: Set A Date

Your dream is to go on a trip. Not on a one week vacation, but on a big trip.

One day you will go since this has always been your dream. Not now but one day, maybe when this project is finished or after the car is paid off, then one day...

Sorry to disillusion you but I guess you will never go. There is always the new project, the car, stuff to do with the house, grandma's birthday, the dog and 1000 other things that get in the way. And you know why?

Because you do not have a set date. When the next project starts you have to deal with it. No matter how inconvenient it may be, you can not fight it however as that date is set, when you hit the date the project starts and you have to deal with it.  And the most amazing part is that you will.

But what about your big trip? It has no date. One day is no date, its merely a nicer word for never. So it will always be pushed further and further back by all these other things that may not be important but they have a date. Dates rule our lives.

So if you want to get serious about a big trip (or anything else you want to achive):

Set a date and...

More Tales Of The Land Of Ice & Rain To Come..Till Then Enjoy A Motorcycle Ride Over A Non-Existent Bridge

Shame on me as I have been completely neglecting the blog since returning to Germany, and there are in fact more tales to come.  But as I am teaching English AND still working on my Masters, AND trying to learn German, AND trying to have some semblance of non contractual contact with the outside world I find that even having 20 mins to sit down and write a post to be a challenge.  I finish my course load at uni next month however, and so I hope to have more time then.  (Plus that means there will be a thesis to avoid writing, and that means I will have tons of time to write everything BUT my thesis!).

But as episode 10 just came in to be translated this morning, I found myself thinking that I could at least share the next Journizer episode here instead.  The bridge that does not exist, and me talking nonsense (I did it all by myself but with help????  I meant I rode the bike through that grass alone but I followed the tracks the boys left.  Arg, something about a camera makes me the dork queen as opposed to the dork princess).  :-P

 

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Journizer Episode 2: Getting A German Motorcycle License, And Things To Think About When Planning A Major Trip

When we planned our first motorcycle trip together as 2 riders rather than a rider and pillion, we were ignoring one vital detail. On the one hand we had traveled together before through South America and an Eastern European trip, so we knew we were on the low end of the likelihood to kill each other.

 

Side Note: If you think this is us being melodramatic then you absolutely must do a trail run before committing to long term travel with anyone, let alone your romantic partner. Go on a long weekend trip first, if you both come out with all your limbs and you still like each other, try a longer trip! If one of you is missing vital organs due to lack of shower/fire/food/wild animal that you fed your travel partner to rather than listen to them wine over the lack of fire/smoke from fire/the cold/the dampness/lack of available supplies to maintain sex appeal/or just because of their unwillingness to maintain sex appeal while camping, then you might want to reconsider your travel plans.

So we knew that so long as Sherrie had something to eat everyone in the vicinity would get to keep their eyeballs and the hateful comments would be kept to a minimum. (Hence our emergency chocolate stash, for those times when you are in the middle of nowhere and nothing is to be found or when so it is closed).

We had two motorcycles, two riders, experience traveling together, everything more or less, except one vital detail, Sherrie's drivers license.

And so began the hellish experience of the German motorcycle license, with the additional pressure that if I failed, our trip was delayed by 2 weeks.

And THAT hopefully explains the shrieking like a banshee.

Hopefully.........

Or it could just be genetic....

Enjoy!

 

 

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Journizer Episode 2: Getting A German Motorcycle License, And Things To Think About When Planning A Major Trip

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When we planned our first motorcycle trip together as 2 riders rather than a rider and pillion, we were ignoring one vital detail. On the one hand we had traveled together before through South America and an Eastern European trip, so we knew we were on the low end of the likelihood to kill each other.

Side Note: If you think this is us being melodramatic then you absolutely must do a trail run before committing to long term travel with anyone, let alone your romantic partner. Go on a long weekend trip first, if you both come out with all your limbs and you still like each other, try a longer trip! If one of you is missing vital organs due to lack of shower/fire/food/wild animal that you fed your travel partner to rather than listen to them wine over the lack of fire/smoke from fire/the cold/the dampness/lack of available supplies to maintain sex appeal/or just because of their unwillingness to maintain sex appeal while camping, then you might want to reconsider your travel plans.

So we knew that so long as Sherrie had something to eat everyone in the vicinity would get to keep their eyeballs and the hateful comments would be kept to a minimum. (Hence our emergency chocolate stash, for those times when you are in the middle of nowhere and nothing is to be found or when so it is closed).

We had two motorcycles, two riders, experience traveling together, everything more or less, except one vital detail, Sherrie's drivers license.

And so began the hellish experience of the German motorcycle license, with the additional pressure that if I failed, our trip was delayed by 2 weeks.

And THAT hopefully explains the shrieking like a banshee.

Hopefully.........

Or it could just be genetic....

Enjoy!

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Planning A Motorcycle Trip: 3 Months From Germany To Turkey and Back

Warning:  You may accuse us of many, many things.  And this is where Patrick would say "speak for yourself," but since I have accused him of many things, the sentence stands. But there is one thing you can not accuse us of, and that is taking ourselves too seriously.  Because if we did we would never let these videos see the light of the day.  MAJOR dork content.  But then I guess I had to earn my nickname "Dork Princess" somehow.  And in all likelihood it was not by being cool....

So, with the warning out of the way and to continue on with the post, we filmed our last trip with a regular point and click digital camera, as in the older version of the Olympus Stylus Tough and we passed the raw material onto our friend Andi who in addition to doing an awesome job transforming them into episodes for your viewing pleasure, he also does it while having to sort through my muscle spasms whenever the camera is pointed at me.  (We do improve with time, promise)

So without further adieu, here is the first one where we start to plan and prepare for our trip:

And may I also say that after doing these videos I now have a brand new appreciation for anyone who does live TV, as there is something about a camera pointing at you that makes you feel (and act) like a complete and utter turd.  Even if you suspect that the only people who are even going to watch it are your mom, your close friends, and the random person who stumbles over it by accident while searching for something else on Youtube (like a cat video).  The fact that our views range in the 2000 views (from about 400 up to almost 9000) just goes to show what a fantastic job Andi did!

 

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