Mika a motorcycle traveller just sent this video to me. I liked it a lot so I wanted to share it :-)
Dienstag, 19. April 2011
Mittwoch, 13. April 2011
Mission Impossible: How hard is it to find a head lamp?
I just wasted 3 hours on finding a headlamp for our next trip.
You might think this is an easy task (I thought so too):
But try it, go on Amazon and look up head lamp:
Sure enough, a few hundred search results pop up. But not a single one meets the requirements I have in mind. In my opinion they are not very fancy requirements but apparently they are of an impossible standard:
1. It should come with LED lights. They use much less energy then a "normal" bulb lamp.Sure enough most headlamps come with LEDs, no problem so far2. I want the lamp to have 2 batteries. Not 1, not 3 but exactly 2. And this is apparently impossible to find. I wonder why. This shouldn't be a big problem in the 21st century. But apparently it is.
But why do I want 2 batteries? Because I want to use rechargeable ones. The problem with these is that they:
Ask Amazon:
rechargeable batteries on Amazon
2nd and much more important: They can only be recharged in pairs of 2. I haven't found a recharger that recharges 3 of them at a time.
So what am I doing wrong? Did the headlamp industry miss something? Isn't it obvious that 3 is neither 2 or 4? Or am I missing something?
Anyway, if anyone has a good idea or a recommendation for a headlamp please let me know.
Patrick
PS: Done with my rant. I guess if this stays our biggest problem we are lucky. Speaking of problems: I do not have a passport yet. And no visa. And no new tooth brush. And both bikes are still broken. Speaking of broken, the tent is still missing a pole and ...
I guess we still have some things to do.
5 weeks to go :-)
Samstag, 5. Februar 2011
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?
Dienstag, 18. Januar 2011
Sick Means Adventure Reading, & BMW Rescuers Of The More Mature Kind
We made it back from Newfoundland on Thursday, whereas I fell into a coma like sleep and woke up 24 hours later, but that sleep must have been a sign of something more devastating to come, as presently I alternate between sounding like a pubescent boy and Stevie Nicks after a particularly hard drug binge. But there is a light at the end of this tunnel: a guilt free day of drinking tea and alternating between Lois On The Loose and Vollgas: Eine Frau, ein Motorrad, 20.000 Meilen Abenteuer
As someone who rides what makes a great motorcycle book great for me is when I read it and I nod along and chuckle because I get it. And I had to share this snippet:
Donnerstag, 30. Dezember 2010
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!
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!
Sonntag, 21. November 2010
Dreaming Of Bulgaria On A Wet Rainy Sunday Or Episode 07
It has been a while since I have posted in the blog as the last post was written by Patrick and even that was a bit of time ago. (My excuses include work and starting NaNoWriMo to write about Iceland, but really excuses are just that!) So I thought I would share the next Journizer video to show the blog is not dead. End result: stomach sickness from being jealous of myself and wanting to go back to Bulgaria again!
Bulgaria was in fact an unexpected jewel in our trip. We had no real intention of riding through it, and the original plan was that we would spend as long as needed there as we went along the Black Sea coast into Turkey. However rain drove us South instead of East, and as a result we ended up spending almost an entire week enjoying some of the best riding in Europe. I say that even after a storm drove us to seek refuge in a monastery with this guy:
Abonnieren
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