Using the ‘massive journey’ around the globe. It’s an ambition many people have, however one which just a few handle to attain.
The enchantment is obvious: limitless days exploring unique lands on two wheels, embracing new sights, sounds, and cultures, when experiencing the extraordinary turns into the unusual.
You’ll depart dwelling nervous but stuffed with enthusiasm and return months or years later a rugged adventurer having adopted within the tyre tracks of motorcycling heroes like Ted Simon, Elspeth Beard, and Ewan and Charley, having traced your personal slim path across the planet.
So, you’ve determined that an itinerant life on two wheels is for you, however what do you’ll want to know earlier than you set off?
Journey around the globe
The wisest individuals to study from are those that have circumnavigated the globe themselves, travellers like Luke Philips who not too long ago returned dwelling to Britain after spending six years and 120,000 miles on the street.
We interviewed Luke for the Sept/Oct 2023 challenge of Journey Bike Rider journal the place, amongst a bunch of fascinating insights, he revealed the motivation behind his epic journey, the explanation he lastly took the plunge, the best method he discovered his method in overseas lands, and the adjustments he made to his bike and kit throughout his travels that he’d wished he’d achieved earlier than he’d begun.
In case you’re planning to embark on a motorcycle journey massive or small your self, belief me after I say it’s effectively price studying what Luke has to say beforehand.
You will get your copy of the most recent challenge of Journey Bike Rider journal right this moment HERE and we’ll ship it to you with FREE UK postage.
Within the meantime, listed below are a number of classes Luke discovered from driving around the globe, in his personal phrases…
There’s by no means an ideal time to journey, so simply go…
“Whereas I used to be at college, I went to Vietnam and did the basic High Gear motorbike route, three weeks up and down the nation.
It was nice enjoyable, however I additionally realised it’s one of the best ways to see a rustic. It’s additionally one thing you are able to do by yourself, alone together with your ideas in your helmet.
After I completed my diploma, I wasn’t fairly able to settle again into regular life. I’d saved up fairly a bit so, in 2017, I made a decision to simply promote all the pieces I had and experience my bike around the globe.”
You don’t want the most costly bike for those who can’t afford it…
“I’d owned a 1998 CB500, and I’d cherished it. And after I was eager about shopping for a brand new bike for the journey, I realised that I’d been driving that bike on daily basis, by all situations.
On my outdated Honda I by no means needed to repair something, it handed each MOT with out a downside.
I used to be initially going to purchase a costlier bike, however Honda had introduced out the CB500X, so I figured I may purchase it, improve it, and use the hundreds I’d save to journey with as a substitute.
Plus, I knew it could be not solely dependable however simply fixable, which is a crucial issue whenever you’re travelling around the globe.”
You’ll be able to’t plan for each eventuality…
“I had fairly a little bit of hassle when Covid kicked off. I’d simply crossed into India from Myanmar an hour earlier than they utterly shut the border.
A Colombian biker I used to be travelling with didn’t make it, he obtained caught on the opposite aspect. I obtained locked in a resort room on one aspect, he was on the opposite, and we thought we may simply wait it out as a result of it could solely final a month.
Clearly, we had been very flawed. I made the British Embassy conscious of the place I used to be as a result of there have been mob riots taking place, it wasn’t the most secure place on the time.”
You received’t bear in mind all the pieces so take loads of pictures…
“After I obtained to Australia, I purchased my first digital camera, after which I’d spend just a few hours on daily basis training.
It’s actually simply been a strategy to share with different individuals what I’m seeing, and it’s additionally to seize one thing important from every day.
Clearly you’ll be able to’t take a photograph of all the pieces you see, however I similar to to immortalise every day with one thing that’s made an impression on me.”
Learn Luke’s full interview within the Sept/Oct challenge of Journey Bike Rider journal
To learn all about Luke’s unimaginable six-year journey around the globe, get your copy of Journey Bike Rider journal right this moment HERE, and we’ll ship it with FREE UK postage.
