(I have more Maps!)
I had no initial intention of travelling for so long. It became a way if life. For seven years I lived on £300 per month which covered all my expenses and even allowed me to save a little for a couple of visits back to England for important family events. I lived very frugally, staying in the cheapest accommodation or free-camping and eating delicious food from street stalls.
Visas for each country I passed through were obtained as I went, often at the border when I got there. Some I had to pay for, some were free. Things are changing in the world and I don’t know whether travelling like this without obtaining visas in advance is now possible.
Some South and Central American countries required vehicle insurance which I purchased at the border, otherwise I did not have any.
My adventures took me all over India, Pakistan (where I broke my leg and was cared for for many weeks by a kind Pakistani family), Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand (where I fell in love and worked as a hospice nurse), Ecuador (when the love affair didn’t work out), Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and home via the US and Canada. I shipped or flew myself and the Enfield over the seas but rode overland whenever possible.
Twice I thought I was going to die whilst on small yachts with the bike: once when travelling from Malaysia to Indonesia, and then in transit from Colombia to Panama; I slept with a knife under my pillow when not on watch! In the Straits of Malacca the boat was robbed by pirates at sea not long after the five Indonesian castaways we’d rescued had been landed in Malaysia.
Then more trouble with another scary skipper who threatened to throw my Enfield overboard amongst the San Blas islands near Panama.
After that I vowed to stay on land which didn’t mean I stuck to my word or that the rest of the seven year journey back to Bristol was always smooth…
Visas for each country I passed through were obtained as I went, often at the border when I got there. Some I had to pay for, some were free. Things are changing in the world and I don’t know whether travelling like this without obtaining visas in advance is now possible.
Some South and Central American countries required vehicle insurance which I purchased at the border, otherwise I did not have any.
My adventures took me all over India, Pakistan (where I broke my leg and was cared for for many weeks by a kind Pakistani family), Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand (where I fell in love and worked as a hospice nurse), Ecuador (when the love affair didn’t work out), Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and home via the US and Canada. I shipped or flew myself and the Enfield over the seas but rode overland whenever possible.
Twice I thought I was going to die whilst on small yachts with the bike: once when travelling from Malaysia to Indonesia, and then in transit from Colombia to Panama; I slept with a knife under my pillow when not on watch! In the Straits of Malacca the boat was robbed by pirates at sea not long after the five Indonesian castaways we’d rescued had been landed in Malaysia.
Then more trouble with another scary skipper who threatened to throw my Enfield overboard amongst the San Blas islands near Panama.
After that I vowed to stay on land which didn’t mean I stuck to my word or that the rest of the seven year journey back to Bristol was always smooth…
