Some things to look at in the meantime

Here are a few sites for some others that have done this sort of long overseas trip with their own vehicle:

http://www.thepostman.org.uk/ - Probably originally why I got this crazy idea, he took a postie bike along vaguely the same route. He was posting updates on Advrider along the way, the thread is a very long read.

http://www.sibirskyextreme.com/ - Posts regularly on Advrider and Horizons Unlimited. Check out the photo section, especially the Central Asia (East) photos!

http://melbournetolondon.com/ - Father and Son travelling from Melbourne to London in a 4WD. They spent the money and went through China (something I'm not willing to do! (the money i mean, otherwise no problem)).

From what I understand it's fairly rare to see people going in this direction, a lot of the info I can see is from people coming from the UK to Australia. Doing it that way makes the visa hassles a LOT easier (more on that later).

The Vague Trip Plan

Here's the general summary:
Melbourne to London on a DR650 (but cheating a bit)

Here's the more detailed summary:
I plan on leaving Melbourne on my motorbike on June of 2011, arriving in London on the same bike in some time late 2012 or 2013. Of course, there are large bodies of water in the middle and some countries that will not let you through, but, I will have to navigate around these hassles somehow.

I'm going to leave my job, sell off as much of my stuff as I can, pack the rest for storage and then head off with only the possessions that I can carry on my bike. I've been planning this for over a year now, reading up on how other people have done it, spending a lot of time on horizons unlimited and trying to get info on the best time to travel through these countries.

The route is:

• Melbourne to Darwin via Cairns
• Ship the bike from Darwin to Singapore
• South East Asia for 9 months
• Ship the bike from Bangkok to Kathmandu
• Nepal and India for a few months
• North through Pakistan via the KKH (avoiding the North West Frontier Province) into China then into Central Asia
• Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan (maybe) for a few months
• Russia
• Europe
• London

After leaving Russia nothing is really planned. As I have a UK passport I should be able to travel around Europe without much hassle and do not need to plan it as much. My only problem will be running out of money!

Here is a handy/broken map that I've put together*:

View WorldTrip in a larger map (its not showing all on one page. There are page bottoms in the frame on the left)


* As the map says... This is only an indication of where i'll go. Not the exact roads. Also plans may change. I may decide to go from India to Africa, or via the Caspian Sea to get to Turkey, or maybe even turn around!




More details will be coming! This is the place where It will all end up though.