What is this all about?

Well, let me think… I guess I always had this urge to travel around and to see new places. First on a bicycle and then with fourteen years with my 50 ccm bike. The big step of course was when I turned eighteen and gained my driving license for big motorbikes. I had bought a Honda CB 750 Four a few weeks before my birthday and so I was ready to explore the world (more or less at least, then she had to be rebuilt completely). Nothing could hold me back anymore and so on day trips or longer weekends we would check out Switzerland and our neighboring countries.The next was to buy a more reliable (and modern) bike which was made for long distance travel. The Honda Africa Twin was always one of my favorite bikes and so I had a look around. One day, while I was working in Zurich as a mechanic, my boss had traded an Africa Twin from a customer who bought a BMW GS 1100. Since I was working for the company I got an excellent deal on her and soon she was mine. She was already equipped with engine bars, a main stand and a set of original Honda panniers. So the following years were a trial and error time when I came to experience around with the aftermarket stuff for my Twin. Finally I had it right (at least I thought so) and the first real big trip was set.

The Tschingis Khan Tour 2003 would set Jochen on a BMW 100 GS and me on my Twin to Mongolia and back. We crossed Central Asia into Russia, then headed for Mongolia were we spent 31 days (1 day too long according to the visa) and then through Russia up to the Baltic’s and back home. The trip was a success and we managed to cross 17 countries in six months and covered 32’000 Km without serious injuries or breakdowns.

So not long after that the idea of a trip around the world was born. Well, the first issue that comes to your mind for something like that will be money. Yepp, so I had to work a bit longer in order to get some money aside. It’s not that I wouldn’t earn enough but I always put money into spare parts for my Twin or bought some electronic gadgets, my camera equipment or simply spent it for holidays. So the task was clear; get money together for a trip around the world. Now since most of the countries are cheaper than Switzerland, you actually don’t need that much money once you are on the move. But the preparations and the camping equipment costs hell of a lot.

After my deployment with ISAF (till Feb 2006) I would actually have been ready to set of then in the meanwhile I had become a British citizen (and that’s a totally different story to be told another time) and so I was eligible to obtain a working holiday visa for Australia which would be somewhere on the way. During my debriefing for ISAF I was asked if I wouldn’t like to go to Bosnia again. They offered me a really excellent position in a British led Task Force and the timing would also be perfect. So from the initial plan to actually drive all the way from Switzerland to Australia I had to change to send the bike over and fly after it just after my end of mission.

Therefore the new plan looks something like this; Singapore (without the bike of course) – Australia – New Zealand (in between Oz and Nz I’ll probably head up to PNG and some other places for some diving)- South America – Pan Americana – USA – Canada – Alaska – Russia – back home. But I haven’t made up my mind completely and so there could be a few changes along the road. We’ll see…

So far traveled:

Left Zurich for Singapore on the 29th May 07 and stayed in Singapore for 6 days. Flew on to Adelaide where I got my bike out of customs and driven up to now (19th Nov 07) 23’000 Km.

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