Occasional update... Mon 23 May: General update

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who helped put together a fantastic surprise leaving do! It meant the world and the photos & artwork is brilliant!

Back down to reality, my list of jobs to do looks like this:

It turns out the RAC are fantastic, they really can turn round a Carnet application quickly despite a very late application, though if you're reading this because you're thinking of travelling yourself, brace yourself when you're looking up how much a carnet will set you back. Before you dash of and lay down £11,625 for a new Ewan and Charlie style BMW R1200gs Adventure, the cost of a carnet works by multiplying the value of your bike by the highest rate of import tax you'd be exposed to. In India this is 500%. You then either (sell your house) and leave this amount in full lodged with the RAC, or take out insurance and pay 10% of that value, plus up to £195 for the carnet paperwork and £350 extra charge just for fun. Oh, and 6% insurance premium tax. Aaaaaand breathe... Luckily they accept Visa and do give you some back when your vehicle comes back into the country. That would be cold baked beans for tea again.

Occasional update... Tues 17 May: Freebies and fettling

First up, great news, my first free things of the trip!! Lest anyone say I won't sell my soul for free stuff, let me suggest any round-the-world motorcyclist worth his/her salt should be stopping off at Alt-berg boots for their footwear requirements. Hand made in Richmond dont-yer-know. 5 pairs of spare laces, waterproofing treatment and a suede brush for nothing was a nice touch and all helps...

Next up, a six month Nepal visa was approved and returned this week, more good news and an absolute doddle as well. 

 

Then a bit of mixed news, today's job was to the bike taken apart to fit some new connectors to the battery terminals. These will power a small 12v socket for on the road charging of my phone and other gadgets worked brilliantly, but revealed a few horror stories...

 

The red ring around that big gap is where the air intake goes through the air filter and is supposed to be sealed tight, not gaping open letting all sorts of muck get in and clog up the filter. Sort that later. Today's job though was getting the power socket fitted, and that, we did! Before, the bars had a heated handle-bar grips switch unit that actually has two switches on, the top one doesnt do anything, so...

A fit of fettling and milling to make a bracket...

 

And after: 

 

12 v socket fitted on a little riser above the unused switch on the heated bar grips panel, fantastic job...And thinking ahead, we added a double connector so the Sat Nav can plug straight in without having to get at the battery again. If only some idiot hadnt left the mounting bracket and cables for it in Leeds this weekend!!

Life in balance

Taking a break from a paperwork nightmare (you could do worse that buy shares in passport photo booths right now), time for an emo post… back to business as normal next time.

As excitement about setting off grows, to keep things in balance, doubts about everything left behind similarly grow. I’m just going to copy and paste a few lines from “The Postman’s” blog. Though it was whilst he was on the road (he did the trip in reverse, coming home to the UK from Australia) it’s freakishly close to my thoughts and I couldn’t put it any better:

To give it everything, do everything you can to get what you want and never once let go. Trying; it’s such a beautifully simple concept without any confusion as to what is meant. And we’re all doing it, even if all you’re trying to do is nothing. And what I was trying to do right now was make both these terrifically important things in my life work right now. My trip, and my relationship. But I failed. Trying wasn’t enough. It needed something else, like commitment guaranteed at the other end of this long uncertain journey. I just couldn’t give it and feel a weaker man for that.

But this all has got me thinking these last few weeks. In life we have so many things to think about at any one time. Jobs, houses, girlfriends; we’re stretched in so many directions with each demanding of so much time and dedication leaving us not knowing quite how much to give it. I’m useless at it. My mind gets muddled and I never know which problem to tackle first. It means none get solved, allowing the cycle to continue…

Am I running away from it all? Yes, I suppose I am, from the problems and dilemmas that all of us face in life. But what a way to run, on the back of a beautiful machine.
http://www.thepostman.org.uk/

Yep.

Bin that idea. Time for Plan B

Well, you plan for years then Osama Bin Laden gets shot in Pakistan not 5 days after you put an application in for a visa to travel overland through there, and an already poor situation looks set to deteriorate.

Time for a Plan B.

Speaking with some other people on Horizons Unlimited, the motorcycle travellers forum, it seems the consensus is to give travel in Pakistan a wide berth. These aren't people who read the Sun and panic, but people on the road who've been there and done it. With no experience of the area, I can't justify ignoring this body of advice for the sake of making a continuous overland ride from here to India.

Added to that the stress it would cause friends, family and myself, and the known difficulty of obtaining a very expensive Iranian visa, I'm now thinking of this:

Spend a bit extra time in Turkey, fly myself and the bike from Istanbul into Kathmandu and enjoy an extra month to walk in the Himalayas at the best season weather-wise. This will also buy some time for me to visit Bangladesh, something I have wanted to do for ages, but couldnt on my previous plan because of time restraints.

On 'Plan A' I would have to enter India, exit to go to Nepal, then stay there for 2 months as you can't re-enter India within 2 months of leaving, and head back to India in January until April when my visa expires. Taking another 2 months out of the country wouldn't leave enough time to see anything in India itself. 'Plan B' means I fly straight to Nepal at least a month ahead of schedule, without incurring the mandatory 2 month wait to get into India, have time to walk in Nepal and visit both India and Bangladesh.

Thats a confusing explanation, but it reflects the situation. I'll draw a map and post it later.

India Visa Pleaser

India in efficient bureaucracy shock! Next week, south will be north and time will go backwards. Form filled in online, a couple of supporting documents posted off and a visa returned from London in under 10 days, excellent work! So thats a 12 month multi-entry visa sorted which is especially great news as they're not meant to issue visas for longer than 6 months without exceptional circumstances.

So one down, two to go and it's feeling a lot like progressing through levels a computer game. The first one was a bit of a test but really just getting you used to the idea. The next level is Pakistan that has no online service and need:
- visa form, about 10 pages
- passport & photocopy, fine
- invitation letter from sponsor, huh?
- ID of sponsor with address in Pakistan, no idea...
- bank statements, driving license etc, fine
- reference letter from workplace, saying what exactly, I have no idea
- itinerary & hotel bookings, well never been and nothing booked so far, help!

At least one guy in a travel agents called his mate who 'does visas' reckons I should just turn up at the embassy in Bradford and explain the journey and they'll be happy to sort a visa, even do it the same day. Well that's great, but I'll have to believe it when I see it.

Iran is the final boss battle on the last level by all accounts, but lets deal with that in time.

Darlo to Delhi

All being well, this Sunday I’ll be heading over to Darlington to take care of the most important ‘to do’, buying the bike I’ll be riding around the world. It’s this one:

The yellowness of the paint job might be open to question, but the price, ride, suitability for the job and custom made panniers certainly aren’t.

Also this week, I posted an application for a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa for India with photos that fall well foul of the extensive guidance, so I’ll wait for the good news on that one.

And check this bad boy out…

No idea whether hooking a 12v charger to the bikes notoriously dodgy electrical system is a great idea (along with luxurious heated grips and a satnav), but if it works it might just be today’s best thing ever. Anyway, how hard can bump starting a fully loaded bike in blistering heat actually be?

Around the world in 80 days

Friday 27th May. That’s the day ‘the letter’ says I’ll be leaving work. This feels a long way away, but counting down it’s only 80 days from now. So this is as good as time as any to have a think about what needs doing in those 80 days.

Big stuff:
Iran visa
Pakistan visa
India visa
From looking at their respective websites, it looks like a bureaucratic nightmare, more on these to follow.

Get road tax for current motorbike which expires soon, then…
Sell motorbike (Yamaha Fazer FZ6)
Buy motorbike (Yamaha XT660)
Buy luggage set for new bike & make frame to fit it
Arrange all other mods to new bike
- hard wire GPS & 12v charger to battery
- fit centre stand
- fit rasied screen and hand guards if not already on

Arrange international driving permit from AA
Arrange carnet for new bike from RAC
Make sure all documents from driving license to passport are up to date and make good colour copies of everything.
Take out bike insurance to cover as many countries as possible
Take out health / emergency airlift insurance
Find out what jabs are needed and get them
Arrange a check up at the dentist
Sell car, cancel insurance and collect no claims evidence for when next need it
Sell or store everything that’s not coming with me

Little stuff:
Work out actual departure day & catch ups with everyone before then
Book Eurotunnel or ferry before it gets too expensive
Work out a route & some couchsurfers for the first few days
Look into & print walking routes for a few mountains
Learn how to use video camera and editing software
Cancel mobile phone contract, get new one with international sim
Change a load of money into US$ for emergencies
Make sure all banking Direct Debits etc are up to date
Get CV up to date and work references

Annoying questions:
Look into what happens to my pension & national insurance
Look into completing a P85 Income Tax Form "for those leaving the United Kingdom" and forward to the Inland Revenue with P45

There’s probably more, this is just what’s on my mind at the moment and it’s a relief just to get the list written down. Much like thinking about the trip itself, trying to take it all in at once is impossible, so breaking it down into smaller jobs is the only way. Next up must be selling my bike and buying the one for the trip. Hopefully the next post here will be headed with a photo of the shiny Yamaha XT660. More soon.