My First Post / Intro

In short: I will be riding my motorcycle solo around Australia for six months. Then I will ship the bike and myself to South Korea, catch a ferry to Russia, and ride again solo from Vladivostok, through Mongolia and Kazakhstan to Europe (destination TBD) for three months.

For much of the trip I will be camping in the wilderness, with DSLR camera, HD camcorder, and HD helmet cam in tow. There will be many pictures and lots of videos of good and bad times alike. I will also have a SPOT GPS to track my progress and let others know where I am. I hope you all enjoy following my adventure over the next nine months. The planning thus far has been a great work in progress, and while the end is quite a ways away (+/-22,000mi without detours), the mere act of setting off in the coming weeks will be an amazing achievement.


I've had some trouble thinking of what I wanted to write as a first post on this blog. Perhaps I've given too much thought into authoring the ideal post -- something that captured my thoughts (of which there are too many at the moment) and set the tone for the nine months to come. Several intense weeks of business school essay writing has taught me that short, concise essays are the hardest to write. This has never been more true than for this first post.

Instead of cramming every last thought that has come to mind over the past days, months, and indeed years and sound like a rambling idiot, I'll let someone else describe what this trip is all about:

As for Peter's trip, my thoughts are as follows.

Peter has dreamed of an adventure trip since he was about 8. Originally, he wanted to the the "Peking to Paris" route, but due to Chinese restrictions, that was not possible (for China, he would have had to have a "minder" with him at all times, and would have had to pay him along the way, as well as return him to the place of origin) India was also a thought, but that also had unrealistic restrictions (he would have had to leave an insurance deposit of 4 times the cost of his motorcycle with the government).

Remember, this is the 16 year old boy who went to Switzerland for a year, he has moved across the world (twice!), he loves to ski (alone and listening to classical music), he loved to ride his motorcycle through mountain passes, he adores photography, he loves geography, he is very adept with technology and gadgets, he is independent and very methodical.

Peter, as you know, does research better than just about anyone I have ever known. He has been in contact with several people who have done the trip (and actually with several who are doing it right now, there will be other people doing it while he is), he has been very responsible in his "purchases" to make the trip as safe as possible. He has researched his bike, and has chosen one that he feels best suits his trip. He has gone to his motorcycle safety classes (both in Switzerland and here) and did very well. I am not sure how much you know about some of accessories. He has very good motorcycle clothes, from the boots, to pants, a leather jacket, a very substantial helmet (a spare visor, because he said that the one he has may well be broken at some point, and a replacement will be necessary), he has 2 pair of gloves with reinforced knuckles as well as hand guards (there again, he said that things might fly off the road, and he needs the protection), he also has bought a vest to wear under his jacket ("body armour," as he explained it, he could get hurt if he falls off his bike, and this should go a long way to protect his vital organs, the thing really is pretty amazing, it is a rather flimsy vest with very heavy plastic breast plates, chest plates, shoulder plates and an articulated spine protector), he has several sets of inner tubes for his tires, and quite an extensive supply of tools and spare parts.

He has two GPS systems: one for him, and one for the rest of us... his, obviously will help keep him on the right routes, "ours" is actually a SPOT GPS system. (you should be able to find it if you google it) It will connect to either google earth, or a similar system so we may see where he is in real time. It also has 3 buttons; the first one will send an "i am fine" message, the second will say that he needs help, non-life threatening, but still in need of help. The third button will dial the 911 equivilant in the area where he is. Russia is a bit difficult with this, in that they will not allow it to be too precise, but it is a pretty amazing system. He has travel insurance which will cover any medical expenses he may encounter, and, in the event of a serious problem, it will repatriate him, he is also in the process of getting a Blue Cross/Blue Shield catastrophic policy that will kick in in the worst case scenario. He will have a cell phone for whichever country he is in, as well as his laptop which he will use to communicate whenever he can duck into an internet cafe or something similar.

I was out to dinner with friends a few weeks ago, and told a few men about his trip. One man looked as me, and as he looked at all the other men in the restaurant said; "Every man in this room has the dream of going on that trip or something similar, very few of us have had, or ever will have the opportunity to do it. And, any one of them who tells you he hasn't dreamed of it, is lying!" That is pretty much the sentiment across the board. At this stage, I have scores of people who are looking forward to his blog. It is going to be amazing. From time to time, things will go wrong. From my vantage point, that is part of life; what counts is how you deal with it.

Peter has never chosen the "normal" path, and I would not expect him to begin that now. He loves his life and is going to experience everything he can. This may be a bit more outside the box than some are comfortable with, but what is the difference between this and his being an exchange student at 16, moving to Zurich, and the Sydney? In each instance, he has examined the opportunity to see if it works for him. Think about the kids who went on Outward Bound when they were teenagers, there isn't a great deal of difference between the two, other than age, and different languages. The same skill sets will be necessary.

For Peter, this trip will be the adventure of a lifetime. I strongly doubt that the stars will ever align for it to happen again.