Hmm cost estimate? ....some long distance dreaming.

[lonesoldier84]

As some of us do, I am planning at some point in my
life to do a global ride. Just for the sake of starting a
discussion and communal day dreaming, I wonder how
much someone would have to budget for a trip like that
in terms of time and money. Also, in order to prevent
the trip being just about personal gratification, the
trip would have to offer some worthwhile humanitarian
angle as well. What could that be?

Also, what sort of skills should someone acquire during
the years preceding a ride like that. Survivalism, surely,
but what else? What other preparations could the rider
make to allow for greater enjoyment on the trip itself?

UP TO DATE LIST OF EVERYONE'S IDEAS ON PREPARATION:
Here are the skills a rider would need to have that everyone has
come up with so far and the preparations they should make
in the years preceding the trip:

1) Ability to take bike apart and rebuild it again.
--bike mechanic courses taken part time from technical
schools, then just practice over the span of a few years
-Total time = 3 years

2) Languages.
--Rosetta Stone tutorials for Spanish, Russian, ?Mandarin?,
and a prominent african language (French?). One year per language
to learn it well in casual hours. Total time = ~4 years

3) Road experience:
--shorter range trips every year to test the waters and find weakness. get progessively longer to continue to develop skills and experience (west coast one year, mexico the next, then south america the year after sound familiar??)
-Total time = 4 years and 4th trip being a pretty large scale one

4) Having some purpose so the "sense of achievement" angle of a man's happiness is attained:
--civil engineering, or medical, or other relevant education/background to be able to contribute somehow.
-Total time = ~5 years to build up the knowledge base either through work experience or schooling

5) Medical knowledge for treatment of rider(s)
--some random E.M.T. training taken part time.
-Total time = a few months

6) Hunting
--research and thought, followed up by practice.
-Total time = 2 to 4 years of hunting trips now and again?

7) Foraging
--botanical research?
-Total time = 2 to 4 years of sporadic reading in casual time

8) Survivalism
--no idea.....learn from someone else who has gone through a military training regume?
-Total time = several lessons followed by incorporating this into riding trips 3 and 4.

I don't know. That's all we have so far. Now for the actual logistical discussion!!


Lets assume the route runs something like this:

 

[DefyInertia]

let me know when you're goinig to be in thailand...I'll meet you there

 

[shuckle]

That looks fantastic! just be careful after New Zealand it looks like you're going to fall off the edge.

 

[tomari]

you need to find some sponsors for your trip and fill up your bike with decals and logos of them, usualy new tv stations, banks, whiskey and such companies do this kind of sponsorships but you need the guts to go and ask for it, also you need to convince them that they are gonna be advertised of you, your bike, and your trip. anyway if you manage to get to Greece just pm me!!!!! i have a spare gorilla cage and plenty of bananas to begin with !

 

[necrotimus]

Motorcycle Tours – Worldwide – Edelweiss Bike Travel go with other riders everything taken care of for just over $100k... lol if you can afford that and the year off work then this is for you

 

[greg]

the only thing to watch out for is china, they may not let you ride you bike through there. I met some guys in mongolia who were struggling to get permission to drive their 4x4 through there, and the embassy told them that they needed to hire a driver for the trip!

the top of south america (the somethign gap?) is also notoriously dangerous, so be careful with that part of the route

other than that best of luck!

i met a guy who was doing somethign similar... but on a bicycle. I think he went crazy, but was probably already insane before he left

 

[greg]

Motorcycle Tours – Worldwide – Edelweiss Bike Travel go with other riders everything taken care of for just over $100k... lol if you can afford that and the year off work then this is for you

organised tours make baby jesus cry

 

[mxgolf]

Wow Lone you sure dream big. That would be pretty cool however. If I win the lottery would love to join. The chances of that are pretty small however. LOL. Thanks for sharing your dream. I will get my butt out next year on a long ride. Not around the world but I want to go south from Oregon and just take it day by day. No real itinerary to speak of but to meet some fourm members on the way. Cool. :thumbup:

 

[Lefty]

I've had the same daydream myself. See the world, different cultures and people, etc. I don't think the problem will be the cost of the trip but traveling in most of the world isn't like traveling in developed, free countries. If you've seen either "Long Way Round" Long Way Round - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
or the follow up trip, "Long Way Down" with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, you'll see the incredible amount of red tape and paperwork required to travel to most foreign countries. Besides finding interpreters to deal with customs and government officials, alot of times you have to hire "fixers" who you pay to basically bribe the right official at the border to let you through. Sorry to rain a little on the parade but it put the kabosh on any dream I had of a trip like that after I saw the Long Way Round/Down videos.
If you haven't seen them, they were awesome and will give you a real idea of what it's like to travel around the world on a motorcycle.

 

[Kazza]

:steve:

You're coming to Perth.

Don't go direct from Qld to Perth through the middle - go across the top and down :thumbup:

 

[greg]

i did a bit of a RTW trip when i graduated, but i did it on foot using public transport, which probably made it a lot easier.

Places like south america should be pretty easy visa wise (note that it can depend on what country you're from though, e.g. irish). Places like russia can be harder and involve a lot of bribing.

Taking a vehicle i think you basically have to prove that you aren't importing it to sell. Some places (australia) may require proof that you have enough money to stay.

I'd also say that unless you spend a few years doing this, you may find you want to explore a country or region in a bit more detail. I only spent 3 months in south america, but could easily have stayed a few years.

 

[AngelFZ]

WOW what a trip!!!!

It would be awesome!!!!!

Budget: I do not know, this would be a good exercise to do some calculations.

Skills:
- multiple languages (that could be very helpful) of course, on a trip like this you'll never cover all the languages, but starting with English, Spanish and French will help a lot.
- handyman, mechanical, medical.

Very important, video/image log of the trip




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lonesoldier84]

Lol, I think people think I am planning this trip in more detail than I am. It is very far off, but rather than just have the concept in my mind I want to start actually taking steps towards it.

@ Kazza: I just drew a red line in the general area of countries I would have to refuse to miss. The red line really is just meant as a sort of haphazard route plan.

@ necro: Sorry homeslice, guided tours are not the sort of thing I had in mind. I don't want to just hit a bunch of checkpoints and travel through the places. I want to live and feel the places and the only way I think that's possible would be to be solo or in a small group of likeminded individuals.

@MXgolf: It is just something I have to do. I can't explain it. If I know my life is headed towards a trip like that, I feel calm and purposeful. If I don't, then I can find nothing else interesting enough to direct my life towards. That's why I mention I don't want it to be just about personal gratification. I would like the purpose of the trip to be to live on the road and direct the entire energy of my life and person to leave a mark in the lives of the people I come across. I have been working towards a civil engineering degree gradually because after thinking about all the various things I could do with my life, having a ton of technical and theoretical knowledge about water treatment, and creating civil structure and infrastructure, my time and effort could actually be valuable to people in remote parts of the world where some tiny bit of attention could make a genuine difference. That makes me happy and it is more than just a dream, it is a clear, driving, and unifying goal that pleases me because I know it is possible if I simply make the effort step by step and day by day to get there.

This isn't just a trip for me. This is how I want to live. My home will be wherever I set up now and again and establish temporary roots for part-time work (hopefully engineering related) and roaming around the countryside in search of whatever it is I am in search of. I fully expect to invest 2 or 3 years into something like this. Until I complete this journey, I fear death. When it is behind me, I will be spiritually appeased. That is as best as I can explain it.

@ Lefty: I've seen those videos and they were great. The two riders did have a small town travelling behind them though, lol. There are some great ride reports on adv rider of some people that did similar trips solo. One guy even did it on an old harley cruiser. As for the concern about bribery, paperwork, and logistics, that is just the nature of the beast. I've travelled through India and have some insight into that realm. It's not so bad. Sure there is worse out there, but those are just hurdles to overcome. Nothing worth doing is easy. Worst case scenario is I detour around places that are too much bother.

 

[scottsst]

I'm so happy to see another rider planing a RTW run. I have been thinking about one for a long time now! After seeing acouple people do it on bike's you would'nt think of doing it on like a R1 or a choppper. So the one big word of advice I can give out is ask question on Adventure Rider Motorcycle Forum there are a large number of people over there that have done a RTW ride. second if you do it you will have to make a Stop in Seattle and get ahold of me so I can say high and wish you good luck in person.

 

[lonesoldier84]

And now for the actual start of logistical planning. Here are the skills a rider would need to have that I have come up with so far and the preparations they should make in the years preceding the trip:

1) Ability to take bike apart and rebuild it again.
--bike mechanic courses taken part time form technical schools, then just practice over the span of a few years

2) Languages.
--Rosetta Stone tutorials for Spanish, Russian, ?Mandarin?, and a prominent african language. One year per language to learn it well in casual hours. Total time = 4 years

3) Road experience:
--shorter range trips every year to test the waters and find weakness. get progessively longer to continue to develop skills and experience (west coast one year, mexico the next, then south america the year after sound familiar??)

4) Having some purpose so the "sense of achievement" angle of a man's happiness is attained:
--civil engineering education and background to be able to contribute somehow. Maybe even work random labour jobs and get a ground level understanding of the problems people face?

I don't know. That's all I got so far. Now for the actual logistical discussion!!

you need to find some sponsors for your trip and fill up your bike with decals and logos of them, usualy new tv stations, banks, whiskey and such companies do this kind of sponsorships but you need the guts to go and ask for it, also you need to convince them that they are gonna be advertised of you, your bike, and your trip. anyway if you manage to get to Greece just pm me!!!!! i have a spare gorilla cage and plenty of bananas to begin with !

I have actually given this some thought and the company I work for is global. I could potentially have support in this regard as I travel about. Beyond that, that is all stuff that is way too far down the line to think about now. This whole thing is potentially 5-7 years away.

the only thing to watch out for is china, they may not let you ride you bike through there. I met some guys in mongolia who were struggling to get permission to drive their 4x4 through there, and the embassy told them that they needed to hire a driver for the trip!

the top of south america (the somethign gap?) is also notoriously dangerous, so be careful with that part of the route

other than that best of luck!

i met a guy who was doing somethign similar... but on a bicycle. I think he went crazy, but was probably already insane before he left

To hell with China then! lol. Craziness is subjective. I'm sure he thought YOU were crazy haha.

i did a bit of a RTW trip when i graduated, but i did it on foot using public transport, which probably made it a lot easier.

Places like south america should be pretty easy visa wise (note that it can depend on what country you're from though, e.g. irish). Places like russia can be harder and involve a lot of bribing.

Taking a vehicle i think you basically have to prove that you aren't importing it to sell. Some places (australia) may require proof that you have enough money to stay.

I'd also say that unless you spend a few years doing this, you may find you want to explore a country or region in a bit more detail. I only spent 3 months in south america, but could easily have stayed a few years.

Indeed. Good info. But this is planning for when the time is much closer at hand. Right now I just want to build up a skill set which would make this trip much easier. I've got 5 or 6 years to get my **** together.

WOW what a trip!!!!

It would be awesome!!!!!

Budget: I do not know, this would be a good exercise to do some calculations.

Skills:
- multiple languages (that could be very helpful) of course, on a trip like this you'll never cover all the languages, but starting with English, Spanish and French will help a lot.
- handyman, mechanical, medical.

Very important, video/image log of the trip

Yeah, that's what I need to do to lend some reality to my day dreaming. Calculations.

French? lol, bah! Lol, jk I actually speak a bit of french as I studied it for like 6 years as a young boy.

Medical.......now THERE's something I hadn't considered. Other than simple first aid courses, what could I take do you think? I wonder if I can take classes to become an E.M.T. part time and pick up some more of the fundamentals that way. Good idea! Thanks.

Day by day, plodding along, I think 5 years is enough time to amass enough skills and competency to make the trip enjoyable.

The cost will be the biggest problem. It could be aided by gradually plodding along and setting up temporary homes and working and saving up enough money to make the next leg of the journey perhaps. This would be less of a "trip" than a way of life for those years on the road. Would have to pretty much live like a tramp and cut back on personal comforts to the point of just trying to make the next leg of the journey.

Edit:

I am going to keep an updated list of what someone would need to do in the years preceding a trip like this in the first post of this thread.

 

[lonesoldier84]

Currently, I have this as a preliminary guide for riders planning this sort of thing:

1) Ability to take bike apart and rebuild it again.
--bike mechanic courses taken part time from technical
schools, then just practice over the span of a few years
-Total time = 3 years

2) Languages.
--Rosetta Stone tutorials for Spanish, Russian, ?Mandarin?,
and a prominent african language (French?). One year per language
to learn it well in casual hours. Total time = ~4 years

3) Road experience:
--shorter range trips every year to test the waters and find weakness. get progessively longer to continue to develop skills and experience (west coast one year, mexico the next, then south america the year after sound familiar??)
-Total time = 4 years and 4th trip being a pretty large scale one

4) Having some purpose so the "sense of achievement" angle of a man's happiness is attained:
--civil engineering, or medical, or other relevant education/background to be able to contribute somehow.
-Total time = ~5 years to build up the knowledge base either through work experience or schooling

5) Medical knowledge for treatment of rider(s)
--some random E.M.T. training taken part time.
-Total time = a few months

6) Hunting
--research and thought, followed up by practice.
-Total time = 2 to 4 years of hunting trips now and again?

7) Foraging
--botanical research?
-Total time = 2 to 4 years of sporadic reading in casual time

8) Survivalism
--no idea.....learn from someone else who has gone through a military training regume?
-Total time = several lessons followed by incorporating this into riding trips 3 and 4.

Still missing any sort of cost analysis.

Preliminary estimate I have come up with is:

Spoiling yourself, $200 for everything that is needed each day = ~$75,000 per year, but that could probably be whittled down by being stingy and self-sufficient. Add to that setting up temporary places to stay and save a bit of cash working now and again (and getting a ground level assessment of the country you are in), you could easily turn that amount needed into a fraction of $75,000.

Say......$30,000 per year banked for costs? I think that could be possible if you could stretch $80 to last you a day and if you expect not to earn any cash on the road.

The only thing that could upset that would be mechanical maintenance costs on the bike.

 

[lonesoldier84]

This guy wins:

SeanF's RTW Planning Brain Dump - ADVrider

 

[greg]

language wise, you can probably get quite far without learning too much

spanish -> useful in south/central america
french -> useful in africa
russian -> useful in north asia (mongolia/khazakstan etc)
mandarin -> becoming popular alongside english in se asia

you'll be surprised at how far you can get by without speaking the language though, and english will get you quite far

tbh, in 5-6 years i think google translate will be sufficiently advanced to negate this point anyway I can already get it to translate my friend's parents speaking mandarin into english on my phone.

 

[Humperdinkel]

:steve:

You're coming to Perth.

Don't go direct from Qld to Perth through the middle - go across the top and down :thumbup:

And QLD :cheer:

Like Kazza said , dont go through the guts of this joint you'll miss to much :thumbup:

Humpy will ride the QLD coast with you mate & when we stop in a little town called Bundaberg & you sample their nectar :drool: you'll never want to leave

 

[Humperdinkel]

Ohh yeah & Lone , down under we speak 'Stralian so you'll hafta learn some local lingo before you arrive :thumbup: