Getting ready and the itinary

  Singapore, Singapore
Monday, September 3, 2007

Getting ready :

So here I am In Singapore and have been preparing the trip for a bit more than a month now. What to bring? what not to bring? First I brought everything, then I brought nothing, now I brought what I need! I think...The GS 1200 Adventure is serviced, the new set of tyres are fitted, the itinary planned, the tool kit and first aid are complete, the spares are gathered. I'm bringing a spare set of tyres as well and maybe a few clothes (beeing french I have no problem taking french showers during the trip...meaning a lot of deodorant and an average of one underwear per week...). I did a quick EFR course so that I know how to put a band aid on me, my mechanic gave me a few tips to do the basic stuff on the bike and had all my vaccinations done by the doc. Almost everything is done except the "carnet de passage" which is the most important! I reckon another 3 weeks before I get it (it takes about a month).

The bike naked...waiting to get dressed up...

The itinary :

I was suppose to go to Nepal-India and then back to Singapore...But when I realized that I would almost do the same mileage as going to Europe, I completely changed my mind! I found the idea great and I would see different people, different landscape, different climate,...The only thing that actually didn't change in my planning was the time frame, meaning I want to be back in Singapore by early January. I am taking a bit of a risk as winter is coming in most of the countries I will be going trough and it will be cold (maybe freezing!), especially in the Kashmir region, Western Iran, eastern Turkey and Europe) but eh...Let's go for it and improvise when the time comes. That's also the fun part of the trip...So from summer clothes, I will be finally trading them for warmer gears (and less showers...).

So I'm expecting to complete the whole trip in 100 days. I will be starting from Singapore, then crossing Malaysia relatively quickly to reach Thailand. From Bangkok, I will be flying the bike to Kathmandu where I will ride into India with a quick loop in the kashmir region to ride the highest motorable road in the world. Then Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, greece and finally Eastern Europe where I will be doing a bit of a detour to visit most of the countries there (Bulgaria, Hungaria, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Cech Republic, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland) to finally reach Paris! I'm not going to detail the itinary now as I don't know if I will be able to accurately follow it, so I'll keep you updated as I move on. Moreover, I will be travelling without any visa in advance and will apply for transit visas as I move on...Hmm...Let's see the bright side of it and say that I'll get to discover the administrative side of each country...I'm planning on an average of 200 km per day including the stops (probably a bit more actually...).


The rider :

Nothing much to say...Nevertheless, for those of you that want to compare me with what I will look like when I arrive in 3 months time, I'm sharing with you my latest modelling picture...

Me before the trip, I'm the one below btw...