First of all: This is purely non-DF. If this seems inapproriate in this place, I'll move it to General Discussion or Life Advice, but I think mostly players of MDF are interested in this, as it concerns its author, me. So I post it here.
I came back one week ago from my last tour, as some of you are aware. Seeing my comfy house, my regular access to supermarkets, western luxuries, a bathtub with hot water, fast and stable internet and many more things I have to go without while on tour... Seeing all this, I do the only logical next step: Instantly start planning the next tour.
But I dont know where yet. In essence, it comes down to three questions:
Travel with bicycle or no bicycle.
Travel in warm or cold climate.
Travel a short period (2-4 months), or a long period (1-1,5 years).
This is how my map looks now. Black are the countries I have been to, red are the routes. Its per country, so dont be surprised if Alaska is marked, even if I have only been to the lower 49, and so forth.
My current ideas:
- Blue: Fly to India, Maybe Bike, Maybe No-Bike, Travel the nearby countries. Very relaxed, cheap, good food.
- Yellow: Fly to Dubai, try to travel around the Middle East. Problems: Expensive, I wont get into SaudiArabia (no visas for tourists), and Yemen/Iraq is somewhat unsafe.
- Orange: Cycle through Eastern Europe. Ice, Snow, very cold, cheap, not much daylight.
- Pink: Trans-Sib-Railway. Ice, Snow, very cold, cheap, long long distance, cover a lot of ground. Problems: End up in China, where to go from there? Take bike or not?
- Bright-Blue: Fly to Capetown, Cycle back to Germany via Westafrica. Long tour, warm+cold, somewhat unsafe in some regions. Expensive in the long run. (spendings on vaccinations, visas, gear, insurance)
- Green: Do leftovers (Monacco, Lebanon, Malta, San Marino, Andorra) and/or the Paris-Dakar Ralley by bicycle. Expensive, cold, short tour.
I'm incredibly undecided, which is rare for me. I know how to plan for myself, but my girlfriend, who will stay in Germany and has no idea what to do, is rather clueless, and I cant plan anything in that regard, because of too many unknown variables. In Asia she couldnt wait to get home, swooning over possibilities as a webdesigner or personal trainer... now, a week later, she hasnt brought those up at all and wants nothing more but the leave again. We could have just stayed in Asia, which I would have done if I'd been alone at the time. Fickle womanfolk.
This will all be in 1-3 months from now, my home-base is in Germany. I prefer roundtrips to backtracking, I prefer bicycling to public transport, and I have never done a real winter tour on the bike. I know cold weather from mountaineering and trekking. My budget is small, but I did spend little enough on the last tour to have the budget for the next one ready. I'll travel alone, since Girlfriend cant decide what to do, so I just plan for myself atm. I want to avoid countries I have already been to, since my goal is to reach every single one within a couple of years from now.
Before people get their hopes up: I will not decide RL stuff based on public opinion on the DF board, I am just looking for a dialoge that might give more ideas, or point out obvious weak/strong points that I am blatantly overlooking.
So, just like my mod, come one guys, suggestions and discussions are welcome. Which tour, where to go, why not, why yes... I'm like House, I work best when a group of people are throwing ideas at me, so that I can disregard them all and tell them what I'll do in the end.
