Travel Thoughts... Plan B

So off I head into the next part of my adventure. Plan B.

On the one hand I feel much more prepared for travel than I did when I left Australia at the beginning of Plan A. I'm not stepping into the unknown as much as I was, and it doesn't worry me that I have no fixed plan. I'm not sure if I'd consider myself a "seasoned traveller" yet, but I can slip into a nice travel routine pretty easily these days. I don't need to go hunting through my bags to find anything any more, everything has it's own place and I can find anything in 2 seconds in the dark. I even have about 5 different pre-set packing layouts depending on the mode of transport (plane, train, or ship) and whether it's an overnight trip and if photography is a priority along the way.

But constantly being on the move is also wearing me down. Both physically and metaphorically.  I've been living out of a suitcase for so long now, I'm beginning to miss many things about home. I miss the convenience of having everything at hand, of course my friends and family, the familiarity of knowing where to go to get stuff done, being able to communicate easily and effectively, my pets, bikes, home cooking, and a bunch of other things. But most of all I crave the space Australia has. All these tightly-packed cities are making me claustrophobic.

I know I vented in a previous post about how Australia needs to combat the urban sprawl and adopt to high-density living, and I still believe that.

But I can't wait to walk back into my house in Australia and spread as much junk out in the spare bedrooms as I like, then sprawl out in the lounge room, walk out into the big sandpit I call a back yard, build stuff in my shed, then jump on my motorbike and leave everyone and everything behind and get somewhere without a sign of human existence in sight. Australia, and especially Western Australia is big. Huge. And after spending this long in crowded cities and tiny hotel rooms, and fitting my entire life into a suitcase, I find myself fantasizing about being back in my kombi in the middle of the Nullabor plain, or lost in the Kimberley, or maybe just chilling somewhere on the Tasman Peninsula or riding on some great Tassie roads.

I know my dad is going to roll his eyes and sigh at this, but I've been toying without the idea of coming back to Perth a bit early, buying a cheap-but-reliable motorbike and then spending a couple of weeks riding it to Tassie with the intention of leaving it there when I fly back to Perth. Then I'd have my own transport whenever I came to Tasmania in the future. And Dad, if you're reading this, think of how much easier that would make life for you, and how a bike would take up a lot less space than, say, an old HR Panel Van! It only takes up about as much room as a wheelbarrow. And it would give me another reason to come visit you in Tassie more often. I've already mentioned most of this plan to him, but I never got to the part of the plan which involves me leaving the bike when I go back to Perth.. So.. umm.. yeah...

Of course it depends a lot on the bike. Something old and cheap enough so I won't care much about leaving it for long periods, but it still needs to be reliable enough to get across the country and then be ridden very infrequency after that. Something resembling what used to be just a standard motorcycle. A balance of comfort, practicality, and handling, and I'm thinking a V-twin would be nice as I already have an inline-4 sports bike in Perth. A naked would be cool, but fairings give better weather protection... So maybe a bikini fairing. It doesn't need to be fast, but I still want some fun on twisty Tassie roads.

So far a Suzuki SV-650S is on top of my list. It ticks all the right boxes and can be found cheaply second-hand. But it's not the only choice, so I'll just keep an eye on the classifieds.

Just a thought... Stay tuned, you might hear more about a Plan C.

But in the meantime, Plan B will continue as per normal.  TRAVEL EUROPE AND ASIA!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Barcelona, Spain

None of the photos shown in this post are from my current trip, but all are photos I've taken in either Western Australia or Tasmania.

The Plan

Ok here's the plan.
I leave Perth, Western Australia on 25th October 2010.  I plan to meet my girlfriend in Toulouse, France, around 12th December 2010.  On the way I intend to travel through Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Germany, and finally France.  Although I will fly some of the way (Perth to Saigon for example), I hope to do most of my travelling by train, bus, or ship.

That's about as far as my planning goes.  There will be plenty more after that, but most of it is yet to be planned.  Basically once I get to France in December, I hope to travel throughout Europe and some of Northern Africa with Tina until we both return to Australia in March 2011.  But many things could change between now and then, so I'll just have to wait and see.