When I began planning my route, there were obviously many choices open to me… I wanted to do a “proper” RTW trip, and not one that took the shortest possible route, as some other travelers have done… Firstly, I had the time to ensure that I covered every continent, which for me was the right way of doing it and being able to claim that you have REALLY covered the globe as much as possible…
Secondly, there were many places that I wanted to visit, after either seeing them on TV or reading about them in magazines like the National Geographic… I wanted to stand on the spots where history had been made, regardless of the type of history…whether it be the discovery of a certain place, or the events that took place in and on them…
And then like many explorers and travelers, I wanted to make a bit of history myself… Not the kind that would make me famous or anything like that, but “history” on a smaller and more personal scale… Like being the first person I know personally, to do this… The first South African to ride the route that I have chosen…Â I want to give my children something about their father to be proud of, something about him they might never forget…
The route I have chosen will probably change as the journey unfolds before me… There may be places that become too dangerous to visit, or adverse weather might prevent me from following my chosen route… As I write this (April 6th 2010), things have already changed… I was unable to ride north into Angola as planned, and now I might not be able to ride into Zambia either, due to time constraints… But that is how it will go at times… I have already ridden in these countries, so it won’t be a train smash….
The World Map I originally posted did not show enough detail for people who have been interested to see where I plan to go, so I have deleted it and will be replacing it with maps of each continent, which will hopefully give you all a clearer picture of my intended route…
Africa is first up of course….
And then it will be across the Straits of Gibraltar and into Europe…
From a base in Turkey, I will then ride through the Middle East… I will then head out to do the “Stans” depending on weather conditions in Central Asia…
Then it’s on to Asia, riding down to Singapore, or, if it’s possible to fly to Sydney from Bali, I will ride down through the Indonesian Islands…
And from there we do the only country that is a continent, Australia…
Then it’s a long flight across the Pacific Ocean, to Anchorage in Alaska… The ride across North America begins here….
Then it’s the last frontier for us… South America. We fly from Panama City to Baraquilla in Colombia, and start our ride through the 6th and final continent…
If all goes well, we will have covered the Southern and most Northern tips of Africa, Europe, North and South America, ridden on all six (ride-able) continents, and traveled about 120 000 kms… All in all….a helluva ride !!
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