Big Rideabout - Advice please.

[Cal Price]

It so happens that I have a couple of weeks late June / early July time to do as I please. I am thinking it might be a good idea to take the bike over the channel to France, ride up to the Waterloo monument in Belgium and then head in an easterly direction with nothing other than a vague plan to end up in Prague or at a push Vienna. Outward via France, Belgium, NL and Germany possibly back through Switzerland. This will depend entirely on how I do for time as if I find somewhere interesting I may stay more than overnight. No plans, no targets just follow my nose really. I may get no further then Amsterdam or all the way to Vienna. (?)

I want to travel as light as possible but I have some Buffalo touring panniers, my regular Give top-box, buffalo tail-pack that it fit the "wrong" way around back-to-back with the top-box and my Oxford tank bag. I rather hope to do without the tail pack and just use panniers and tank bag for my stuff and the box for bike related stuff plus wet-weather gear etc. I will stay in Hotels and ride in full CE armoured gear plus propper bike boots.

I shall carry the basic tool kit plus bulbs and fuses and a couple of extra tools but roadside engineering is not my thing I will get roadside assistance, accident and recovery cover from one of the motoring organisations or my regular insurer.

What are the aboslute essentials that I should carry in addition to the small digital camera, mag-lite and swiss army knife that are permanently in the pockets of my biker jacket ? ?

[TadMC]

x

[RedShift]

My two cents?

If I had a big journey to take on a GS500, these thoughts would come to my mind:

• I'd invest in an AirHawk over pharmaceuticals -- avoid Monkey Butt rather than deal with it.  (Heard the "Anti-Monkey Butt" powder does well but just minimizes the effects.)  I have a Sheep Skin pad, and it doesn't do enough.  (I'm walking like an old bow-legged cowboy after 250 miles.)
  
  
• A single or two-piece rain suit is a must have.  Getting wet when you've got many miles to go to a destination is no fun.
  
  
• A puncture repair kit.  I've got the Stop & Go Pocket Tire Plugger.  Very compact.  Fits under the seat on top of the stock tool kit.  Never had a need to use it (knock on head -- closest wooden object).
  
  
• Some other tool kit than the stock one.  Sadly I have yet to upgrade, but the tools are low quality.  Best to trust a better set.
  
  
• You'll need some way to unload your camera's memory when full.  Since you want to travel light, a Computer is probably not an option.  What's the chances of a commercial service to dump the memory disk onto CD-ROM in Europe?

I envy you Cal.  A lot of great riding opportunities out where you're headed.   

[Caffeine]

I think I can manage to get fired from my job by then...and my passport is still valid.    Do you want a riding companion? 

Seriously, it sounds like a great trip!   We'll expect pics!

A cell phone would seem like a must-have.   And a Lonely Planet guide.  And a French phrase book, unless you parlez-vous francais.

[niteshade]

I am thinking it might be a good idea to take the bike over the channel to France, ride up to the Waterloo monument in Belgium and then head in an easterly direction with nothing other than a vague plan to end up in Prague or at a push Vienna. Outward via France, Belgium, NL and Germany possibly back through Switzerland. This will depend entirely on how I do for time as if I find somewhere interesting I may stay more than overnight. No plans, no targets just follow my nose really. I may get no further then Amsterdam or all the way to Vienna.

I am entirely jealous.  You have just stated my dream trip, and here I am in Chicago.  Man.  Best of luck, and please look up the nearest internet cafes to upload pics and give play by play.

[pantablo]

ah Cal, sounds great. Kerry would be your go-to man on that as he's done his share of touring and has documented lots of his minimum gear. I'd suggest trying a search, seeing as he's not around much these days.

[Cal Price]

Pantablo, kerry does know about the plan, I am expecting wise words sometime anytime.

I will take plenty of pics, I have a fair bit of memory available as both by small and large Nikons both use the same card but downloading to a disc is available all over should it become required.

I normally carry one of those aerosol, inflate and repair kits for punctures and a cellpnone, I will investigate a plug kit and aquire a small handpump. My biker gear is waterproof and i will probably give it an extra silicone spray as well. I normally carry waterproof overtrousers in the top-box but will investigate a second skin jacket or one-piece as well. I will not devote too much time and space because if there is dreadful rain I will just hole-up somewhere.

Redshift and TadMC have made a good point, I am not keen on the John Wayne walk. Caffeine, I'm not too worried about the language thing, forty-five minutes out of calais I shall be past french and into Flemish speaking territory once over the belgian border and back into the Francophone areas as I near Bruxells, German will be the most useful language, I hope to muddle through with a bit of truck-driver German aquired over 30 years of working at Dover Docks and the universal Anglo-American assumption that "everybody" speaks English, usually everybody except that guy you really need to communicate with!

I will report on the final choices to take and eventually post pix I'm sure. If this goes well Istanbul becons in a year or so, I've always wanted to do that.

[scratch]

I hope you have a good trip!  Spare sparkplugs?

[manofthefield]

Notebook or journal to keep track of your days events...  I'll have to check my packing list from my trip to see if there is anything else I would recommend

[RedShift]

Sounds like the makings for a book, or at least a serial of articles on traveling through Europe on a motorcycle.  Allow us to travel vicariously with you as you plan and execute this adventure.   

Roy...