Thursday, August 06, 2009

If he can do it - my gad! YOU can


This is the kind of story that puts all our travel adventures into perspective.


I can't tell you how many times people ask me how much it cost to do a big bike trip and all the gear and technicalities of the whole affair. There are big sighs and sucking in of breath as people calculate the cost of a big spangly BMW and the cost of the mountain of gear they will take plus hotel costs etc.... Not to mention how to face the loss of income when they throw all caution to the wind... So it is refreshing when some dude does it in a rediculous fashion on the oldest most dodgy bike I've seen in ages. Take a look at this and then kick yourself in the butt and go and travel BY ANY MEANS. http://slowwaydown.com/swd/about/.

And if you can't be wild and crazy and do stupid things, there is always a cool 2 week trip from Cape Town to Namibia with my company - Two Wheel Africa Tours. All set up for you on a hired bike that is all spangly.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Another big long mission unfolds

If anyone has been wondering what I've been up to over the last few months (that have rolled into years) - the answer is in short a lot of mundane living and dreaming up other things. I've found the day job(s) unbearable and so have constantly been thinking of motorcycle travel. "Where to next?" has been a question on my mind rather often. "How?" And "What about growing up and taking responsibility?" have also plagued me.

The big plan is to start a business doing motorbike tours based here in Cape Town. Watch this space!

Humph. And most of my life is currently consumed by this crazy mission. It is not too dissimilar from planning the Africa trip - only this time its hopefully going to last a seriously long time, needs to be sustainable and requires learning how to jump through some rather different hoops. I'll get there. It reminds me of my first blogs that said something like the journey begins with a single step. Well. Single steps, big leaps, hanging in there, hoping for the best, calculating, managing risk, hoping for the best, pep talks from friends, forging relationships with other biker businesses and a few push factors that get you over the edge good and solid.

Two Wheel Africa Tours will be running this summer! Ensh-Allah.

Social network for bikers

Join this social network to share pictures and ideas.

http://adventurebikers.ning.com

Friday, January 18, 2008

Books in Stores

And finally, my book is making its way into bookshops. So far, Cavendish Exclusive and Wordsworth Travel Shop V&A. Should also be on Kalahari.net any moment.

Happy Biking!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Book done but not uploaded

So this is it. I have finished the book and it should be on lulu.com soon. Apologies for the delay but its been busy here.

And I'm thinking of starting a different blog because this story has kind of ended but not sure....

Sample of the final chapter - Immigrating Home

Almost nine years have passed since I left Cape Town. This was the moment. I was finally coming home, at last, I could see Cape Town in the distance. Memories started to flood back. After I completed my degree I made the decision to leave Cape Town because I needed to make some progress career-wise and at the time I struggled to find work of any sort. I packed my old rusty car and drove to Johannesburg with my cat in her basket mewing the whole way. Every time I thought of what I was leaving behind, tears poured down my cheeks. I arrived in Springs utterly worn out from having driven for twenty-four hours non-stop and all the crying. The cat was traumatised and I was at an all-time emotional low. All I managed to find was a job doing secretarial work and which made me decide to take my chances in London. I knew that the grass would not actually be greener on the other side, but I needed a break and a promising job.

I left with so much emotion and loved Cape Town so much. All the years I’d been away, I called Cape Town home and here I was: Home. Just the funny thing was that it didn’t feel like home any more. It was a massive anticlimax. Arriving in Springs was warm and special but Cape Town just felt empty. The feeling of being estranged was made worse by the job situation or more specifically the lack of a job and the fact that I’d run out of money. We didn’t have a home yet either. I started to feel a bit stressed and doubted myself. As I prepared for interviews I was thankful to have a full CV with lots of experience and qualifications that I’d gained while I’d been away. Life was quickly becoming normal again and I had to make the transition from travelling biker chick to a normal career woman with responsibilities and bills to pay.

I was in the full swing of job interviews when Martin and Rickard called to say they were in Cape Town and had taken a long leisurely drive down the country. They’d made it! The brothers had accomplished their mission and I’m sure all their friends back in Sweden were astounded. What started off as a crazy idea over one too many beers turned out to be entirely possible, achievable and a lesson to us all: do it!

I wondered what it would be like seeing them again after a few months and after parting in Zanzibar, when we seemed relieved to no longer be travelling together. I saw them from a distance and as soon as they saw us they jumped up with their arms waving madly and we all embraced warmly. There could not possibly be any hard feelings. We’d shared some of the most magic times of our lives and made it together. We had a very long night of telling stories that now were simply hilarious. I felt sorry for the waitress as she brought out another round of beers and Rickard was enacting the time Paul had picked up a tortoise and it promptly peed on him. We all collapsed with laughter and the poor girl gave up trying to take our food order. Then we laughed at the time Rickard chased the youyous with his baseball bat after they threw stones at me. We recounted the antics of Black Sausage and found them even more side splitting than when they happened. By the end of the night the guys were legless and I had stomach ache and sore cheeks from all the mirth.

When we parted ways, I realised I’d miss these guys a lot. A lot more than I thought I would. They felt like family by now: people who were part of my life and I no longer had a choice over the matter.

TO FIND OUT MORE - HANG IN THERE....

Monday, August 27, 2007

Adventure Motorbike Travel

This is for anyone who would like to interact a bit more. The blog is a bit passive - I write and you read. This is more of a social network in which we can share.

http://adventurebikers.ning.com/

Please be most welcome to join. I don't know how it will take off but its worth a try.

A little update: it's still raining in Cape Town. It's cold and wet. I'm still working a lot both at work and on the promised book. Getting there though and fairly soon you will be able to order a copy.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Feeling cut off from the world

A special hello to all my friends out there. I don't know what it was but I couldn't get into blogger for ages. Now I can! Yay.

Not much happening except for writing the blog into a book. And that isn't easy so takes up loads of time. Going to work like a normal person also takes up lots of time and energy too.

Its cold and horrible here at the moment. We've had storm after storm here in the lovely city of Cape Town.

My house in Simons Town is awesome. We have baboons that visit all the time. We have friends that visit too. The offical house warming has been had - we had a very cool garage party in the stormy weather. Its still good to be home. And from this little nest of mine, I think I shall explore more of our wonderful world.

My thoughts for the month have been mainly on GLOBAL WARMING. It bothers me a lot as the weather really sucks.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Standing Up

Here is the latest Stand Up For Africa article in which I feature and hopefully help them get some publicity. Although the trip is over, I still support SUFA where possible and take the poverty problem seriously. It's all about making a decision to do the right things daily. I think most of the time it really is the little things that count.

www.standupforafrica.org.uk

Al Gore Inspiration

Check this out...

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

How come this guy didn't get to be the President? Hey?

In any case, politics aside, it's really time to make those differences that count. And each little bit we each do DOES cumulatively make a difference. So get the light bulbs, turn the heating down, insulate properly, fix the leaky tap and walk to the shop. Be a responsible citizen of the world. COME ON!!

Friends in South America

Here is another motorcycle story unfolding. Read about Alister and Maria doing South America on the same bikes as us.
(I met Maria at the Merton College mechanics course).

http://www.franglais-riders.com/