The route

Probably the most common question that people have been asking about the trip (other than why) is what route I plan to take. Australians then typically snigger when I pronounce the word "root" instead of "rout" (ask an Australian why...).

The timing is still very vague because I have no idea how far I will want to ride each day, how long I will want to stop at each place, and what delays I will encounter (hopefully not too many). Perhaps more significantly, I don't know what I will feel like on the trip - eager to push on for home, or happy to move at my own pace. Maybe I'll keep going when I get to the UK and do a complete circuit (although I like the idea of saving that for another time!).

So... the rout is Melbourne, Sydney, Fraser Island, Darwin, Singapore (8 days by boat for the bike, 5 hours on a plane for me), Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, back to Thailand, Kathmandu (3 hours on a plane from Bangkok for man and bike because I can't ride through Burma or China), India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, back to Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, and finally back to the UK. I may skip the loop in the Middle East if I'm tight on time or sick of riding, but I'd really like to see Petra.

In terms of timing, the plan is to be back in the UK for the end of June. If I time it really well, I'll be able to make it to Glastonbury, which will give the trip a certain symmetry because (i) I will have been on the road for exactly 6 months, and (ii) Glastonbury was the last big event that I attended before I moved from the UK to California 6 years ago.

In addition to the itinerary, I'm slowly building up a list of people that I hope to meet on the trip. So far, these include Paul Lanzillotti (flying out to Ko Samui), Mark Allenspach (riding to Switzerland, who I should catch up in Thailand), Trent Eddy (an ex-Bainie in Phnom Penh), Casey Reichel (hiking in Nepal), some friends of Dan Tu-Hoa that live in Islamabad, and a host of people in Europe ('host' being the operative word). Hopefully, others will be able to fly out to meet me on the road, or point me in the direction of a friendly local with a comfy couch.