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Planning

A RTW trip requires some planning and here are some of the basics so far.
Thanks to all contributors to help finding information and a lot of inspiration.

COUNTRIES TO BE VISITED

PART1 (20. May - 23. August 2012)

PART 2 (24.September - 18 December 2012)

  • USA
  • Mexico
  • (Belize)
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • El Salvador
  • Niqaragua
  • Costa Rica
  • Panama
  • Columbia
  • Equador
  • Peru

PART 3 (4.November 2013 - December 2013)

  • Peru
  • Bolivia
  • Argentina
  • Chile

 

 

SOME ARCHIVED 2012 PLANNING INFORMATION

2012 ROUTE & ITINERARY
Everything started with planning the route, which countries to visit and from there make a rough plan of how many days needed in each place. Then a quick check about which countries are safe and which are not. Preferably stay out of the countries with raging wars and internal conflicts. From there the route unfolds in front of you :)

Click on the flowchart below to get an understanding of the planning process.
Green boxes are settled, yellow boxes are still open. The thick line is the prefered route, but it might change due to visa issues, expencive shipping or other.... Have a look.

Mulighetskart
See this document to get an idea about the options. (PDF DOCUMENT)

2012 VISA APPLICATIONS
With many countries to visit there is a huge amount of work to do in the visa application process. This takes more time than you would believe and start this process early.
We are now applying visas for the following countries:

Country VISA
Required		 LOI Carnet Embassy Insurance
EU No No No NA Green card
Turkey No No No NA Green card
Iran (plan A) Tourist

Yes

 Yes Oslo ?
   - Armenia (plan B) No No No NA Check
   - Georgia (plan B) No No No NA Check
   - Aserbadjan (plan B) Transit No No Tblisi Check
Turkmenistan Transit Yes No London Check
Uzbekistan Tourist Yes No London Check
Tajikistan Tourist Yes No London Check
Kyrgistan Tourist Yes No London Check
Kazakhstan Tourist Yes No Oslo Check
Russia x2 D.entry Yes No Oslo Green card
Mongolia Tourist Yes No Oslo Check
   - South Korea (plan B) Check Check TOLL Check Check
USA No NA No NA Check
           
Central America          
South America          


2012 CARNET:
Iran is the only country in our route which requires a carnet. We have heard of others which has got in without one so we try our luck and see how it goes.
There are several organisations who can issue a carnet - Oslo Handelskammer and NAF are two of them.

 

2012 CHOOSING A BIKE
There are many great motocycles to buy out there and many opinions about them. It seems like BMW have some of the most popular models for these kind of adventures. Since there will be all kind of roads and off-road driving a lighter bike is prefered over a heavy one. The BMW F800GS and the BMW F650GS seems to be good alternatives. Reabillity vs comfort vs weight vs handling vs price seems OK on these. The R1200GS Adventure seems a bit heavy and expencive. A F800GS / F650GS and some few upgrades at Touratech can be a good idea.

For Stage #1 a BMW F800GS was chosen.
For Stage #2 we choose BMW G650Xchallenge bikes. Cheap, reliable and light.

2012 CHOOSING EQUIPMENT FOR BIKE & CAMPING
A big part of the trip will be by camping and it is essential to have good quality camping gear for the purpose. Temperatures from below freezing in Russia and Mongolia to around +40'C in Iran and some of the Stan countries. Moscito bites will be an issue and a good net is important.

2012 SECURITY:
We see several security issues which needs attention and some kind of planning:

  • Corruption (Police, border officers etc)
  • Beaurocracity
  • Thefts (Bikes, equipment, papers, money)
  • Hold-up and robberies
  • Healh, poor healthcare and food poisening.
  • Traffic accidents
  • Wildlife (Bears, wolfs, moscitoes and other creatures)
  • War and conflicts
  • Getting involved in a hostage situation

2012 SHIPPING (OVER SEAS)
There are two legs where transportation over sea is needed. Shipping by airplane is possible with bikes. It is quite expencive compared to sharing a container on a ship.

LEG Type Price Time Dur. Passenger  
Oslo - Kiel Ferry NOK 1280 14:00-10:00 20 h Included  
Oslo - Fredikshavn StenaLine Ferry NOK 390 19:30-07:45 12 h Included  
Vladivostok - S.Korea (WED) Ferry € 500 14:00-09:00 19 h Included  
Magadan - Vladivostok Ship $ 500 no schedule   Extra  
South Korea - USA DHL Air €3000 daily 2-3 d Extra  
South Korea - USA Ship check check 12 d Extra  
Vladivostok - USA Ship $5500 check 40 d Extra  
Vladivostok - Moscow Train not included daily 80 hrs $400 2.class  
Irkutsk - Moscow Train not included daily 146 hrs $400 2.class  
Tor / Montreal - Frankfurt Air $ 1990     Extra  
New York - Ålesund Ship $     Extra  
             
See this document to get an idea about the options. (PDF DOCUMENT)

2012 BUDGET
The budget are not finished yet, but we guess that around $50-60 per day for food, fuel, accomodation, activities, toll roads etc. should get us a long way. Visas, shipping and equipment in addition.

  COST No TOTAL
VISAS      
Fuel, Accomodation, Food, Borders, helpers etc.      
Bike repairs, service, tires, brakepads etc.      
Shipping costs depending on route (NOK 5.000-60.000)      
Travel insurance      
Insurance (buy at borders)      

2012 SOURCES & INSPRATION
Here are some great sources of information: