International Tours
Geographic Area: Africa Asia Central America Europe North America Oceania South America
Asia
Search for:Oman and a Woman
Arabia, the home of Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor, has always intrigued me, and I eagerly signed up when friends began planning a motorcycle trip to Oman. As dual-sport bike riders, we especially wanted to get off the pavement and see Oman's backcountry. So there I was, flying to the Middle East on a 747 with a burqa in one hand and a motorcycle helmet...
Thailand: Along the Mekong
Swirling clouds of red dust calm and slowly settle. The droning rattle and hum ceases. Four strange figures emerge from the murk with vividly colored bowls on their heads. They step away from unusual contraptions that look like bicycles, only bigger. And the sound they produce is very peculiar. It’s almost loud enough to compete with a monsoon...
Tibet: The Road to Lhasa
There it is, 20 horsepower of 1940's technology that will carry me on a truly once-in-a-lifetime adventure. I have always wanted to visit Tibet but never in my wildest hallucinations did I expect to do it on a motorcycle. The plan is to depart Kathmandu, Nepal, and cover the 600 miles to Lhasa, Tibet, in 10 days. Experience the culture, visit the Potala...
Central America
Search for:Costa Rica & Panama
Some motorcyclists from Europe pushed forward into a different world. The vacation through Costa Rica and Panama ended up with a lot of adventures and surprises.Note: This tour happened before the American operators of the Panama Canal and the US Army pulled out of Panama at the end of 1998. The canal now is under contract with a Chinese company. Please...
Europe
Search for:Austria, Slovenia and Italy: Cappuccino Time
Surrounded as they are by the Alps and enveloped by the cold, many Austrian bikers consider the long wait for the arrival of May and June to be a dangerous time. Why? Because the urges produced by their "motorcycle hormones" can drive them absolutely nuts. It is the same with us—my brother Daniel, Christa, my wife, and I. But every year as the...
Austria: Southern Styria-The Green State
In the middle of the fall, around the end of October, the choice of passable roads narrows in Austria. On streets at high altitude you naturally expect snow at this time of the year. And further down the slopes many of the available touring areas that are closer by may be growing a little old. The asphalt turns cold, too, and tires lose their grip,...
Eastern Europe: For the Children of Chernobyl
With the dissolution of that old ideological barrier known as the Iron Curtain, travel restrictions have eased and Western bikers now enjoy much greater access to the roads in Eastern Europe. Even so, a tour of Ukraine and Belarus doesn't yet qualify as a care-free adventure, especially when your travel plans include a visit to Chernobyl. But going...
England: Dales, Peaks, and Moors
Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard boughIn England - now!!- Robert Browning It is April in England. But William Blake's lines about "dark, satanic mills,"...
Europe: 13,000 Km in 25 Days
You can easily call it a mug's game: We only have four weeks to travel more than 13,000 kilometers. In the process, we cross the boundaries of nine countries. Beginning with a ride to Spain's sunny Seville, the site of the last World's Fair Exposition, and Gibraltar, we "strolled" back to Antwerp before embarking on a much-anticipated trip to the Arctic...
