Decisions decisions

[Ksithumper]

I blame Ewan and thingy.

I want to go to France next year but may have to delay a year because the KTM 790 heated seat kit hasn't been released yet and my TV deal is still being negotiated.

In the real world, I took my 1974 TS250 to work a couple of months ago, 20 miles each way with a couple of lanes on the way home and I grinned all day.

[daveuprite]

Modern vehicles bikes included are generally superbly reliable yet we cant go to Starbucks without full breakdown cover and a £17k dealer serviced two year old behemoth with gps tracking. The world is getting smaller so it seems to have a true adventure you have to go to extremes , bullshit but it sells stuff.

Only if you choose to do it that way. Our modern lives can be overcomplicated by our prerequisites for comfort and control but we (my Wife and I) view our 'holidays' as a chance to escape that routine.
A 10 year old 50k+ home serviced bike, a 1 way tunnel crossing, 3 man tent + sleeping bags, no cooking gear, a Michelin map and fist full of dollars/euros/dirhams has given us some amazing experiences and encounters.
Our friends say we are nuts as they flick through their 'lovely hotel' photo's with Mickey, they look gone out when we recall nights in deserts/mountain refuges/wild camping on the beach etc and positively horrified about getting lost and trusting people of other cultures to help us out.
We tried an all inclusive package holiday earlier this year (1st time for 10 years) just to remind ourselves of the 'convenience' of getting away from it all ...... needless to say by day 3 we were off in the mountains.
Different strokes for different folks but next year ........

Very true. Tracie and me look after horses, donkeys, dogs, chickens etc so we rarely get the chance to go away together. About 5 years ago we forked out for an all inclusive luxury fortnight in Jamaica. Had a really great time of course, but the best days were when we walked out of the 'prison hotel complex' and caught the local bus up into the mountains. Hot and cold running waiters is all well and good, but sometimes you just need to feel like you are genuinely exploring. Look at the fun that people have when they hire a cheap Enfield in India and go exploring the foothills of the Himalayas. There's no need for the latest and greatest tech if all you really want is an adventure.

[diggermanbob]

Just go and enjoy yourself , maps are great as you tend to stop and see more , and don't forget you are never lost just temporarily misplaced, enjoy

[Griff097]

Just go and enjoy yourself , maps are great as you tend to stop and see more , and don't forget you are never lost just temporarily misplaced, enjoy

I've never had a satnav, maps are all you need, not long returned from a trip to Morocco where we were guided superbly by GPS and hotels, wild camping in a big group, but I prefer traveling on my own so broke off at the bottom of Marocco to find my own way back up through the mountains to the ferry a few days later, back up through Spain and France to meet a mate for a couple of days and the only thing I had to think about was how much petrol I had left and how much light was left in the day.

The next step is probably a satnav, but you don't need one, I hate over planning any trip, country to head for and date to go, spot on

It's nice to have the back up of a tent and a stove as then you can be self sufficient, but previously I have always travelled really light, no plans and happy, same bike gear for 20 years, pump the tyres up, sorted.

[frenchy3]

I love my GPS and take it with me everywhere when riding,walking or cycling. I find that complicated routes can be easily navigated unlike the old days when we virtually had to stop at every road junction to see where we were going next in an unfamiliar area. I do stop often to get the kettle on and take a photo but the GPS does enable us to get decent mileage in on a long trip where ferry timings etc have to be adhered to. I agree that i do tend to overplan things including spares ,kit i carry,riding gear etc but often i will just set the GPS on compass and just head in the right direction for several miles and evaluate where i am later. As long as i am heading in the right direction that is often enough and you often see things you didn,t expect to see. When tacking across France wild camping with my brother in his Landrover Discovery we stuck to all the minor roads and at one point we accidentally found Chateau Galliard which we had to stop for a while at.

[qcnr]

Don’t plan too much, just do it. When I went to Bad Kissingen in Germany I had a car gps ans some google map printouts for maps. That was it. I gave my bike fresh oil and filters and off I went. Fecking brilliant, getting lost all the time and having a lot more fun than following a preplanned route. On the way down my 12v socket failed so that added an extra element of adventure. No use of gps or charging my phone. I still travel like this and usually the only planning I do is booking ferries etc.

[gspod]

As far as travelling in Europe is concerned, things are a lot simpler theses days.

You can buy an e-ticket for the ferry on the Internet in minutes.
You can get instant cash, which is mostly one currency, from machines that are everywhere. No more travellers cheques or changing currency.
Easy breakdown cover on the Internet- even in the 80s I felt it was needed
Automatic green card on your insurance- oh yes remember that
A much bigger and easier motorway network through France and Spain- should you want it - not to mention better signing.

Everything else depends on what you want. There are still plenty of people riding their motorcycle holidays in jeans and t-shirts, without Satnavs.

Enjoy whatever your choices are - we are lucky to have them

[gspod]

Forgot to mention borders
France into Switzerland into Italy in one day - not a big deal but nothing like it is today.

I remember i got a bit confused with the currencies by the time we got to Italy and after paying for lunch I was very annoyed at not getting my full change and insisted on getting all my liras - later on I realised it was equivalent to a quarter of a penny

[Jak*]

Thanks for all the advice.
I much prefer using maps and usually buy a big atlas of the country I am going to and copy or tear out the pages I need. In the UK or abroad I only tend to use the GPS on my phone to find locations in cities if I need to. It is the for the TET I am thinking of using the GPS as it could involve me carrying far too many bits of paper. There is a lot of different advice about which is the best free GPS to use at the moment I am struggling to load the GPX files onto my phone, but I will get there in the end.
Cheers Jak

[Tonibe63]

I downloaded a GPX reader app on my phone this year to try out whilst walking in The Lake District, I also downloaded GPX files of the walks which was really good when lost in fog on the Old Man of Coniston. We got lost in some old mine works and the GPX showed we were about 10 metres off the route plus pointed us in the right direction, we could even see our position moving as we walked ...... for the TeT I would think it would be great.