Sarah's Views
How did the idea come about?
The idea was Robert’s and he’d talked about it and I remember secretly hoping he’d ask me to do it with him. Low and behold at an odd time, he did. At the time, I had a truckload of “what if” questions, not dissimilar to those that people pose to me now, mainly out of fear of the unknown and at the time, lack of knowledge and the necessary research.
What are you looking forward to during the trip?
South East Asia is less of a novelty to me having travelled a lot of it and lived there, so it’s the Middle East and beyond I’m more looking forward to, in particular Iran.
What are your plans after you finish?
A good rest will be in order, before remembering that thing called a job which might be a practical idea in order to fund a roof over my head somewhere in the world and hopefully settling down a bit might be nice for a change having moved apartment about 17 times in less than 5 years across in 3 countries with belongings in 4 cities…that lifestyle always comes with a price tag.
Have you seen "Long Way Round"? Is the trip a copycat version? What did you think of their trip?
Robert bought the DVD for me a couple of years after he saw it before me. I actually enjoyed it and found it quite entertaining and well filmed. Notwithstanding that, there is one scene where it's winter and they're on the Road of Bones in far eastern Siberia and suddenly they're chopping down trees with an axe and digging out the road with a shovel. I thought, "Where on earth did they get that axe and that shovel from?!" Unfortunately we don't have the room, nor resources to take such equipment nor would they fit in any case! They had flown in, a Russian doctor, a photographer, a cameraman who came in from Switzerland, a producer who came over from the United States, a team to do all their paperwork and co-ordinating...the list goes on. The book in comparison to the DVD is slightly disengaging and disappointing. Copycat? Yes and No. No, in that the idea came along before the guys did their trip as well as the route being different, but seeing it again reminded us that we would get around to doing our own trip eventually.
What do you think will be the hardest part about the trip overall?
I think probably Robert and I being in each others' face every second of the day, 24 hours a day for over 200 days will no doubt take its toll where we'll need a bit of our own personal space from time to time. In any case, I must bow to anyone who could put up with me for that long! But I'm not high maintenance, seriously. *cough, cough*
What do your friends and family think about the trip?
Given I'm quite shy and by nature usually quite reserved, most don't see me as the type to do such a trip, so many people are a bit taken back. One person called it "irrational", someone else called it "bullshit", and some are possibly just too nice and tactful to say anything negative or sceptical about it to my face. Notwithstanding that, many are honestly enthusiastic about it as us, as they've done adventure travel themselves, though naturally everyone has the right to say what they think, and understandably so, given parts of the trip are in areas of the world which aren't particularly stable at present. Err, and my family don’t know about it. I think possibly they might be the types to use the aforementioned ‘b’ word.
Where is home for you?
Currently and temporarily for the coming months leading up to the trip...in Wellington, New Zealand. Home as in where I was raised is the Hawke's Bay (300km from Wellington), though I feel most at home oddly enough in Thailand. Within a few months throughout most of next year, I guess home is somewhat on the bike, my belongings in two panniers and the tank bag, living off savings and never knowing where I'll sleep at the end of the day. Sounds quite enticing, does it not...? Home after the trip? Not sure yet, a few countries on the agenda to be shortlisted though will deal with that when the time comes.
When do you expect to finish?
It's difficult to pinpoint an exact date, we both agreed early on keeping the timeframe flexible, and to not have a strict schedule to adhere to and kilometres that needed to be covered each day in order for us to make it on time, though keeping a very rough approximation on a duration spent in each country and region, dependable of course on a few things out of our control, e.g. road conditions, weather, seasons, traffic, border control. Arriving in Germany sometime in autumn would be ideal to avoid riding in the blistery European winter, which I think gives us a more relaxed time-frame to work within.
What do people ask when you tell them?
A nice question once blurted out to me was: "Where are you gonna go to the toilet??" (I must start collating a list of these questions!)...though on a more serious note, someone asked and urged me to take knives and guns for protection. I think maybe as a girl, I’m subject to more anxious questions as opposed to if I was a guy. Things are always more cumbersome as a girl…that’s a pain sometimes.
Are you worried, concerned or afraid of anything to do with the regions you're going through?
I'm slightly apprehensive about a couple of borders. Traffic in a few places like India I also anticipate to be a bit of a nightmare.
Who or what motivates you to do such a trip?
This has been something on the backburner for 5 years now, it was finally time to walk the talk we'd discussed for the past half a decade and possibly the last time that we both had both headspace, time and were willing to compromise on our jobs and living situations. We're both enthusiastic about the trip, given it's once in a lifetime. I think since we've been talking about it for so long, the motivation has always been there and always somewhere on the "must do" list at some stage, but was never the right time any earlier due to career issues, finances and a few other hurdles in the way...and living in different countries on different continents didn't help with the logistics either!
Why by motorbike?
It’s a much more friendly form of transport in the third world, as opposed to rocking up in a foreign place in a massive 4x4, it’s fun, more flexibility…on the downside of course, when it rains, you get wet, if it’s hot, you don’t have aircon, when it’s cold, no heating, limited space for belongings and you can’t doze off when you’re absolutely nackered. I did that on a trip once in Australia and vowed next time to simply get off and have a quick sleep to regain energy and concentration. Of course, as the driver, there’s a lot more at stake with fatigue…so meh, no complaints from me.