Written by Will Wilkins. Posted in Rides
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to sell your house and ride off halfway around the world? Well that’s exactly what this homesick English couple did. Setting off from near Sydney, Australia, they headed for London, England to have a nice cup of tea with their mums.
To us, living in Australia was a bit like having your favorite meal every day. It was great, but after 12 years we just wanted a change. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic place for enjoying the great outdoors, and wins hands down for camping, beaches and weather. But for us, after being there for so many years, our desires began to run a bit deeper.
Despite having a multicultural society, to really experience anything different than “Australia,” to get away from the place, means travelling a long way, a distance that chews time and money. It sounds crazy, so many people would give their eye teeth to live “Down Under” (or so they say), but we wanted to be back in England. Cheap flights from London would mean that within a couple of hours we’d be able to get to many countries offering a kaleidoscope of culture.
The endless roads of the Great Australian Outback
It didn’t need to be forever, and as we now both have Aussie passports, we could always come back if we wanted to. It was time to mix things up a bit and head home, back to England, that little grey island on the other side of the planet.
It was Kate’s idea to ride the motorbikes rather than jump on a plane. Excitement and blind enthusiasm fuelled her sales pitch. She totally ignored her lack of experience (she’d only got her licence a year before), and her longest ride to date had been 20 minutes, and never in the rain. In contrast, I’d been riding for years and had done a fair bit off-road. Being handy with spanners, and having a few years’ experience working in Asia under my belt, would also help deal with any challenges we might meet along the way.
As we sold or packed our possessions, car and house, we bought racks, panniers and skid plates. Kate managed to do a couple of longer rides and also experience some dirt under her tires. The recommended 12 months to plan an adventure of this size was squeezed into two. We rushed around, filling our passports with visas, getting carnets, and prepping the bikes. The excitement grew as the big day that we’d ride away crept ever closer—the day that would mark the end of our life down under.
The Karakorum Mountains, Pakistan
Finally, on the 9th of February 2011, we saddled up and hit the starter buttons. The first few hours of riding felt weird. The bike seemed normal, but inside my head it was somehow different. After a couple of days, it began to sink in. This was a one-way trip, we wouldn’t be turning back in a day or so, back to the comfort of our home, and the daily grind of work the following Monday morning.
We were now throwing ourselves out into the unknown, to a place where we’d have to put our lives into the hands of fate, and the kindness of strangers.
The scenery along the way was stunning. Just sitting back gazing at it as we cruised along gave us time to think and reflect. We were really doing it, just riding, riding to England. Not packing up the house, not selling our gear, not saying goodbye to friends, and not working. The vastness of the Australian Outback contrasted with the lush jungle of Thailand. The soaring Himalayan mountains were replaced a few weeks later by the endless Kazak steppe.
We endured 108ºF (42ºC) searing heat and at other times were clearing the icy snow from our visors. These experiences will stick with us for a long time, but what’s truly etched into our memories are the people we met along the way: The man in Pakistan who flagged us down just to shake my hand, simply to thank us for coming to his country…. The Indian family whose motorbike had broken down while taking their two children to school. Our knowledge and tools rescued him, and the father thanked us by kissing my hand, the ultimate show of respect in the Hindi culture…. Then, there was the young horse herder lad in Kyrgyzstan who ran over a mile across the wild tundra just to have a close look at us and our bikes…. Again and again the kindness, openness and generosity we experienced gave us a warm feeling in this sometimes seemingly cold and closed world we live in.
The family continue their school run in India
However, not all experiences were positive. Being run out of town by a hostile Kazak policeman who told us that foreigners were not welcome in his town wasn’t exactly a high point. Worse still was when border guards laughed in our faces as we tried to negotiate our way out of a 14-hour delay whilst attempting to enter Russia.
When all seemed bleak, though, the angels came to our rescue, Hells Angels that is, who showed us such hospitality and generosity that it brought tears to our eyes.
Seemingly simple things, like finding somewhere to sleep, ordering a meal, or deciding on which fork to take in the road became a real challenge depending on which country we were in, how hot it was or how exhausted we were after a long day in the saddle. We never knew what the day or week ahead would hold in store, we just dealt with whatever came our way. It was rare for a day to pass without some kind of drama.
We lost count of how many times we were run off the road, or ordered a meal without a clue of what would be served. When we could we camped, sometimes on dry jagged gravel, sometimes in muddy fields. Beds in guest houses and hotels were a mixed bag of tired mattresses and dirty sheets. Sometimes we gorged on delicious food or struggled to find a meagre packet of stale biscuits.
We chose to move quite fast across the surface of the planet, completing the odyssey in just five months. This schedule added stress but we’re not the types to hang around in any one place. It was a choice that worked for us, but might not suit everyone.
A Kyrgyzstani horse boy trying the DR for size
And so, what about you? Are you dying to saddle up and head off around the world, or are you too concerned about what may be out there in the big wide world? There are plenty of things to think or worry about, but none too big to overcome for normal folks like you or I.
The decision to head off on any trip longer than a few days is a big one, there are many things to consider, and more so as the duration increases, or if the chosen destination is in a far flung corner of the world.
For a trip like this you need to commit and work hard to make it happen. You’ll need to upset your normal life in some pretty big ways. Depending on how long you go for, and what your situation is, you’ll potentially need to uproot just about everything—sell or rent your home, give up your job, sell your prize possessions, not see your friends and family for months, kiss good-bye those comforts and spend some serious cash… not to mention you’ll likely not be earning an income out there.
It’s a serious decision and one that should not be taken lightly. There will be so many reasons you could use as excuses not to go. Having kids, a mortgage and a steady job are the most popular. None of them are real reasons, they just make the decision harder.
We met a French family, for example, who’d been on the road for over four years. They’d sold their business to fund their worldwide adventure and self-schooled their four kids who were aged between 5 and 16. In the end, if the idea of heading off on a big ride is itching, do yourself a favour and have a bloody good scratch!
The Souk in Lahore, Pakistan
Will Wilkins and Kate Macdonell met in Dubai in 1996, and married in Australia in 2004. Pictured here enjoying a beer in Manali, the gateway to the Indian Himalayas. Oh, and one more thing… they don’t always wear matching tops! Check out their book ($29.99, a Kindle version also available) at WollongongToWoolwich.co.uk.
