How does one lose touch with a “slog,” pray tell?

I love how thoughtful and detailed the “bullet-pointed” work plan was!

Very creative.

And the way you subtly let Us know where to “take note” of things that may be of importance is nice. A kind reminder that IF so-and-so is important to You, pay attention here! Thanks.

Not only was this writing useful, it was also well written in my opinion…a pleasant mind journey, if you will. (I got to go on a bullet-point ride of your trips!)

Thanks again.

R.H.G.

Great tips throughout!

Long-distance motorcycle travel to foreign countries has some unique challenges that you have to plan for, including safety on and off the bike, handling the elements day in and day out, and being unprotected on roads where the drivers don’t really follow any rules.

I can’t wait for my adventure to start.

With young kids now, we’re hesitant to take any long road trips – as our youngest just makes life miserable after about 3 hours on the road anywhere. As they get older, I’m hoping we can take them on a lot of adventures like this.

If I had a month’s of vacation saved up, I think we’d take a cruise to Europe and hang out over there for a couple of weeks before flying back. Hubby really wants to see Rome and a few other places. Isn’t it great to be married to a teacher? Someday we can actually pull that off…

Another cost saving tip: stay with people instead of hotels. Yes, I had a few friends along the way, but I stayed with a bunch of new friends by tapping into the incredible network that is couchsurfing.com. I started out my trip thinking I would camp each night but only did so on the very first night. Every other night I had a place to stay with somebody who opened their home to me. Sent the camping gear back home. Enjoyed the lighter load on the back of the scooter!

My final tip is a reminder how great it is to travel away from the bland interstate highways. On those back roads and state highways one finds so much more local color and odd roadside kitsch to be amused by. Get out there and enjoy it!

I am interested in whether (as Elizabeth @22 notes) you considered hostels, which are very economical; though I guess if you were going the more rural route rather than staying in cities they might be harder to find.

You are correct. We could only completely refreeze ice packs when staying in a hotel/motel. You can partially refreeze them by stuffing them at the bottom of the cooler right before buying a new bag of ice.

Hannah,

AAA was definitely helpful, but the article was getting long. We started with a box full of AAA guide books, then recycled them as we finished the area they covered. A few times we had the chance to give them to a fellow tourist, and it was always appreciated.

Bobbi,

We did indeed sleep in the car most of the time. Because I am a night owl and my husband is a morning person, we would trade off driving, and our sleeping times didn’t overlap enough to make camping worth the trouble of setting up. Doing that also allowed us to cover the dead spots more quickly and get to the next destination. As far as finding someone you can tolerate long enough to do this…the first trip was actually our honeymoon. It was definitely a crash course in married life!

Somewhere along the way it hit me (I was traveling in summer) that I had a ready-made source of solar-heated water: the cab of my p’up. I kept bottled water in there and it would heat up a ton (of course) if I parked the truck in the sun (as I could hardly avoid; I’d then find a quiet, private spot if I needed to wash up without (otherwise) having access to (free/included) facilities.

I bought ice. Another option is to buy a cooler that runs off electricity and plugs into your cigarette lighter.

In towns there are lots of public places to shower, BTW. In the woods, you quickly grow accustomed to bathing in streams and lakes. I’ve washed my hair in snowmelt more times than I can count. We were never dirty. We both bathed every day, and SDXB shaved every day.

It was very cheap. My cost for the entire three-month junket, which included plane tickets to Seattle, bus fares, and a trip up the Inland Passage on the Alaska ferry, was well under $1,000.

Eating instant oatmeal with water warmed by the sun…(once we hit mexico, tasty tacos made things more enjoyable).

This summer I’m heading to Scandinavia for 7 weeks and will try to see if I can pull off frugal traveling practices up there. Couchsurfing will be something I’ll try.

After a 25+ year outside sales career, with untold nights out in hotels/motels of all ilks, I too thought I’d never like ‘camping’ on-the-road a’la Peter Egan (of Road & Track magazine). I took a two year sabattical, bought low-mileage BMW tourer and went for it. I will say takes a little getting used to, but I soon was living as elegantly as I could out of the hard bags, formed a new network of acquaintances, some of which are now visiting me while on their journeys and met everyone from true crazy down-and-outers, to those that wished they could trade places. I would recommend everyone try a variation of living cheap on-the-road. You will be surprised: One Way or the Other! Safe Travels.