Welcome to Thoughts from the Road. Here’s Martin Brons on making plans on the road…
By Martin Brons
Motorcycle traveller (Overlander no Coriander)
My name is Martin, I’m 32-years-old and a motorcycle traveller! At the moment, I’ve been on the road just over one year, riding my bike from Cape Town, South Africa back to my home country The Netherlands.
Follow Martin’s adventures here:
Insta: @overlander_no_coriander
When it doesn't go to plan
Like in most travel stories you’ve read over the last few years, Covid has played a role. And mine isn’t any different. With Central Asia locked down a year ago, I decided to ship my bike to Cape Town. At that point, Ethiopia was closed and I knew I would have a challenge leaving Kenya.
When I arrived in Cape Town, I learned that a friend who had come the opposite way had just crossed into Ethiopia and my dream of riding the length of the continent was back on track!
It took about six months until Ethiopia (of all places in the world) decided to ban the import of all fossil fuelled vehicles. This made it hard for anyone whose name isn’t Bill Gates.
The challenge of shipping out of Kenya was back on. Four months later I was loading my bike into a container heading for Oman. I was mentally drained by Africa, but hearing that people were again slowly crossing into Ethiopia felt bittersweet.
Arriving in Oman was amazing and the Arab peninsula welcomed me with open arms. But after just two months, conflict broke out in Sudan – I didn’t see that one coming. If everything had gone to right with the original plan and I got into Ethiopia, I would have been right there in the middle of it when it happened!
If you told me a year ago about riding in Iraq, I would have said you were crazy. Guess where I am now? And I love it!
Moral of the story – don’t worry if your plans don’t work out when travelling. It happens! There’s always something else waiting for you…
Martin Brons
Do you meticulously plan your motorcycle trips? Does it worry you when things don’t go to plan or do you just go with it? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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I 100% agree with this. There’s no point planning like crazy because shit happens when you’re ridin the world and you just gotta roll with it. Keep on rollin bro