So I want to go around half the world on a motorcycle! Hmm, plenty of reasons to do that: experience strange cultures, meet interesting people, see beautiful places... Well, there are more convenient and safer ways to do that than travelling on two wheels to the middle east and crumbled ex-soviet countries. So why am I still gonna do that?
Here are some thoughts on the whys, the hows and the whereabouts.Have you noticed my trip title? Originally I didnt want to name my tour in order to not make such a big deal out of it. I wanted to keep expectations and the pressure low, especially within myself. In the end, not having to give in to certain pressures is part of the freedom I want to have during the trip.
But, somehow the title I chose above made it into my mind. Partly for obvious reasons - I'll be travelling SOLO plus I should be FREE as a bird! But there's more:
In climbers terminology "free solo" means to climb without a rope, which means if you fall, you go all the way to the bottom... As a climber I must admit though, I'm too much chickenshit to actually climb any difficult route without a rope. But the mindset and philosophy behind free solo, the maximum responsibility for your own actions, the need to use all of your abilities and the very intense feeling of life which results from increased risk (no matter if perceived or real), is a big part of my motivation for the trip.
By starting from home and gradually going to more and more remote places I hope to get accustomed to being with less "rope" than in normal daily life. And I know, as probably everbody does at the HUBB, that it will feel soooo good once I get going, once I'm on my way.

So after all this writing one thing becomes clear. This journey IS a big deal for me, the pressure in myself has built up in the past weeks (especially since I wanted to leave about 10 days ago) in a way I havn't experienced before. And I think that deserves a title and me rambling about it. I'm ready to go. Tomorrow I will start!

The route:
- Germany to Turkey via Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria (April, May)
- Sidetrip to Israel via Syria and Jordan (May, June)
- Carry on from Turkey towards central asia over Georgia, Azerbaidshan, Turkmenistan, Usbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kirgisistan (June - September)
- Then maybe China, KKH to Pakistan, India, find Nirvana - stay there (Oktober - ...)

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The bike:
- MZ ETZ 251 Saxon Tour
- 21 raw two stroke horse powers
- cheap, easy (to fix), light and reliable (lets see...)
- fitted with Alu-Boxes and very solid toilet paper dispensers :)
- sheepskin from my grandparents sheep. feels so good!

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The Kit:
I'm not gonna list all the things. It's lots, but reduced to fit into the two boxes plus tankbag (which is actually a converted backpack - I still want to hike/climb a lot).

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... all packed!

Ok, that's it for now. I'm gone! The first leg goes to somewhere in Austria, en route to Budapest. Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!
cu later