I was born in 1958 in Bern, Switzerland, where I also went to school. I then studied electronics in Neuchâtel, La Chaux de Fond, and Edinburgh, Scotland. I started my professional career at a famous machine tool builder where I began to travel professionally. After a few years, I wanted to expand my horizon and moved to White Plains, New York, for three years. I then returned to my former employer in Switzerland.

 

While in New York, I purchased my first motorcycle, a Kawasaki 450. Later, I bought a Honda Magna V65-VF1100C, which I absolutely loved!

 

I had the opportunity to travel to the former Soviet Union, Japan, and Korea and fell in love with Asia. Later, I became in charge of sales for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Africa, and Egypt. I also had the chance to visit China, India, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia extensively for business. In 2007, I moved to Tokyo - Omori for 9 months to our branch office. In June 2022, I retired after a fulfilling professional life.

 

During one of my trips to Asia, I decided to visit an old friend who lives in Perth, Australia, a country that I found instantly fascinating.

 

In 2018, a good friend of mine, René, offered me a book about two guys who decided to take a motorcycle trip from Stuttgart to Australia. I read the book in no time (Good Bye Lehmann by Stefan Fay) and was so captivated that suddenly I had the feeling that I must do something similar. This is when this story begins!

 

Being inspired by the mentioned book, I prepared the itinerary for my trip, which would take me from Switzerland to the north, entering Russia from Latvia and continuing through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. I would then travel to Iran, Pakistan, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and East Timor, before finally taking a sea freight to Darwin, Australia, covering approximately 51,000km in about 12 months.

 

I began to read other books about similar adventures, followed blogs, and watched YouTube videos to prepare for my trip. I searched for details about the different countries I would be driving through, consulted reviews for various equipment, prepared packing lists, and downloaded climate charts for all the countries. In 2021, I sold my Honda VFR1200 and purchased an Africa Twin Adventure Sport DCT. I gradually started buying all the necessary equipment for this endeavor. With my roadmap ready and knowledge of where I wanted to go and the local climate, I decided to start my voyage in the spring of 2023, just after retiring.

 

Then, in 2020, the world changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely affected traveling. In addition, the news of the new government in Myanmar closing the borders with India and Thailand forced me to go back to the drawing board. As a result, I had to skip Myanmar, a country I had desperately wanted to visit. It was a major disappointment, and unfortunately, the situation does not seem likely to change anytime soon. The only way to drive around Myanmar is to skip the Central Asian countries and go through China and Vietnam, which is not an option for me. Therefore, I changed my routing and decided to ship my motorcycle from Kolkata to Bangkok instead.

 

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and as a result, sanctions were imposed, including Russia's decision to stop issuing visas. This forced me to make significant changes to my routing. The new path now leads to the south, passing through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey before entering Iran. Then, I plan to do a loop through the Central Asian countries. Unfortunately, there was yet another disappointment, as the borders of Tajikistan are currently closed. This is especially heartbreaking because the road through Tajikistan is an adventure in itself, with the Pamir Highway and driving over the Ak-Baital Pass at 4,655 meters. However, I kept my fingers crossed that the situation would change by spring 2023, and the borders would reopen.

 

Unfortunately, the feedback from the embassies of Iran and Turkmenistan regarding whether they allow land border crossings has been received, and to my frustration, they are still closed. As a result, there are no other options but to cancel this long-prepared project.

 

But never give up! I have started a new project: Morocco. I will be leaving home on Sunday, April 16th, staying near Pont du Gard in the south of France, and catching a ferry to Tangier, where I will disembark on the 19th.

 

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