By: Daan van der Keur

Daan van der Keur — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 13:16:56 +0000

Travelling by Motorbike is still by far the best way to travel in my opinion. Cycling is just way to dangerous, when you get bitten by a dog outside Europe (in Iran I was once chased by 10-15 dogs in the desert) the chance that you get Rabies is just way to high. A doctor on the LUMC of the Department of Infectious Diseases where I worked once told me that it is the most painful way to die. In the end you seem to see bugs running up the wallpaper.
When I turn 60 next year I’m thinking about retiring (it’s possible says the ABP-website) and then jump on my motorbike to never step off again. I want to ride from Argentina to Alaska, from Norway to South Africa and from Amsterdam to Vladivostok and then take the ferry to Japan.
I already drove through the old USSR twice (first to Kiëv and then through the Caucasus) so that was before the Iron Curtain came down. These two travels were totally hallucinant and will always have a special place in my heart. It was in 1989/1990 forbidden to go to the USSR on the motorbike but I found a simple trick and that was not to tell them (= Travel Agency Intourist for the Vouchers and the Russian Embassy for the Visa) that you were going on the motorbike. I always said/wrote ‘Own transport’ and for them that meant a Car and was allowed. If you drove to the Russian border with a visa they let you in without any problem.
Further I drove Leiden -> Singapore in 1992/1993 and Leiden -> Bishek/Kirgyzstan vice versa in 2019,

Comments on: Getting lost in Alaska: Part I

By: Daan van der Keur