In 2015-2016, I rode solo through Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, and Europe. Obviously, I didn’t see everything on those continents, and there are many reasons to return. Here’s my initial look at our 2021 plan, this time 2-up on a larger 700cc motorcycle.

As of now, we plan to start in Dublin, Ireland, and spend the better portion of a year in Europe, crossing the English Channel to France, then up through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway to the top of Europe at Nordkapp. Then we’ll drop back down through Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Poland. After spending time with friends in Poland, and likely a visit home, we will spend more time traveling Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and others before turning around and heading east through Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and into Turkey.

At that point, we may well be nearing or into 2023, and we will continue east, exploring the “Stans”, Russia, Mongolia, and hopefully China, before dropping into SouthEast Asia and down to Australia and New Zealand.

By then, if we aren’t “burned out” — it happens, and we plan ahead to try to prevent it by taking time off every six months or so to recharge — we will ship the bike to Santiago, Chile, and begin our final leg back to the States (although I insist we return to the Carretera Austral in Chile, and perhaps more of Patagonia, before turning north).

As in 2015, this is a rough plan. Everything changes, and when you live on a motorcycle, you must be flexible and willing to adapt. With the current Coronavirus situation, this all could change quickly, but we accept that and are happy to follow where the available paths lead.