I’m home…

Ok, I just got home from the trip and I still need to adapt after being on the road for 3 months on the bike… Not sure if I actually really want to be home though… But since I’m here now I will share some pictures from the last days. As you can see I also fixed the “ballroom” for the bike…

The 10 minute movie about the whole Balkan trip you can see here:

Some facts & figures about the 3 months trip, both on the DRZ and the BMW…

• Total distance driven on the bike: 20.782km (this is half the world my friends!)
• Bribes: 0 (I should get a medal for this!)
• Police stops: 2 (Transnistria & Bosnia)
• Fines: Switserland (still need to get it) and Bosnia (talked my way out of it)
• Countries visited: 30
• Border Inspections: 0
• Got a free Moldova sticker from the border guard there and the same happened in Croatia
• Times lost: hmmm… none I would say
• Cheapest fuel: Russia (0,75€)
• Most expensive fuel: Norway (2,2€) – no surprise here…
• Cheapest paid accommodation: Macedonia
• Most expensive paid accommodation: again, no surprise: Norway
• Most difficult borders: Transnistria followed by Russia
• Countries I liked a lot: difficult one; but I would say Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Ukraine, Bosnia, …
• Places that I liked a lot: Sarajevo (BiH), Belgrade (SRB), Ohrid (MK), Sint Petersburg (RUS)…
• Place I didn’t like: Greece (no surprise here)
• Best experience: Lake Komani (Albania)
• Paid/free accommodation: 63/37%
• Total money spent: well this is a tricky one, but I managed to survive and travel for 3 months for less than 50€ a day, all-in (fuel, food, accommodation & souvenirs)

Problems with the bikes: (Suzuki DRZ400 and BMWR1200GSA)

• Brake disks changed in Belgium
• Lightbulb changed in Greece
• Chain & sprockets changed in Finland
• Engine blow-up in Romania (bike home on trailer)
• Nail in rear tyre in Albania, fixed it in Kosovo
• Battery dead in Slovenia (replaced)
• Problems with the drive shaft in Slovenia (replaced)
• Pannier broke in Bosnia after fall (fixed it on site)
• Got my cookingstuff and spare parts stolen in Ukraine

I probably forgot a lot of things, but I think that a lot has been said and otherwise you’re not going to read this anyway!

Then, I would like to thank all the people I met on my way, YOU WERE ALL GREAT! I enjoyed our meetings, conversations, time together, basically just being in your company. I am glad I talked to all of you, as you all had something interesting to share and so I was never really alone… the world is not as scary as many of you think, or maybe I am just lucky to dodge and avoid all the bad places and people? Anyways,

I HAD A BLAST!

See you in 2013 for the next episode…. hehe!