South America – Come on down…

Roel & Azure at Adventure Designs after the presentation.

Today I had a chance to make my way over to the East Bay to visit one of my favorite places, Adventure Designs, located in Hayward, CA.  As they often do, Adventure Designs opened up their shop on a Saturday so that some friends, and world travelers could share stories and insights about their journey around the world with us.  This pair of energetic travelers are Roel Bremmers (Holland) & Azure O’Neil (Vermont, USA), who are together traveling around the world, experiencing life to the fullest.

Their entire journey is being told on their website (www.mytickettoride.com ), and also on their Facebook page.  I’m sure that I can’t do justice to telling their story, but I can say that it was a pleasure to meet the two of them today, and to hear and see them tell the stories about and from the road.  The couple met a few years ago now, so part of the story is about Roel’s solo journey, and how he met, and was taken aback by Azure.

Truthfully, it is a joy to see people that enjoy what their doing, and also enjoy each others company, and share a common spirit.  From all of the travelogues that I’ve read, it seems that being a couple and traveling together on the road is not easy, and is not for everyone.  It takes a certain spirit, and a certain type of person to hold up to the road, and to be supportive and  empathetic of the other person, while also being independent.  There’s an art form in their somewhere.

Azure’s bike, nice and clean, and parked at Adv Designs during their talk.

I should add that in the beginning, Roel and Azure rode 2-up on the bike, but after a series of unfortunate events, Azure decided that she wanted to learn to ride on her own, and that she would purchase and learn to ride her own bike.  Her story is much like my own story, and you may recall that my story ended with me suffering a catastrophic break to my right leg, which put me in a hospital bed for 5 weeks.  I can say with confidence that Azure took on this task in a measured way, and did a nice job of honing her skills, so that after only 5 weeks of riding, they were able to ride in NYC, one of the most challenging cities to ride in.

On Monday of next week, that’s just two short days from now, Azure and Roel will begin their journey south, into Central America, and down to Ushuaia, the place that I was just a week ago.

Let’s show some support…  Pls visit their Facebook page, and let them know that we Like them.

Storytellers and lover’s of life

I think that all of us have listened to presentations and talks from people like Roel and Azure. That is to say, people who are doing something that they love, and that they are very passionate about.  I can say that not everyone who has this type of passion is a great story teller, but I would say that most people like this are.

There seems to be a certain way to think about the journey, appreciating the kindness of strangers, while observing all of the strange and bizarre things that come from different cultures, and different lands.  Such was the case today, when Roel and Azure shared their stories with us.  It seems to me that they’ve got the right attitude, and also the right objectives for this journey.  I wish them all the best, and to have a safe and fun journey.

Is everyone going to travel around the world?

My current goal is to put away enough money so that I’ll be able to retire within a reasonable period of time, and to begin a journey which might be similar to Roel and Azure’s.  Until recently, I thought that this type of journey or trip was rare, and that there were not many people who had the inclination, or the spirit to take it on.  But today, once again, I was proven wrong.

You see, also in attendance at the presentation and talk from Roel and Azure was a rider named Mike Newman.  Mike is from Columbia, and Mike is 7 weeks in to a trip that will also take him around the world.  Mike told me that he just sold his last items, and he’s about to take his Super Tenere around the world.

After meeting Mike you could be quickly struck by how much of a nice guy and optimist he is.  I make a point of mentioning his optimism because when you get a look at how his bike is loaded with gear, it becomes clear that only an optimist could imagine riding around the world with so much stuff.  Although Mike told me that he has balanced the bike pretty well, it still seems that there is too much gear, hanging in every conceivable place.

When you look at the bike you do need to admit however that he’s done a truly awesome job of hanging everything that you could possibly need off of the bike.  I especially liked the way that he’s got the spare tires mounted.

In any case, we also wish Mike a great trip, and a healthy journey.  His next 5 years will be filled with excitement, with something new at every turn.  I am a bit jealous of what he’s doing, but I’m not really worried.  I’ve got the same dream, and I’m already planning on how to make it happen.  Good on ya Mike.