TRAVEL LINKS

For Travel Planning only – to assist you in pre-travel reading/research.

This page is not for supplies, hotels, restos etc.; those are in the other blogs by topic.

It is a short list for now; we are short of computer time on the road!
Plus we are selective and do not wish to bury you.

Doing it matters more than reading about doing it.

But others' experiences can help.

Only web sites that we find to be
well done and helpful to serious bike travelers,
will be included.

Hence, being listed below is an unpaid endorsement by us.

Biking emphasis notwithstanding, we have done adventure-travel on four wheels too; some aspects of these sites will be of interest to any driving traveler.

In no particular order of priority; just as we chanced upon them.

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The Economist

The above link is for a countries index if you want an objective analysis with a no-BS well researched perspective. Click any country/region and there it is, laid factually bare. It provides in-depth facts, analysis of all the bad-news, good-news topics. And brilliantly written. No better news media exists.

Time, Newsweek, New York Times, etc. are lightweights by comparison.

and search any topic.

Or subscribe. I subscribe to this weekly news magazine when I'm at home; it is the best I know of. Sure miss it on the road!

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Best Biking Roads
Exactly as its name implies. David Robertson created/runs it, a Brit living in Brussels. We met him, a great guy who is a serious BMW Boxer rider and skilled wrench.

Riders enter their favorite rides and comments on an excellent interactive map. David did a brilliant job on it, he is a software engineer by trade, which helps.

Brilliant site for finding scenic challenging roads over much of the globe.

We will add to it when we get caught up on the blog – computer time is just so scarce on the road, we feel guilty not contributing to his excellent site, yet. But will do so.


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Horizons Unlimited
Grant & Susan Johnson are Canadians with (so far) 11 years of bike travel under their quite modified Bimmer rims. Their bike incidentally, weighs almost the same as our Wing – 450 kg with luggage but no people. They evidently do worse roads than we currently seek out.

Grant is evidently a good wrench, look at the bike mods! Different spokes.

Their website is aimed at motorcycle travelers worldwide, with a Bulletin Board for chats, Travel News updates – an information central. They offer more web links that may be interesting to you; it is evidently #1 motorcycle travel site in Google search results too.

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Golden Triangle Rider = GT Rider

David Unkovich is a great (Australian) down-to-earth guy, a serious biker who has lived in Thailand for decades. His web site your only choice for detailed information and maps on Thailand, Laos, Cambodia whether you are driving 4 wheels or riding 2.

In fact even if you are just a tourist hopping around by plane or bus, read up here in advance and get the relevant maps when planning your holiday in the region.

David does not do guided tours any longer – he did previously but is out of that now – and does not like to give out his phone number so easily, so contact him by email.

He created a set of superb plastic-coated rugged maps we are so grateful we bought from him. They are the only ones to get, reasonably priced, forget about all other maps. His have the best most scenic routes well marked, lodging he has tried and recommends, interesting sites and other relevant info.

Order them by email from his web site [map ordering link]. See our country blogs of the countries for details about the sections of his maps we rode.

We kick ourselves for not finding his web site sooner and heeding his experienced advice about not even trying to get to Vietnam with wheels, he'd have saved us a few weeks and thousands of dollars ... See Vietnam #1 Blog for how we were led astray.

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Lonely Planet

It's the best travelers' guide, it rules.

It's not always up to date, hotels/restos they recommend have closed, prices change, obviously. Some of their editorial opinions on places, we have disagreed with – while others are dead-on.

Quibbles aside, again, it's the best. Also their on-line info is useful as a 'sketch', then get the book. Good for all travelers, ones who use planes too – not aimed at bikers.

The books are not cheap, and they take valuable bike bag space. (We buy 1-2 then send them home with notes inside, once we leave the area.) Downloading from their web site is OK if you just want the PDFs, but printing/carrying hard copies – they are too bulky 8.5" x 11" one-sided printing. The books are a good investment, not an expense.

Sometimes hard to find in English, so buy ahead ...


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1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the travel links. These links are very useful for me. Keep it up...!

    ReplyDelete