Our arrival in Toronto turned out to be one of the more memorable moments of the first week of the trip. After a flawless approach into the city we promptly got lost and wound up driving around the city for the better part of two hours. This did not look promising for the future, especially considering we had traveled this route before. We finally found our way and were greeted by Tim and Linda, whom we met while traveling in Indonesia in 1999. They have a beautiful home in Cabbage Town and we welcomed the rest from the frantic pace we had set for ourselves in the months prior to our departure. After spending 4 relaxing days with them it was finally time to set off into the unknown.

Brian

Well, the big day arrived and we had breakfast with Jacques and Isabelle, good friends who were good enough to house us for a couple of days. A good breakfast is definitely a must, especially if the night before was spent drinking with friends and family.

As I was trying desperately to fit everything onto the bike in some sort of coherent manner a rather large, bearded and generally fierce looking guy came up and inquired about the bike. It was immediately obvious that this guy knew a thing or two about riding a motorcycle. It is strange but I have always been intimidated by the stereotypical “biker type” only to find, after a bit of small talk, that we share a common passion and that is usually enough to break the ice. After the usual small talk he asked where we were headed and I explained in a somewhat reserved way that we were heading to the tip of South-America and then onto Europe and beyond. He hesitated for a moment seemingly trying to decided if I was laughing at him but eventually opted to believe me, although with a bit of trepidation. He wished me luck and walked away. I wasn’t convinced that he believed me.

About 30 minutes later the bike was ready to go. It looked and felt like a Lada trying to be a pick-up truck but everything held in place. A couple of friends, Claudine and Zeinab, had decided to see us off on the big day. As the cameras were being prepared for the big moment, my large friend came back from across the street were he had been doing renovation work. I think it is same to assume that all doubt was erased from his mind as to our intentions when he finally witnessed the sight that is our motorcycle fully loaded, not to mention the teary eyed Zeinab frantically taking pictures alongside Claudine. So there we were, the five of us, Marie and I with full protective gear, Zeinab looking both sad and happy at the same time, Claudine seemingly happy to see us finally go after hearing us talking about this trip for a couple of years and my new biker friend. It was probably the most unlikely grouping of five people you could have imagined but it made for a very memorable sendoff. And on top of it all I’ll be damned if my biker friend didn’t get a little emotional along with the rest of us.  

Brian

A trip such as the one we are undertaking is, to put it mildly, a little expensive. When speaking to people about what we are planning to do the question of costs usually comes up. How can you afford this type of trip? The truth is we have been planning for several years to travel again. We had previously visited South-East Asia and the Middle-East years ago and wanted to travel again. About 2 years ago we decided that we would try going around the world by motorcycle. With that goal in mind, we sold our house and basically everything we owned save for a few souvenirs and some odds and ends. We left behind about a half dozen small boxes worth of stuff in total. In addition to selling everything we adopted a frugal lifestyle. Movies were out and restaurants were limited to once per week. Going out for drinks was also out of the question.

Saving money was made easier by the fact that we both held good jobs that we enjoyed a lot. Marie worked for a call center for the Federal Government and I worked as a retail manager.

Marie chose to leave her job a week before our departure date and I stayed on until the day before we left (crazy I know but I still had a few things to wrap up at work). The last few days in Montreal we no longer had an apartment, having terminated our lease a little early. This gave us the chance to try living out of the 3 boxes and tank case we now call home. We quickly found that we had far too much stuff to fit on the bike.

In addition to having too much weight we were particularly concerned about what is called transmission sweat. Basically, there is a seal between the transmission and the engine which, when working properly, will prevent our dry clutch from getting wet with oil. If the seal fails there is a telltale seepage of oil where the engine and the transmission meet. We know this because back in July the seal failed on a 1600 kilometer test run. Repairs ended up costing us about 2000$. After the repairs were done everything seemed fine until about a month later when we noticed more seepage. Having this seal fail on the road is fairly catastrophic so we decided to keep an eye open to see if it would get any worse. Up until the day of departure it did not seep more oil. Time will tell if this very nagging issue develops into something worse.

Brian