From Spain to Australia

We left Madrid in May 2014. The first nights were spent camping by the roadside, adjusting to life on the move. Through southern France and into Italy, we slowly found a rhythm.

The road east brought new landscapes almost every day. Northern Italy gave us one of the first memorable stretches of the trip, crossing the mountains and visiting Lake Garda on the way east.

Slovenia was a brief pause between longer transit days. Forests, mountain air, and quieter roads made it feel like a reset before continuing further east.

We remember it as a calm section of the trip, and a good place to slow down for a moment.

Croatia meant coastal roads, clear water, and strong wind. Whenever possible, we stayed close to the shoreline and followed it south.

The roads moved quickly from the bay to the mountains, with sharp changes in landscape over short distances.

It was a small country, but one that stayed with us for the quality of the riding.

Kosovo surprised us with good roads and small towns. We slowed down here and spent a little more time taking things as they came.

Bulgaria was a big surprise. We first visited Rila, where we met Vladimir, who later introduced us to other people in the country. The Rila Monastery is beautiful, but the mountains behind it left an even stronger impression.

We rode high into the mountains, crossing patches of snow and mist. It remains one of the clearest memories of the trip.

Turkey was the first country that felt closer to an expedition than simply travelling through. We started in Istanbul, then moved south, visited Cappadocia, crossed dirt roads, rode through the north, and eventually headed south again.

A lot of it was shaped by spontaneous decisions, which made it one of the longest and most varied parts of the route.

Iran is difficult to summarise because so much happened there. Early on, we broke the bike in the Kurdistan region, which changed the course of the trip and also brought us into contact with many local people. It was where we experienced Iranian generosity most directly.

At the same time, we decided to skip Pakistan because of recent attacks on tourists, which affected our visa plans. Instead, we had to find another route and eventually flew the bike to Mumbai.

India was demanding from the beginning: heat, traffic, noise, and days that required full attention from start to finish.

Later, the Himalayas changed the tone of the journey completely. The roads became higher, quieter, and more exposed, and the riding there felt unlike anywhere else on the route.

What was meant to be a stay of around 15 days changed when we broke the alternator in the Himalayas. That setback turned into two months in India, with a lot of unexpected stories and memories.

Nepal came after India as a noticeable change of pace. The mountains were still there, but everything moved differently.

We rode into Kathmandu, where we met a few friends before heading on to Myanmar. Some of the places we visited would change forever after the earthquake that hit the city only a few months later.

Myanmar had only recently opened to overland travel, so crossing it by motorcycle still felt like a rare opportunity.

Bagan, Mandalay, and Yangon each gave the trip a different atmosphere. More than anything, we remember the changing landscapes, the small towns, and the food.

Not long afterwards, overland travel through Myanmar became restricted again due to conflict and political instability.

Thailand was one of the easier parts of the route. The roads flowed well, food was easy to find, and after some harder sections the days felt more straightforward.

It also felt familiar in a way that made it easy to stay longer. We ended up spending a couple of months there, riding around and visiting many different places.

Northern Laos was quiet, green, and slow in the best sense. The roads moved through mountains and along rivers, with long stretches that felt remote but calm.

It was one of the more peaceful parts of the journey, although the road conditions were often quite rough. It was also one of those places where interacting with locals and trying new food came naturally.

We have mixed feelings about Cambodia. Partly because of the amount of development and roadworks we found, with long dusty stretches that made the riding harder.

At the same time, it offered one of the most memorable experiences of the trip: riding through the Angkor temple area by motorcycle, which felt slightly unreal.

Malaysia was the final stage in Asia. There were monsoon storms, busy cities, and the growing sense that the overland part of the trip was coming to an end now that we had decided to continue to Australia.

In Kuala Lumpur, we prepared the bike for its flight and tried to adjust to the idea that the route was nearly complete.

We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney. After so many months on the road, we needed a bit of time to settle and adjust to a new routine.

We liked Sydney enough that, more than a decade later, we are still here. Life looks very different now: fewer long motorcycle trips, but a family of four and a whole country still left to explore.