“A big trip causes you to change as a person. All the experiences and challenges mean that when you get home, you really aren’t the same person you were. I rather think of us as being squarish pegs fitting into a square hole when we are at home pre-trip. The road rounds off those edges, and we no longer fit in quite so well. In my case, I came back kinder, more aware of other people, more ready to listen, less arrogant and way more curious.”
To say that Sam is a seasoned traveler would be a proverbial understatement. With an eight-year journey of 200 000 miles / 321 868 kilometers crossing fifty-five countries none could argue that he’s undeserving of being one of the foremost experts when it comes to globetrotting with a motorcycle. Originally from the UK but born in Zaire, then Belgian Congo, when his parents were living there Sam has always been a keen traveler. Throughout his life, he’s used various forms of transport including bicycles, sails, riding trains and of course the obligatory hitchhiking that so many get to do when traveling on a budget. But it wasn’t until he decided to get his hands on a bike and head out that the road really opened up. Within short order, Sam got his hands on an R80G/S. “I only had three months experience on a motorcycle when I got to the edge of the Sahara, so I had a lot to learn…” And with way too much luggage and very little practical knowledge, he’d have to learn fast. But the open road turned out to be the best school of all. Not only for his adventure motorcycling skills but it would also become the most prominent shaping force on his views of life and the world around us all.
“I set off with nine pairs of socks! I guess I had a bit of a clean foot fetish! But seriously, by the time I’d been on the road for a couple of months I knew full well that I had way too much gear. I gave away six pairs as thank you presents in Ethiopia… I had two too many t-shirts also so gave the extras away as well.” A question often tabled to well-versed travelers is what should one pack and what should be left at home. But Sam has a pretty spartan approach when it comes to travel and follows the less is more rule, doubling up on uses for the same item he now packs much lighter. “An example of that is a lightweight motorcycle cover. Out of sight is out of mind, so your bike and gear end up being way more secure. The second use is to use your luggage ratchet straps (a second use for them too), and sling the cover as a sunshade over your tent where the temps are high.“
The same goes for his motorcycle. “I’m still on Libby. That’s short for Liberty, which is what she gives me. She’s a long-suffering 1992 BMW R80G/S with 283 000 miles / 455 444 kilometers on her. I haven’t adapted her much. I upgraded the suspension, put a 9 gallon / 43 liter tank on her, a bash plate and some aluminum panniers.” Other than that the improvements to her have been sparse “In recent years I’ve upgraded the charging technology and battery type.” At his core, it is the adventure that Sam is into. Hitting the starter button and setting off on the less traveled. “As a novice motorcyclist, I carried far too many spare parts. The idea being that if I couldn’t work out what a problem was, I could keep swapping parts until ‘something’ fixed it. My bike was so reliable that I hardly needed any of them. Other motorcyclists were happy to know I was around though!”
Sam’s first book, Into Africa, was written and released as a consequence of some polite public pressure. By his own admission he’s never fancied himself as much of a writer, but after having completed a considerable amount of miles, Sam started writing articles in 1996 for popular motorcycling magazines. It was then that readers started asking: “We like Sam’s articles. When is he going to write a book?” and he figured, “The travel bug bites hard, but motorcycle travel bites deep and doing a long trip by bike is the stuff of dreams. Writing books seemed like a great way to share the fun, the disasters and all the amazing things that happen to you out there.” Into Africa chronicle’s Sam’s firsts years on the road and the journey is not without its highs or lows. “One of the brilliant things about the journey had been that the bike had made me go to places a traveler normally wouldn’t see. She’d taken me into office confusion, made me deal with the devious and also the remnants of old colonial systems. But she’d also taken me where good humur was the order of the day and where the frequent desire of the officials was not to cheat, but to help. Almost every minute of what had been going on was bonus time.”
His second book, Under Asian Skies sees him heading off from South Africa to Australia by boat. New Zealand, Asia, and the road to Europe follow in due course as Sam works his way through different cultures and adventures. “Jaipur town is a center of trade for the surrounding area and as such incredibly busy. The traders seemed to either sell things that they had produced out on the farms or things that those out on the farms would need. The colors were stunning: rich greens from the vegetables contrasted with bright oranges, reds, yellows, and turquoises of women’s saris, and the pink and orange walls of the city and palaces provided the perfect backdrop. All this was going on under a bright blue sky and was spiced up by selections of vivid-colored curry powders, the sparkles from the many jewelers’ shops and the gleaming white shirts that the men all seemed to favor. The streets hustled and bustled with those out shopping in the markets, the Ambassador taxis, the bicycle rickshaws, the chai sellers, the roaming stalls of stainless steel pots and pans sellers, and camels that moved imperiously through the crowds.” It’s in this second year of travel that Sam meets Birgit, his now partner. Initially, she’d been traveling on a bicycle through New Zealand but later decided to trade in her wheels for a 1971 BMW R60/5 called Sir Henry. She then joined up with Sam for the last four years of his monumental trip.
Sam also has some sage advice for couples planning to go the extra mile together on a big trip. “Do it! Allow yourself space to be yourselves every day. Always listen hard to what the other person wants to say. Never assume. Always treat the other person with respect, even when, at a particular moment they might not deserve it. Make sure you both have responsibilities – don’t let one person feel less important than the other or one person feels the responsibility too much. Watch out for the times when you are tired but more importantly, look out for the times when your partner is tired. Stop, slow down, take a break.” Although this advice could also easily be applied to times when you don’t find yourselves out on the road in a distant land. “It’s a wonderful thing being able to share so much. Value that. Enjoy doing things your partner wants to do but that you may not. They are occasions where unexpectedly wonderful adventures can begin.”
Distant Suns is the third installment in Sam’s four-piece epic. It sees him and Birgit head through Africa to make their way across to South America together. “With real style, Sir Henry chose to die outside a brothel, and with nowhere else within pushing distance that had a yard for parking, the ‘Madame’ rather uncertainly showed us the way inside. We parked the bikes under the huge tree that dominated her yard. A door in the turquoise wall to the left of us opened, and a weary but satisfied looking couple quietly left. We were shown to our room. It was damp, with mold on the wall, but had a fan that worked, and had a pipe on the wall of the bathroom that happily threw out a reasonable quantity of water at an angle of almost 90°. Perfect for face washing! We later worked out that if we let the jet of water hit the opposite wall of the shower, the spray that would bounce back at us showered us very nicely. We fell onto the bed, and we lay and contemplated our problems.”
The last part of the journey gets documented in Tortillas To Totems. “After over six years riding the roads of developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, the next two years of exploring some of the developed world were going to be just as big a learning curve…” The duo heads north and explores Mexico, the USA, and Canada. “North American supermarkets were a childish adventure for us. We were like kids in a toy store at Christmas. For the last couple of years, we’d done most of our shopping in little shops where squadrons of flies practiced aerobatics over the one choice of sardine, shampoo, soap, bread and sometimes even goat or sheep’s cheese. We’d bought our vegetables from little Indian women, choosing from their displays lovingly laid out on blankets on the ground. Great fun, but sometimes we’d dreamt of not having to bargain for everything. It’s a slow process. Now, these dreams were coming true. Ten choices of sardine, fixed price; twenty choices of shampoo, fixed price; but what to choose? And so many different types of bread!”
A great deal has changed in the overland motorcycling world since Sam initially headed out. “There’s an amazing amount more information around. When I started traveling on a bike, Google wasn’t around. Neither for that matter were GPS and digital photography.” It all comes down to being out there and exploring, figuring it out as one goes. “The brilliant thing is that with more information and a greater ability, more people are thinking, ‘I could do that.’ And going out to do it. That’s fantastic! The more people who travel the world and learn what it’s really like, the safer the world becomes. I mean that seriously. Too many people rely on politicians and TV to tell them what’s going on. There’s an unbelievable amount of BS around. Ask anyone who has done a big trip, and they will tell you the same thing.”
“I am less afraid of things going wrong than I was before. Yes, things do go wrong. On the road and in life at home, but it’s how you handle those situations that matter. Plus, the road teaches you that when something goes wrong, it really is just the beginning of an unexpected adventure; silver linings do exist. You just have to know how to see them.”
Find out more about Sam here and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Leave a Reply