In February 2020, Kim and I had our last vacation. At that moment, we didn't know yet, we wouldn't be able to travel for a longer time. In September 2020 I visited my family in the Netherlands, and after that almost the whole world closed for traveling. This gave me and Kim a lot of time to think about our future and planning ahead. We watched a lot of YouTube videos about traveling with a motorcycle. In the mean time we get a lot of new gear. Motorcycle boots, bags, a new tent and sleeping bags. Our plan was, to go camping as much as possible in de pandemic, so when it's all over, we are ready to leave to go on our trip to Southeast Asia.
There's one thing I didn't tell you yet. Even though I have my license, doesn't mean I'm really good at driving the motorcycle. I'm scared of heights, leaning in corners and other people on the road. I'm really trying my best, and drive as much as I can, but I'm always scared. I really don't know if traveling with a motorcycle is something for me. We have beautiful roads here to drive in Switzerland and I'm already scared, now imagine me in a big city in India?
Suddenly it's 2021 and some countries in Europe are opening up for tourists. We are planning to go to Greece in May. This will be a good practice for me. If I can't handle to drive down to Greece, then traveling the world is not a good idea. We are making our bikes ready, with getting new tires and a service.
In March we already get disappointing news. All the countries we want to travel through, are closing again. We have to think fast for a back up plan. We look if we can go to Morocco, but it's also closed. Spain is still open, but because everybody is going there now, we think it's better to skip it.
It leaves us with one option, to stay in Switzerland and make a road trip here. We're a bit sad. Every evening we watch more travel videos and get even more sad. We see how other people still can travel, and we have the feeling we are stuck here.
Kim and I always like to watch the YouTube videos from Itchy Boots. Even she is traveling right now in South-Africa. And that's where we had the idea to look for flights to South-Africa. It's super cheap, and we can get in South-Africa with a negative PCR test. Only when we get back, we have to go one week into quarantine. We don't have to think long and we immediately book tickets. Kim has been in South-Africa before with his parents. They rented a motorhome there and that's how they travelled around. I think this is a good idea, and we also rent a motorhome for the 3 weeks we stay there.
I can't believe we did this, and in 2 weeks we're already leaving.