10 weeks to go

My parents, Steve and Margie.... Two wonderful heros who have just been to Cape Town and helped fix up the properties there. My parents are fantastic. Steve the "spiderman" and Margie who is whacky and so kind.

I'm really missing sunshine.

Today I’m really homesick. I’m very glad that it’s not long until I get back to laid-back friendly Africa. Europe has been interesting but I’m just relived to go home. I’m exhausted by how difficult life and people are here in UK.

Get your memories in print

Here are two websites that are worth considering Photobox and http://www.lulu.com/

Lulu I’ve not tried yet, but Photobox is excellent.

Usually those who choose to bypass publishers and editors are called “vanity writers”. The implication is that you think you are so good you go ahead and publish your own work at great expense… and no body really reads it, just perhaps you and some friends of yours (who are polite and keep a copy). Personally, I think that whilst it is nice (but only nice) to have one’s work recognised by publishers; that there is no reason at all that you shouldn’t take your work direct to the world. At the end do the day, if your work is any good, it will be read, and if it isn’t - well, no body will buy your book. Simple. Let the public decide. This website enables regular Joe Soaps to get their work printed in paperback with ISBN number and global distribution. The book will also be sold on line and you make money if you are really lucky and really good. Simple.

I’ve also been reading up on travel writing and most of the advice seems really obvious and logical - like you won‘t make money doing travel writing. The most important thing that I’ve learnt so far is to be accurate about place. Do not do a place injustice or make it up. Inaccurate facts will get you in trouble. I guess that is fair. Avoid clichés. Admittedly, I think that must be really hard to do in practical terms. And the other thing was to find a niche or speciality that you can become knowledgeable about. The last bit of advice was to WRITE. So there! Write and write some more and then publish your book. If no body reads it, at least you have a very cool book to remember your travels and hand down to your grand-kiddies.

Something I have tried and its really effective and affordable is Photobox that is part of The Carphone Warehouse's online offer. You can make a hard cover 20 page book of your photos. All you have to do is set up a user account, upload your favourite pictures and then start making your book. Its all templates and drag and drop. For the reasonable price of £20 you can have a glossy, professional book of your favourite travel memories.

Carne Information

The Carne is basically a “passport” for your motorbike. It is a way of travelling through countries and in a way guaranteeing the payment of import taxes. If we had to do this ourselves, we would need to carry really big wads of cash with us and the temptation for some less fortunate and less ethical characters to knick it would be huge I imagine. So instead, we have to get a carne. In the UK the RAC is able to help with this bit of paper work. You can find the phone number on their website, and speak to Paul Gowen who is really helpful and can you talk you through all the details.

Different countries have different import tax rules and costs. Egypt and India used to be some of the most expensive with 500% value of the bike. However, Egypt is now a whopping 800% the value of the bike. Mother fuckers.

Lets do the math: one BMW valued at £2000 x 800 = £16 000. This is either paid by bank guarantee or by buying insurance that is 10% of 16K. You will get half of that premium back once you successfully bring the bike back or export it. Any way you look at it, it’s a lot of money.

I really want to see the pyramids. And I really want to drive the whole way and avoid too many ferry rides but Egypt is just getting silly expensive to bike through and ripping the tourist trade off. I have heard a plethora of bad stories of corruption and hassling at borders. Tales of having pages torn out of the carne and attempts to fraudulently gain funds. The RAC is on top of this, lucky for us. I have heard Egypt is over rated. I really hope it isn’t! I seriously hope that I am going to go there expecting the worst and end up surprised and delighted by the country and its people.

For the South Africans out there, we need to look at the Home Office website and fill in all the relevant forms for importing a bike. Again, a bit of paper work that won’t hurt to read up on before setting off back home.