On My Next Tour

-Start from home. (1) You'll already be familiar with the first few days of travel, for stuff you might need and for comfortable warm-up riding. (2) You'll save on flights and shipping fees, whether you only buy a one-way flight back or don't even bother with the hastle of flying at all. (3) If you're gonna do a bike trip, why not just start riding from where you are?!

Camping in peru

-Use what you have. While I am a huge fan of having quality gear, you don't need to buy everything brand new. However, here are what I think is worth investing in:

-sleeping bag
-rain jacket
-bike
-waterproof pannier bags
-bike shorts/comfortable riding clothes
-helmet
-stove (allows you to cook and save money)

-Become an expert on a new topic. With remote and isolated travel, you are able to focus and think about new areas of personal interest. Whether it be about prehistoric hominids (Neanderthals), C++ programming, or satellite space communication, there are infinite topics to explore. A bike tour is such a great way to educate yourself in a new field!

Middle of the road protest, but luckily they let the cyclist through!!

-Document it! Take pictures and video. You'll later miss riding your bike every day to travel where you need to go. It may not be while you're on the tour or even at home a year after it, but eventually you'll love looking back at the experience you had on the bike...trust me! I have 20 GB of media files and it's still not enough! Take the extra time to compose good shots and never be too scared to snap a quick pic (or a selfie)!

-Write! This could be added to the above bullet, but I think it really deserves its own. The thoughts and ideas you have on your bike tour will be 100% unique to you. I cannot stress this enough. Any words you write will seem like gold in your own eyes within a few short years. Write about everything you see, who you've met, what your basic thoughts were during the day (food, shelter, water), your newfound ideas about humanity and cycling. The stuff you don't feel you need to write down will probably become the most interesting reading material later... like how you saved 20 cents using powdered milk over regular, or how the cashier made a joke that you didn't understand because his Spanish was too fast. That's the golden stuff.

-Plan something and make a change towards something better.

Roadside look out

-Have multiple chargers and a battery pack. It's incredibly useful to have multiple chargers for the batteries you use. You might only have limited time at a charging station (i.e., wall outlets) and, by having multiple chargers, you can recharge all of your devices simultaneously and quickly.

"Meeting the neighbors" (or the entire town) and getting an authentic tour of every nook and cranny!