The first days of 2008 brought beside the disconcerting for many Dakar cancellation, on a more domestic level, over otherwise dusty (and altogether shitty) Bucharest a thick coat of snow. Better scenery as the otherwise prevailing filth was covered in white stuff but also a major draw-back. All you people riding motorcycles and living in places where it snows should know what I mean: no more riding but a lot of fantasying and sometimes even planning about future adventures, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. So, as a true biker, I also nurture the seed and sketch plans for this year’s “BIG ONE”. And here and now is the first time I publicly talk about it.
What I have in mind for this year is not the rather common, 2 to 3 weeks ride with a precise destination and/or route. This trip will not be about going to this or that place, but will try to represent the pursuit of a more abstract “target” as the trip itself and the acquiring of that elusive immaterial goal, will be it’s reasons to unfold. A better understanding of how people of Europe look and “feel” at closer scrutiny once the impersonal socio-demographic categories are left behind. I will try to understand more in detail how are they alike or different from my compatriots, or one among others and not in the last what can they bring and how their unique ingredients can contribute to a truly and coherently European Union. It goes without saying that the personal, human enrichment through direct experience with the people I’ll meet and situations I will encounter, will also be among the prized benefits of my endeavor.
My desire to better understand and also participate at the extent of the echo such a project might generate, in the broader process of Europe forging itself into a united and coherent structure is based on my personal investment of hope in the success of the European construction. I think that based on the joint cultural, political and economical heritage of all member states, the EU can become a necessary alternative in what the worldwide distribution of influence and power is concerned. Let me make one thing absolutely clear: I have nothing against the USA or the people of this otherwise impressive country. What I’m not particularly happy with is it’s one sided influence on the world’s evolution considering that after the collapse of the Soviet Union (thank God for that) there is no one left to bring and also have the power to back-up a different point of view to the power table. Looking ahead to the day when China is going to claim that position I strongly hope Europe would have already claimed the spot.
So, to put it in less words, I hope to see the day when Europe, as a strong and articulated union, will become a significant voice in global policy making because, beside it’s current age related weaknesses, it is fully entitled by it’s history and humanistic accomplishments to this position.
Another reason for my journey, mainly subsequent to the main one, is that I truly want to know better the part of the world I live in. I think that most of us Europeans condone a fallacious sensation that we are knowledgeable about the other countries with whom we share the old shell, now in the form of the enlarged union. Because of the rather short distances separating us, due to efficient and available means of transportation to practically everywhere within it’s borders, and of few and shallow common facts superficially spread within the popular culture about each of the member states, we maintain the illusion we know everything we need to know about Europe and our Europeans co-unionists. In this respect I want to attempt to surpass the confines of the impoverishing paradigms we operate with when it comes to our neighbors: Germans are square, Englishmen are stiff and formal, Italians are exuberant, Greeks are lazy, Scandinavians are cold, Romanians are begging or thieving gypsies, and the list could go in the same way for all the 27 member states.
Oh, but let me be reminded that this is my blog as a motorcycle rider and come back to more two wheeled matters.
In what the calendar for this trip is concerned all I know at this time is that I plan leaving hometown Bucharest mid April and go through all of the EU’s states in a bona-fide pan-EU journey. This confinement “within the EU borders” might be understood from the perspective of the previously mentioned “mission” but has other several and somehow various reasons that will come apparent as the journey progresses.
I will be traveling on my 1200GS beemer that I plan to prepare for the trip in Wien as it will be the second country in my itinerary and I have been told that the BMW people there are efficient and competent and their warehouse gorging with lots of accessories in stock, compared to the Bucharest dealer who needs to place orders for more or less every piece of kit one might need or want.
As basic equipment I have in mind the regular GS side panniers and maybe the top case, but I will decide on the later based on the amount of stuff that will pile up for the trip. I might use a PacSafe waterproof bag if it will show to accommodate my gear better.
I also have been advised on the Zumo500 as on board GPS, and after going through it’s specs I find to be a good, solid choice, and if enough people have a good impression on a product I always tend to believe that over the marketing hype.
I haven’t decided on the matter of whether personal computer hardware in the form of a laptop would be strictly necessary for the documenting of my trip, keeping in mind that I will travel within the EU where internet cafés and shops where one can transfer the content of camera memory cards onto DVDs should be readily available.
So, I’m glad I’ve put this down “on cyber-paper”, even in such a sketchy, underplanned and unrefined manner. Soon more to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment