In this interview, Tiffany Coates talks about her life as an international motorcycle adventure rider and tour guide. She also gives three tips for anybody considering heading off into a life of adventure.
In this interview, Tiffany Coates talks about her life as an international motorcycle adventure rider and tour guide. She also gives three tips for anybody considering heading off into a life of adventure.
spk_1: 0:00
thin This podcast I interview an international female adventure motorcycle writer and tour leader who's written over quarter 1,000,000 miles across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and more much of its solo. Why does she do it? What are the rewards and what lessons can she pass on that you can use? Listen to this interview to learn that and more. My name's Doug Greene. I'm an author, videographer, photographer, podcaster. But at my heart, would I really like doing? Is exploring and being a messenger I whether I've done that through journalism or photography and now video, I'd love to go capture either my experience or somebody else's and bring that back and share it with others. While this podcast is about that, too, that this is called what makes them tick. And I'm in the sun interviewing fascinating people with these extraordinary stories, and I really want, you know, it's pretty cool. They did all these things, but the other part I'm really interested is the why what are these people like? Underneath it drives them to do these things. And, um, one of my favorite pastimes is this thing called adventure motorcycle riding. I got into it when I was in Thailand, met a woman in a monastery, talks me into going on this trip, and it was the highlight of my almost nine months in Southeast Asia. Well, today I'm interviewing a woman named Tiffany Codes, who is an extraordinary adventure motorcycle rider. It's not pretty. It takes a special kind of person to want to just get on a motorcycle and take off and go anyway. But she has been, well, let me give you some of the things here. She's traveled well over 1/4 1,000,000 miles on a motorcycle. She owns a motorcycle that she's had. It's the only motorcycle she's owned. It weighs, what, £400.450 pounds.
spk_0: 2:02
At least 230 kilos. The last time I weighed her, okay, and that was no luggage, no fuel.
spk_1: 2:10
Take that. Multiply it. Times 2.2 and you'll get the pounds. Oh, and, um, she has traveled from the top of Alaska down to the bottom of South America. I think it's called the Pan American Highway trip. Um, it's old times Americans Transamerica. She has written all through Africa. She's been in Central Asia. She's been in Siberia. She's written up to Everest base camp from the Tibetan side. She's done much of the solo and much of this. A bit of it with others. Her first big trip, apparently which I really want her to start off on. Uh, was when she decided she wanted to go to India and we'll start right there. Tiffany, thank you for joining us. I'm really looking forward to this. I've always been fascinated by your Facebook posting was like, Where in the world is Tiffany? And what would compel somebody to want to do this? But why don't you start off with that? The trip to India that really got you hooked into motorcycle, right? How long it took, how you got into Why you even thought you take it away.
spk_0: 3:20
Okay. Well, hi, Doug. It's great to be here on looking forward to the interview. India. Well, I've always been a traveler. My dad was in the army, so we was used to move around when I was growing up on then when I left home to continue traveling with a backpack and went around the world. And then one day I was talking to my best friend Becky and I said, Oh, I think I fancy going to India next. And she said, All India. Yeah, I've never bean I'd like together. Okay, We'll go together on D. We decided we'd go over land because there's a lot of interesting countries between England and India, and then one of us said, Well, let's go by motorbike. And it was like Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, goodbye, motorbikes. Fantastic idea. Now we didn't own motorbikes. We didn't have licenses. Is that we didn't know how to ride on. Becky had never even sat on one in her life. I used to go out with ago, had a bite. So I've been on the back a few times, and on the strength of that, I was going Oh, it's fantastic. It's great. That was it will go by motorbike to India. So obviously we had to learn how to ride. First of all, we went out and did five day intensive training course on DDE in the UK It's a very strict system that they have. The test is no easy to pass. Barely half of people will pass it first time. Really? Yeah, yeah. So that's there. I said. That's why the standards of a lot of Europe is like that as well. There, I said. That's why the standards of people's riding a quite often better from European countries than some other countries. So, yeah, so we did the five days intensive course on 1 to 5 on dhe. By day three, we thought we were evil. Can Evils were sat at the traffic lights waiting for the lights to change. We're doing thumbs up each other, revving up, going next stop. India on the instructor yelling through the radio microphone. You two at the back behave. No. Um, but yeah. So the end of the five days, which took a test and we passed and flat test You're riding for 45 minutes with an examiner riding right behind you, barking out orders through the radio mic phone. You know, take the next right. Take a left. You have to do. Hill starts u turns all sorts of different maneuvers to show your safe on the roads. Anyway, we both passed. We were delighted. So suddenly, there we are with our like paper license. At the end of the five days we take our tests, we got our licenses. Andi were then telling people we've got motorbike license Is we're gonna buy a motorbike on? We're going to India now. We decided we'd take one bite between us because we haven't got much money, so this is much cheaper. Um, it's simpler. You can't lose each other if you're on the same motorbike. So that all makes sense to us. And also, you know what with exactly the same level of experience or inexperience. So we didn't mind sharing the riding. I know sort of a lot of pairs of people who go travelling, whether they're a couple or just friends or whatever you see, one of them will be more experience and maybe would be like sitting on the back going Oh my gosh, about the writing of the one in front. So that's it Will go to up Andi. Um, we So we asked people on dhe this waas 18 years ago not so many adventure motorbikes on the market then. So we tell you know what? There's not a lot of choice, but the best bike It's a bit big and heavy. Maybe, but the best one would be an r a t. or are 100 GS the BMW that will carry two people and all their luggage and camping gear over the thousands of miles of very terrain to India. So we said, Okay, Yep, that's what will people. So we started looking for one. Took a while because people just don't sell those bite. But then they keep hold of them. Well, I can see why I've still got the bike man on. A mechanic friend of ours phoned me up one day and said, OK, I know someone selling and already tgs. That's what you're looking for. I said, Yeah, he said, It's got a good engine on. The guy's a good guy. So we're not gonna be sold a bite that's gonna break down on the way to Dover from London. So we said all good. And it was It was good price as well. So we had to make our decision there. And then, though he had several other people interested in buying it, one of whom was gonna fly down from Scotland. So without seeing it, what he said, Yes. Um, we went round the next day with the money on DDE. We saw the bike and we said, Oh, crikey, It's huge. It's really big. We haven't actually seen a GS before. Um, and of course, our experiences All on the 1 to 55 days riding on 1 to 5, and suddenly we've got his 800 cc bike.
spk_1: 8:24
So just for the record, this is, like, six times bigger motor than what you had before, right? Yeah. And then it's actually in some change.
spk_0: 8:34
Yeah, so we're like, Oh, right. Okay. On dumb. Well paid for it were handed the money over, and we each instantly drop the bike. So our mechanic friend, luckily, he'd gone with us to pick it up. He gave us his car keys. He said, right. You too. I think you're gonna be driving my car back. Our ride, the bike when we see it all. Okay, So and we went back to his workshop, but we met up there on dhe. We wondered if maybe we'd bought the wrong bike, but we decided, Well, we're not bought the wrong bite, but let's practice riding on this big bike. So each day after work, we would cycle down to his workshop, pushed the bike along the footpath to a big car park at the end of the road. It's an office car parks in the evenings, it was empty, and then we would be practicing on this office car park most evenings of the week, although we were doing like two jobs each, so we didn't have an awful lot of spare time either, and we cracked it. We don't have to write this big motorbike, and then we were allowed out on the streets. So then we're out on the streets on Martin. The mechanic would be following us with his motor, Guzzi and sidecar on one of us in the sidecar and the other one riding the bike. And we called the bike Thelma on DSO. We were learning from each other's mistakes and we were learning in central London. This is elephant and castle. There's hardly anywhere busier in the world on dhe. I think if you can learn to ride a big motorbike in London, you can learn to write it. You will be able to write anywhere in the world. It's so congested. The traffic's very aggressive, the streets and narrow and not made for all this congestion, and so you have to be an assertive Ryder and take ownership of your space because those big Lorries are just gonna push you out the way you've got to be a defensive rider. I'd expect that cars were seen you and pull out. And also you develop that spatial awareness of exactly how wide your motorbike is. Because in London you have a motorbike so that you can filter through the traffic or lane splitting as it's called in the States, you still to through the traffic and get to the front at the traffic lights at roundabouts, wherever protect the traffic is either very slow moving or station. Lee, you know, motorbikes expected to go up the middle. So you're beginning a middle, and I can always remember one day. This is in the early days, Andi. I sat there and I had started going up the middle on. Then a bus had pulled out of a bus stop and I suddenly realized Oh, no, I've got a huge articulated lorry on this side of me on a double decker bus on that side of me. I've got about that much space between each my handlebars on the vehicles, either side May and ice I got right. Okay. And then suddenly from behind me over my shoulder, I said the shot Was he again and move on. Motorbike couriers, scary guys, motorbike couriers all. They're all on their scooters, their bikes that whatever's and they're like, Come on, get a move on this space in front peer pressure. So I thought right, I've got a girl Deep breath Look straight ahead, throttle. Ease off the clutch and just ride straight. And I pulled forward and I made it on for me. That was a real turning moment. Yeah, I can ride this bike. So And Becky was a similar. You know, the same stage as, well, Democractic with it, right? We can ride this bike on dso. That was two months after riding the bike. We set off from the UK um
spk_1: 12:08
and then
spk_0: 12:08
wa ce
spk_1: 12:10
Well, so I can imagine all the gear he had to take any way for a trip of this sort. But you're traveling across two continents almost. Yeah,
spk_0: 12:22
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very much times Continental. You know what? You don't need to take that much stuff. So we had our camping here cooking gear. We'd talk to various people. About what? Spare parts, What stuff we would need in our tool kit. We have repair manual first aid kit. We had one fiction book between us to read, so we used to take it in turns to read at night. And the other one would get the Haynes repair manual to read. Um, there's one color picture in that book, I can tell you that. Page 42 the spark plugs. So yeah, way had to travel like very few clothes. But think about it. That's all you need. You've got your clothes. You shelter your food on the parts that will help keep the bike on the road.
spk_1: 13:13
So when you decided when you finally took off and you really loaded her up and you took off, did you have this feeling of like, who really muddy? What have we gotten into here?
spk_0: 13:28
No, really. We had kept meaning to practice with everything loaded up, but actually, in the event, we only got a top box on dhe. Um, yeah, it was Ah, motorbike Korea's top box. And we weren't sure what to do with it or how to fix it on. But we did have the parcel rack on the back of the motor bike. So we just used some white. We drilled some holes in it while we painted it black. First of all, because the bite was black and yellow on. Then we drill some holes in it and just attached it with wire coat hangers to the back of a bike. Um, yeah. Over the years, that Waas sort of gradually modified into more appropriate fixing.
spk_1: 14:08
Did you have side cases
spk_0: 14:09
at that point? So yeah, I guess. And the bike came with the BMW plastic cases. Okay. Which I really like using. I know they don't suit everyone, but they suit me and the way I travel. But maybe because I didn't know any different at that stage. So off Ugo, we set off across Europe. Um, yeah, and we're still very much beginning riders We've been riding for two months. Where suddenly, Yeah, we've gone from Children 30 kilogram bike to about 40 kilograms of luggage, plus our weight. So in total, everything is going away about six times more than either of us. So we're trying to balance six times my own body weight on tiptoes because we hadn't realised quite how tall the bike would be. A swell. So we're on tiptoes, reach square. So we would be dropping the bike. And I always remember Day three of the journal. We've reached Germany. We've only dropped the bike twice today, say, and this was the smooth tarmac of Western Europe. But it would be things like roundabouts, all traffic lights pulling up on the rider. You know, she'd put her foot down, whether it's me or Becky on. Maybe there's been a gravel on the road but would slip on the bike with tilt. And then that's it. It would go over Andi. It was always slow motion stuff. It wasn't dangerous. It's just embarrassing. Yeah, but look out. We picked the bike up and just get going again. So we crossed Europe down to Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India traveled around India for a bet on dhe. Then we reflected on what we've done on. We just said, Wow, this is being the most incredible fun. You know, it's being the journey, but it's been a fun journey, had lots of ups and downs, so we're still going strong and we've still got some money left. So Why don't we see if we get to Australia? So from India, the natural route would be through Myanmar. But in those days it's closed. Only open to borrow vehicles to cross it two years ago. So we went to the east coast of India. We found a shipping company and we send the motor bike past Myanmar into the next country along which is Thailand. And we wrote Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia was closed to foreign vehicles as well. So from Singapore, we ship the bike down to Perth in Australia on. Then we rode from Perth, the length of Australia through to Sydney, by which point we had absolutely no money left. But actually we've got some good friends there on Dhe. We could sleep on the couch is until we got jobs and we saved up money to rent a room on dhe. Yeah, always lived and worked in Sydney for a while.
spk_1: 17:01
I want a backtracking that some countries, some of the country's you're talking about here. I mean, Turkey has a little bit of unrest ID. I understand I haven't been to Turkey yet, but I understand it's sort of weird. Eat East meets West And then you talked about Iran, which I think a lot of people have, you know, because of the media and all this stuff, there's a feeling that Iran's a dangerous place and also Pakistan. Now, of course, you've got Al Qaeda hiding there and all of that. But, uh, talk about those countries. And one recent I ask, this is when I was in Asia, I flew to Nepal, and, um, we stayed over in Dhaka one night, and one of the guys in our on our plane had ridden a bicycle from London to Katmandu and he had gone through, um yeah, and pass to stay on Iran. If you went through Iraq, that they wouldn't
spk_0: 18:06
have gone through it, right? So unless he went a really, really weird
spk_1: 18:10
No, no, it's so Iran. And he loved it. He said his favorite country on the entire ride was Iran. And then I ran into some motorcyclist later on who had gone all through that area, and they said the same thing. Really amazing people. Um, great tarmac, I guess. Yeah. So, um, but maybe you could talk about your experience of being especially a woman riding either alone or with another woman in countries like Iran and India and Pakistan. What's that like? Okay. And were you scared? Like you know, what were there times that such an American question? Course it ISS. I'm speaking for Americans here.
spk_0: 19:00
You might want to cut this out, But in my experience, America is the most scared country in the world. That's the world. That's the world where everyone's first question is Weren't you afraid on? I'm like what you like other people. Was that young people from other countries to be like, Wow, how exciting. Wow, What things did you see? That America's? Look, it's scary with your price, e. I know all Americans, all Americans, but
spk_1: 19:32
I'm going to keep that in, by the way.
spk_0: 19:34
Ah, um okay, that Right. So, Iran?
spk_1: 19:41
Yeah, ran or Pakistan pick one.
spk_0: 19:44
Okay, well, it Roz probably a re ally out there because not that many tourists go there. We knew we had to be covered up. So the last time in Turkey, we went to the market and explained to the guys in the market because there was no women working in the market and that was our first taste of Islam. of how few women work in service industries. They tend to remain in the house or they might have other sort of jobs. Shops, etcetera tend to be male dominated. So we're in the market. We said, Right, we're going to Iran. We need the outfit that's appropriate for Iran And they said, Our share door, Yeah, Okay, Shuttle. However, the slight complication is that we've got our motorbike gear and our helmets on. It's gotta fit with this stuff. And they were like, Oh, right, so we had we tried on some pretty shapeless sack cloths would be the way to describe them until we ended up with these black polyester numbers with big shoulder pads, which hold the door away from the body. Um, they've got sleeves that go all the way down to the wrist with buttons at the wrist, and then it button's right up to the neck and then a scarf. In fact, I've got it in the attic, and then a head scarf comes around on dhe Hindes under the chin because you weren't even allowed to show your neck in public. So no hair, no knack in public, on the only skin that could be seen apart from the face, moves the hands literally that so he knows hot weather. When we were there, and when we're off the bike, we would be wearing sandals. We had to wear socks with our sandals so our feet weren't on show either. So that was quite a night. No, we bought them at the last time on. Then as we arrive, reached the Iranian border. We stopped the bike and we put on the show doors on. We cross the border wearing them Now, the border guards quite intrigued. Um, but, you know, and we weren't even sure if it was legal for women to ride motorbikes in Iran, no one could tell us. And we didn't want to ask the Iranian Embassy because then if we got an official known, then we wouldn't be out to get in. So we just thought right, Well, let's just rock up there. Um, Iranian friends had said they'd never seen women ride motorbikes in their home country. So it was a bit like we rocked up there. The guards, but just sort of Oh, okay. They had no precedent to set it on, so they just sort of Let us go ahead. That got into Iran and we had a fantastic time there. The hospitality was just incredible. The people were so friendly. And it's the only country in the world where it's obvious it's women riding a motorbike because of the show adores every other country in the world because of the helmet, the jacket with the body armor in So the shoulder and the body shapes look bigger. Everyone just assumes it's a man riding the motorbike and so obviously wants. Yet when we stop on our travels, take the helmets off. People were like, Okay, that's a woman. But in Iran as well, right? Every village were riding through every time it was Yeah, it was two women there. And in fact, we met up with some other travelers who first encountered us overtaking them on one of the highways through the desert. And it was some guys in the Landrover Ahh nde. We were just riding along, enjoying smooth tarmac on dhe. We just went whizzing past them cause they're Landrover couldn't do more about 50 miles an hour, and apparently these guys tend to each other and said, Did you just see What I see is that nuns on the run because with the black capes flowing in the wind way look like these a pair of nuns racing across the Iranian highway and where we later met up with these guys and they were like, Wow, it wasn't a mirage to women. We traveled for them with them for a bit. Um, yeah, in Iran, we were treated as in some ways is honorary men because we had our own vehicles. Um, but we had the best of both worlds because we'd go back to people's houses on Dhe because where female would be allowed into people's houses like men traveling through couldn't go into anyone's home. We're women. Yeah, yeah, because it just wasn't acceptable for a non blood relation man to be in the house off, you know, in someone else's house and seeing women. And behind the scenes, the women have taken off their shoe doors there in T shirts and jeans, just like anyone else s. Oh, yeah, we got to go back to people's houses. We had the most amazing meals in their houses because eating out in Aram was a bit of a disappointment, but in the house is the food was very different, really tasty food and the hospitality, like I said, just incredible. So Iran was a real favor of ours, and then we reached Pakistan. So yes, it's an Islamic country. But we reached the border on the head officer of the customs in on the border with Pakistan, invited us into his office and he said, Welcome, Madame, you can take off that shirt door. We're a free country here in Pakistan and so we could remove the shadow, which meant for the first time, our heads run, covered in public in nearly a month and it felt really odd. Really, really strange. We've got so used to having toe always be covered up. Um wow on, Um but yes, it's very Islamic country in Pakistan, and in fact, we encountered fewer women there because there's quite proportional women a living in purdah, which means they don't leave the household on the gardens. So other people do their shopping very rare. Occasions they would venture out on they'd have male members of their family with, um to accompany them and keep them safe when their outsides Actually, yeah, we encountered fewer women in Pakistan than we had in Iran. But we adored Pakistan, and actually it was our favorite country on that whole ride. The scenery is just stunning, and we'd originally planned to just ride straight across Pakistan to India. But we met other people. You were talking about the karaoke or, um, highway. We started thinking, Well, that sounds exciting now, in our naive ITI as over Landers, we hadn't realized exciting roads can mean dangerous may be tricky to ride that kind of thing. So we headed off up the Karakoram Highway. Oh, my goodness. May, Yeah, we had a few spills up there on the gravel. It's a narrow road that follows the Indus River deep in the heart of the mountains. The karaoke or um, highway leads deep into the heart of the Himalayas. Three mountain ranges meet there, and wherever you look, there's these massive mountain peaks topped with snow. And there's his narrow road. Following the Indus, we wrote it right up to the very top, which is the plunger rob past, where it reaches China. We didn't have Chinese visa, so we couldn't cross over, but be honest. The snow was about five foot deep on either side of the road at that point. So we were keen on venturing any further. We knew on the Chinese side there's fewer villages until you get right down to the plains. There's heard of yak in the distance. So I got up to the border. Um, something headaches were about 5000 meters. At that point, we took some photos and we turned out, turned around and rode back to the nearest village. We were up in the Karakoram Quiet while we were there in November. So not the warmest time of year to Theo, I must admit. And then we high tailed it back down to the warm plains of Pakistan. And again, we're treated his honorary men because we've got our own vehicles. So again we're invited into households where the male travelers haven't gone. Guys would show us their guns and the ladies would show us their kitchens. Yeah, we Yeah, we loved Pakistan. It was very cheap Travel in a swell which always helps when you're on a bit of a budget on Yeah, we were sorry to say goodbye to Pakistan, excited to be finally reaching India,
spk_1: 28:09
and then you go into India? Um, actually, I don't know if we let's, uh let's let's back up a little bit. Now Let's go back to your childhood. What? What kind of upbringing did you have, where you were? You ended up being such a a person. You know, somebody that has wanderlust, obviously. And it's open to adventure and sees the world is a friendly place. And, um, all of that I mean, it's even in the U. K. Where there's a lot of adventures. It's not everybody that gets up and does a trip to India on their first motorbike ride, you know, two up on a big bike, no less.
spk_0: 28:54
You know, we never realized it was such a big issue about being too up on the bike. We were both cyclists, so we just thought, OK, we can take each other on the motorbike because we're not having to do the work pedaling like they would with a bicycle. Like I've given people a ride on the sea to my bike while I do the pedaling and vice versa. So, yeah, we really didn't realize that was such a big issue about riding to up because we did it right from the very start. So what led me to this party?
spk_1: 29:24
Yeah, Let's go back. Yeah. You were born in a small town. What? Yeah, Snow. Where'd you go?
spk_0: 29:30
Um um well, that's it. But I was in the army. Um, in fact, he joined the army because he wanted to travel. He was 17. And in those days, the world wasn't as accessible It is now. So he decided to join the army to see the world on. Then he met my mom. She was 19. Within five months, they were married because she wanted to see the world as well. So they were literally moved straight to Germany when they got married. And then a couple of years later, US Children started arriving. And we were born in different places on Dhe as any of us being back to where we were born. I'm not sure if we have so, Yeah. Children born in different places. Lots of different army camps. My first school was Cantonese kindergarten because we were stationed in Malaysia on dhe. It was very much sink or swim childhood. My mom just sort of sent us out into the world, and you just got on with it. It was great. I think that's what gave me the naive optimism of just sort of. Okay, let's go to this school where I don't understand anyone. I don't like anyone, but it's school. That's where Children go. And within two days I'm coming home speaking Chinese. My mom thought, Well, I can. She's doing okay. Yeah. So a single swim childhood, A close sense of family. So I've got a strong sense of who I am and just a curiosity about the world. I think that's all combined. Thio. Give me this sense off, right? There's the big wide world. Let's go see it.
spk_1: 31:14
Talk about this feeling of you have a strong sense of who you are. Where do you feel that? How do you experience that?
spk_0: 31:22
Oh, so a strong sense of who I am. I come from a very close loving family. Sometimes geographically, we're far apart from each other. But we look out for one another and we love spending time together. And we think through a lot of different experiences over the years, in different places on. So I suppose we were like a mini gang. Yep. I'd be in new schools a lot on dhe, so it's always okay. New girl in class. Gotta make friends from scratch. That's fine on that. Usually be like two or three siblings in the same school as well. So there was always that sense of yet there'll be people around. Yeah, you know, me and love May on dhe. That's what keeps me as the person I am.
spk_1: 32:08
Talk about the feeling of that. Um uh, light. There's a lot of people that don't have that feeling, I think. And what gives you a nice sort of base camp, you know, to use mountaineering lingo from which to go forth?
spk_0: 32:26
Okay, son, the feelings and emotions of who I am Yeah, I think because because I feel loved on DDE totally accepted for who I am. It gives me the confidence to go into strange and unusual environments May be alien places on DDE. I just sort of no hope other people got confidence in men or have always had confidence in me. So I think it's the self confidence to venture into unknown places. And someone wants talk to me about comfort zones on dhe. He said about motorcycle travel Comtech you out of your comfort. So And he said, for where is your comfort zone to physics. And I have a think about it. Michael, it's Yep. I'm a home bird. I love being home. I love where I live here Land's end. But I also love being out on the road on. They'll always be tricky situations. Um, any situations where I'm a bit scared, but you park up the bike and put the tent up. He sleep the night I've slept on four courts of carriages on the decks of fairies. Um 00 any number of places that maybe weren't the most hospitable. Um, but I always felt that, you know, I'll get through this, and I never felt out of my comfort zone. Yes, maybe it is a little bit uncomfortable at times, but it was always, like, you know, this will pass. This is gonna come Good on you. No such word. No, it has done so. Yeah. So, like I say and naive optimism,
spk_1: 34:12
we're all your siblings as, um, adventurous is you are they,
spk_0: 34:17
um, sort of in the Rome way. Um
spk_1: 34:23
and where are you in the lineup for you.
spk_0: 34:25
Well, I'm second in command.
spk_1: 34:26
And there's three of you. 55 Okay.
spk_0: 34:31
No. Three girls, two boys. Yeah.
spk_1: 34:38
So, um, being a woman traveling certainly have had some challenges, Especially as a single woman going into some
spk_0: 34:49
We used the word so low. Doug versus single.
spk_1: 34:57
Alright. Solo, huh?
spk_0: 34:59
Because you don't say that to a man, do you? You're a single man during your trip. Solo adventures, isn't it? Okay, now, I don't think you're being sexist. I think you just Yeah. Yeah,
spk_1: 35:10
I know. That certainly wasn't intending.
spk_0: 35:12
Yeah, e So you put that on Liam on the questions you sent through on the email? Single woman knows like, No, no, no. Let's use the word soul. I don't I don't sound like a dating agency into you.
spk_1: 35:26
You never had any problems getting along with people in the places you were at? Yeah, um, nothing that stands
spk_0: 35:34
out. Like any situation in schools, particularly for teenagers, where, you know, fitting into a new school. Sometimes there's a period of adjustment, but it was always good on, particularly because it was mostly army schools on army environments. And so everyone in the army is used to people coming and going okay. Yeah. I need the new girl for about two days because suddenly there's another new girl or new boy in school.
spk_1: 36:07
Okay, let's Let's go back to your trip. Then Let's go to Australia. You finished your trip more or less. And you based camped at Sydney. And you're working.
spk_0: 36:18
Yeah. Okay. So Becky and I both working in Sydney, and we're saving every penny we can because we're a long way from home, and somehow we've got to get back after several months of working bit Mormon. Several, actually, we have some money saved up. We can start thinking about the return journey. Naturally, we started looking at shipping on. Then we suddenly thought, Wait a minute. That feels like cheating. Yeah, we've written here. Maybe we can ride home. And when you're in Australia, when you look at a map of the world Well, there's Australia. There's the U. K. On. In between. Over here is Africa. Um, we just said, Wow, we're looking at this map. Africa. I've never been there. No, me neither. Well, let's go home to Africa. Great idea. So we get very excited and we start making our plans. We were looking at shipping Thelma from Sydney into Cape Town, which is a straight line on the maps. That simple on Becky met the man of her dreams and decided she wanted to settle down with him. And actually, Africa wasn't gonna happen for her now. It wasn't an easy decision for her on it was hard for her to tell Mae and it was stunning, Really. It's like, 00 Okay, So the writing fellowship is breaking up while I'm still going through Africa. And by this point, I work that had to pick up my bike on my own. And I've always said you should never travel with a motorcycle unless you can pick it up. So there's two of you. If you can pick it up between you that if you're on your own, don't travel with a bike, you can't pick up on your own. So I had that cracked and so I thought, Well, yeah, I could write Africa on my but I want to get the nicer, more interesting with someone else. So then I started sending up messages. Two friends on dhe Maggie Dunleavy from Go Away in Ireland, Good friend of mine got in touch and she had her most cycle license. No big bike experience. But as I've already proved us, if that's no barrier, you get yourself to Cape Town. Selma and I will be there and we'll write home through Africa. It'll be a piece of piss, which is a bit of a British saying that means easy. So, yes, Maggie gave up her job, flew out to Cape Town on by that point, I'd ship Thelma Rover. Andi, I had a job and was working in Cape Town. I got a good work ethic in our family. You know, if you're anywhere for more than a few days, better start looking for work and get some money in on Dhe. She joined May. I taught her how to ride Thelma on the car parks of Cape Town on. Then we set off up through Africa. However, Africa is the toughest continent. The desserts, the rivers, the lack of infrastructure, the seasons, a cz well as political situations, civil unrest. It's I think it's the most exciting continent as well. So we made our way up through Africa having various adventures along the way. But oh, it was fantastic. being on a motorbike and riding through heard off elephants and suddenly oh, yeah, there's elephants, this side outfits, that side. And this was just on a normal road. It wasn't going through a game park.
spk_1: 39:46
There's another direction. I want to go here. It's talking about what it feels like riding. There's a lot of people that there may be listening to this, that I've never ridden a motorcycle. I have, I me. There's almost nothing more. I don't know how to describe it, except it's just this sense of truly being out there exploring to me. It feels like the ultimate way to explore because you're in the elements, you can go fast and light. You have to essence down the stuff. You have to only what really matters. And that in itself is like the whole experience. Well, how do you experience writing? What's the allure of it to you? Like you're traveling through Africa and you're out here in them? You know, the explorers adds, kind of, in a way, some sort of edge. And
spk_0: 40:40
what do you
spk_1: 40:41
feeling? What do you what's the alert? What draws you into it? Describe that kind of luck in the world.
spk_0: 40:49
Yeah, that was interesting. Then, as you asked about riding on exploring the world by motorcycle, and you were describing some of the sensations you fail and my heart was actually beating a bit faster because it was reliving some of those sensations myself. Like he said, You're part of the elements. You've got the cold from the heat and you've also got the smells Australia. You can smell a dead kangaroo two miles away. But you've also got the good smiles. You going through eucalyptus forest or Madagascar riding through the vanilla fields? Oh, my goodness. May just clouds of vanilla scented air. And then when you're going up over the mansions on DDE, at first you're not aware that you're ascending and going up in elevation, but gradually realized the air feels crisper. And then that's when you start thinking I wonder what elevation we're at. So there's that Christmas of the air, the temperatures, the smiles. You really get every sensation on the motorbike. Um, and obviously the sounds as well. So you're very much part of the environment and part of the landscape that you're riding through. And you've also got that freedom to go wherever you want, because a motorbike could go along the footpath. If someone's walked along there, you can generally take your motorbike along there as well. And for me, that's the beauty of being on the motorbike. Because right from the start, I wanted to be self sufficient. So I got the tent in the camping gear, the cooker on always at least a couple of days food. And if we're planning on camping out would be carrying more food and water on dhe. You congee. Oh, absolutely anywhere. And do whatever you want. So it's that total independence on freedom.
spk_1: 42:43
Ah, yeah. I love, uh, It's such a great way to experience the world. Okay, so let's
spk_0: 42:55
back through Africa
spk_1: 42:56
s o U
spk_0: 42:57
line at the end. You keep taking me off track and you say you don't want to do the editing. Shall I finish Africa? And then you can put out what you want. Okay. So Maggie and I rode across Africa through the sands, the rivers. That was the shocker for May know I turned up in Africa sort of feeling maybe, maybe a touch of arrogance thinking, RK I've crossed Europe crossed Asia of crossed Australia. Now it's just another continent. But I hadn't realized just what a lack of infrastructure means. So riding through rivers where the water comes up to the fuel tank and just thinking, Oh, my goodness, keep those rebs going. Riding through the mud in the mud of Ethiopia was just something else. We didn't know what nobody tires were said I'd had a tire changing Kenya and we don't even have to find one tire in the whole country that would fit the bike. So apparently it was, Yeah, it wasn't too bad. It wasn't just a road tire. It was a bit of a hybrid one, but it certainly wasn't a nobly. And before we knew it, we were in Ethiopia, going through mud that was well over our knees. But if you don't know any different, you just go for it. So actually I think I was better than that. It would be now I think nowadays I'll be thinking Crikey can't get through that without normally tires. But in those days there was no one to stay. Oh, Tiffany, you've got the wrong tires. We just went for it so somehow made it through the toughest part being crossing the Sahara. Three Sudan on and we reached Egypt, got into Israel across the Sinai desert and then from Israel a ferry, um, up to grace on, then rowed back across Europe and I got home and, like I'd mentioned my mom earlier sink or swim upbringing for us kids And she said, the whole typically your back And now he went off on that motorbike. Now, bearing in mind, nobody in my family rides motorbikes. It doesn't worry them that I do. They just think it's a bit odd, like someone dying their hair orange or something. So, yeah, she rides a motorbike on dhe. So she said, Oh, yeah, you went off on that motorbike and you said you were going to India and you said you'd be about eight or nine months. You've been gone two and 1/2 years where the hell of being She was actually joking because I had written and I made phone calls and e mails, so I had stayed in touch and she knew where I'd being. But yeah, it's true. I'd set off that motorbike with my best friend, and we just sort of said I have the world would be back in about eight or nine months and it was two and 1/2 years before I got back on DDE. It was Yeah, it's indescribable. So that whole big adventure of that amount of time spent with my motorbike the whole time and I was hooked. You know, I just from that point on, I realized I can't envisage going travelling without a motorbike. And so that's where the rest of the journey's unfold. Prudhoe Bay to sh Y r um Tim Buck to outer Mongolia onto Japan. Ah, Central Asia, the stands Tibet, Beijing, Madagascar, Easter Island. Yeah, everywhere
spk_1: 46:17
with a motorbike. So let's going back to Africa for just a second. You said crossing the Sahara. Was that probably the most challenging part? Yeah, How says what was that like? What was the
spk_0: 46:30
theme? Man asks how concern horror be the most challenging part, which you are on a very heavy motorbike. I had no off road training.
spk_1: 46:43
So were you riding in sand?
spk_0: 46:45
Yes. Yeah, trying to signal off road training. So this was me learning toe off road. We've been through some rough stuff in Pakistan little bit in India but, um oh, Africa Country after country won't slow by gold This is really quite scary. We've just gotta go for it. It's rocks, gravel, mud. So I learned to off road on the bike with no one to advise. The only thing I knew was that you suppose you have to keep it revs up. So we have We have the intercom between the two helmets sent the one on the back. You know, if it was a particularly tricky bit, the one on the back is saying revs up revs up. There's a little mantra for the one on the blood disorder. Okay, Get yet revs up ramps up because it's a bit scary on time would be like, Right, hold on for this bit as just like, really rev up going through the modern stuff on Libby times. So going up some steep hills now, I've done a bit of horse riding when I was a teenager, so I knew that going up here, you stand up to help the horse, so I going up. So I thought it could be the same with a motorbike going uphill, I'd be like, Okay, I think we both need to stand up now and we both stand up, be leaning forward on the bike and then going down the other side will know you definitely sit down, going downhill. Sit down, get down. There'll be times where And also I think if you're the writer and you're standing up, it's not so nice with the person on the back because they've got your bum in their face. So it's like, Okay, let's stand up together. And every time she would be like Right, I've got to sit down. You've got to carry on standing up And that's just me being mean to my pillion passenger. Keep standing. Keep standing as I'm writing a log.
spk_1: 48:25
You were still on a road, though, right? I mean, we're just taking off in the There's one where you're just on a sand dune.
spk_0: 48:34
Yes, yes, that's Timbuktu. That very orangey sand that's Timbuktu picture. But Sudan, we're on the main road on its Yeah, nobody else would call it a road. And in fact, as we headed up to dawn on me that this sort of hellish time with all the Mardan, everything in Ethiopia and we think told that from the Ethiopian border with Sudan. We've been told yet there's tractors that take everyone from the border up to the nearest road, which is over 100 miles away on it takes three days. Um, on the tractors toe Land Rovers. Now, I'm sure yours are quite aware of the capabilities of Land Rovers That would go anywhere. Do anything well on these tracks. No, no. Even the Land Rovers can get through. Only the tractors can. So they tow Land Rovers, are they? Put them on trailers behind the tractors. And so we were heading up. Then we're battling our way through the mark on the one thing that kept us going Waas tractors. We won't have to ride. Hallelujah. So we're singing. We're all going on a tractor holiday, really looking forward to it. We get to the Sudanese border on the border guard a little bit surprised to see two women on a motorbike, But they get a lot of weird things that level the post. And it's a madam. Good news. It's the dry season. Now there's no tractors. What, no tractors? We said No, no, no, we want the tractor. And he said, No, no, no, You don't need to pay for it. You you can just ride. We said no, no. Where is the tractor? Please. We want to tractor and said, Madam, the tractors have gone home. You can ride. Take that route best. Oh, we were gutted. Absolutely. Get it. Being looking forward to sitting on the back of this tractor just lounging around for three days and instead we had to ride it. Oh, my goodness. May, um, you had asked about the toughest part of our journey. I I think up. Yes, that's Bean. Probably my lowest point way. We're just dropping the bike and dropping the bike. I was doing the majority of the riding just because I was a bit more confident. Or maybe just a bit more gung ho off road that Mikey was, um we just come flying off the bike time after time, going through sand. It's soft. It Andi, it's There's some really, really deep rut. So because of the mud on only tractors getting through, you can imagine ruts that are several feet deep, with a narrow bit between them and sides. You know, it's sort of would look obvious. Okay, well, let's ride along the narrow bit on talks. That's nice and flat. We're right along there. But then suddenly you know the tractors gone off lurched off into a field or something, so that bit along the top has disappeared in something. The bike's gone down or it just crumbles away and the bike's gone down, ends up upside down, rocked two feet deep. So then we've got to pick up this big, heavy bite. It's upside down. And so then, Okay, well, we'll ride in the rock. But the ruts really narrow. And you've got to Really? Yeah, the tensions high and you're gripping the handle bars just staying in the rut. And, of course, with the airhead motorbike and the twin engines.
spk_1: 52:04
Yeah, no doubt on the
spk_0: 52:06
site. And it's like a ricochet effect one. There was, like belly, not even an inch to spare on either side of the engine cases. So we just ended, and you needed a certain amount of speed to keep moving because it's new start as well, so you've got some speed, and suddenly the bikes ricochet ing within this rut, and then that's it. You come flying off so that combined with the sand brought me really low and we weren't carrying enough water. That was my biggest lesson. Learned from the first crossing of the Sahara Desert, the Sahara crossing the Sahara for the first time. It was hard it riding the sand on, not having enough water carrying capacity. One of the good points was we were drinking the local water everywhere, so we'd pull into a village on, would be thirsty on. There'd be a line of goats and camels lined up village Well, and someone will be hauling on a bucket and tipping the water out into a trough for the animals to drink. And we go join the queue of animals on. We'd always get beckoned to the front and they'd be giving us these buckets of water and we would just be the lugging it down, Um, and just soaking ourselves of the water because, of course, it was intensely hot as well. So yeah, on it was good just being up to drink that local water quite often, some of those very, very impoverished communities. It's self sufficient lifestyle on dhe. Often the only thing people could offer us was water. So being able to say off Thank you on drinking that water without having to go. Oh, hang on a minute. Stop. I've got to put some tablets in this, or I've got to filter this water before I can touch it. It was just great about saying thank you for this water and just have to drink it down. You know, your water's good enough for us.
spk_1: 54:01
Did you ever get sick from that
spk_0: 54:03
water? Um, nice. Not from drinking the water, Not ee thes times where you get sick. I'm unlucky. I've got a bit of an iron stomach. Um, I could do pretty well with stuff. Sometimes I've eaten stuff and I felt something bad. And I could feel my stomach battling it. And maybe other people have shared the meal with. Sometimes they've been pretty ill. And I've managed to us You have not got sick of them. Um, so yeah, so I'm lucky. But we were drinking the water in India as well, But that wasn't to prove anything is again. It was that naive. Itty would crossed all these unusual countries on dhe. Just filling up our water bottles everywhere and turkey. We got surely turkeys. All right. It's part of Europe and then Iran. This very little information about Iran and it's a very modern country. So we're still filling up our bottles from the taps in the hotels or from I'm just trying to think when we're in, because we're camping wild as well. Every country we went through, there were points where we were just camping wild on. So that would just ask people if we could fill up where we could fill up water bottles and so would be directed to village pumps or just taps or people in shops would fill the water bottle. I
spk_1: 55:25
think, too, though, because you were on the road so much and you were drinking this water all along the way that you were our own body chemistry. Your own resistance to your body's ability to tackle it was good because you were kind of building up in it. I don't know your system, the immunity. Yeah,
spk_0: 55:45
yeah, yeah, No, I totally agree with that because we were drinking the local water and we were traveling slowly an overland. So it's not like flying into a developing country where you've gone from First World sanitation on purification Thio developing country where you need Thio, perhaps Be careful with the water because we're traveling overland and it was a gradual process. And we're drinking. The water is We're going. You are our bodies adjusted. We became immune to the bacteria in each country. And because we're drinking this water, we just didn't get sick from the food so much. There was the odd occasion for India. Neither of us got sick at all we put on why it in India? I'm
spk_1: 56:30
not surprised
spk_0: 56:31
that India Yeah, I love Indian food. When we arrived in India were thinking, you know, we shouldn't be drinking the local water here because this is your Everyone knows that. And then we thought, Well, wait a minute. We just crossed the border. We arrive in India, and we know we're not supposed to drink the water there, But we've been drinking in Pakistan, and that was just quarter of a mile away across the border. And we thought, What can the difference bay. So we've got Well, okay, we'll carry on drinking the local water until we get sick. And then we know we have to stop drinking. It's but then we just didn't get sick. several months in India on dhe we didn't get ill from food from the water and nothing we actually put on weight. So that made me think, if I'm able to drink the water in India and I know there's gonna be a lot of shocked people gasping Jo Jo, I just thought, Well, I'll continue with this theory of drinking the local water and maybe, I mean, I don't get a sec. And for me, that worked. Drink the local water. Every country I've been in, um, on dhe, Yes, Like I say, it works for me. I know it wouldn't. Perhaps wouldn't work for everyone on dhe. You know, I am one hundreds of e mails from people going here. You get cholera, you get tight for you. Get this. You get that. You shouldn't do that. It works for me. I don't say to anyone else that they should do it. I just know it's, you know, it's something that I do on DDE. You know, I'm not gonna be changing any time soon. However, I did have when I went to Timbuktu, I had a doctor travelling with May Toby, German doctor on Toby, said Tiffany I know you think this water. I'm not drinking this water. I'm only drinking bottled water. It's fine, Toby, you know, Fine. So I'm filling up my water bottles and bags and everything from taps and Toby's buying bottled water. Toby had diarrhea for 16 days whilst I didn't resting my case with Toby.
spk_1: 58:35
Let's go on Thio top three tips you might have for people that want to do this. You've led an exciting life on the bike you've explored all over the planet. I don't think you're gonna be stopping any time soon based on your enthusiasm about it. If somebody else wanted to get into this, what would you advise them to? D'oh.
spk_0: 58:59
Okay, so somebody wants to go on a motorcycle journey on dhe. It could just be to the next country. It for it could be to another continent. I'd say my number one tip would be Follow your dreams. If there's something you want to do, go for it, you can achieve it. Number two tip. And this may be links in with number one is if you're canvassing other people's opinions. Stone asked people who have never done it talk to people who have done motorcycle trips, they'll be the ones who will give you a clearer idea on. Maybe won't be so scared about what you could be in countering. You're going out to try and adventure on Dhe. Let's face it, there's been plenty of other motorbike travelers have already done that journey, who have got stories to tell on DDE have survived. So another tip, I think on a practical level, the one that I learned the hard way was making sure you can carry enough water fuel needs. You can arrive in places where yeah, they've got water available, but they haven't got bottles and stuff that you can take away with you. So you need that water carrying capacity. So I always carry. I always wear my krieger hydration pack now, so I've always got water on me because that's really important. Just keeping those constant sips of water maintains the hydration in the body and also helps maintain concentration on also carrying some bottles that I feel and having a flat water bag or bladder that folds away into my luggage. But if I need to carry extra water, I can and fill it up and strap it onto the box at the back, and another top tip on one of the simple ones is Smile everyone that you meet. You'll be in a strange environment and you won't look or sound like the people there. But give him a smile. Be welcoming on. They'll return that welcome. Learn the language. Just even if it's a difficult language. Learning to say hello in their language could go a long way. Thank you. If people have given you something and you can say thank you everyone appreciates here in their own language, even if it's badly mangled in the pronunciation.
spk_1: 1:1:23
Um, I understand you offer trips for women to you. Take you guys like you. The women of Ladakh, I believe, are
spk_0: 1:1:31
I started as a mixed group guide the women only once his recent
spk_1: 1:1:36
Okay, so But to take people, you leave somebody strips. Now, did you talk about that?
spk_0: 1:1:42
Okay, so I now have the dream job as an international Motive Cycle tour guide. So I'll take people in Africa, Asia and South America for motor bike trips. It's the trip of a lifetime for so many people to be have to explore these far off places on two wheels on dhe. I'm there to guide them, um, hotels, places to stay and eat on the best routes to follow on. I love it. I get to share my passion, which is motive. I travel on dhe. It also brings out the mother hen and may just sort of making sure that my groups okay, Yep. Yep. They're all okay. Well, let's rev it up a bit. Now let's go go up this difficult mountain paths on the sense of achievement that my riders feel on my sense of pride in their achievement as well. Of having written something that is way beyond their comfort zones on dhe. The amazing feeling that you get having achieved something like reaching cultural love, which is the highest road pass in the world that's in northern India on it's over 18,000 feet. So I guess it's the dream job for May.
spk_1: 1:2:59
How experience to these writers need to be that they obviously can't, like, just be coming in and learning how to ride a bike with you in there like that.
spk_0: 1:3:12
So how experienced to the writers have to bay? Well, I've been working for Globe Buster's, the quite a number of years as a guide on also with hate sea travel as well as doing freelance guiding Andi. It's a variety of trips that I've worked on, from a London to Beijing trip with Group 12 riders who did all have to have a good experience of off road riding on. We assessed their riding before Yeah, when they first booked, just to make sure they're good enough standard because that is the toughest commercial trip in the world. And then there's, for example, ladies in Ladakh, the only female only trip in the world on Dhe. It's tough. It's the Himalayas. You're writing Royal Enfield motorcycles. There is no road. Quite often. There's a river crossings, and yet I took the very first year I went. One of my writers had no off road experience. One of the others had just two hours off green lane ing experience, which is what we call non tarmac roads here in the UK. So basically these two women didn't know how to ride off road, but I showed them have to do it. I mean, I learned the hard way. No, with no one to show me very heavily laden bike to people on it. So I was like, Oh, yeah, don't worry about this. Keep the revs up, Do some practicing on the way up. Toe the tough apart to the mountain With practice on some of the quiet side routes where weeks encounter marred and gravel and rivers on, they've all made it. So. Ideally, people have got some off road experience, and, ideally, they haven't just passed their license. But if I met someone now who said she wanted to come to Ladakh with me this year and this year's trip is in June and she'd say she hasn't got her motorbike license yet. I'd say, Right, get your license in the next month on Dhe. I'll guarantee that I'll get you up to the top of Cardinal Remington
spk_1: 1:5:10
and what's in your future now, where where else do you want to go that you haven't been? What adventures still lie in front of you that you really look forward to?
spk_0: 1:5:20
Well, I think I'm I think, probably all adventurers of the same in the There's always somewhere on the horizon that we'd love to explore and visit on DDE for me. I've got thanks Borneo the Philippines. It's more of the island nations now crossed every continent, some of them two or three times. And it's the island nations that drawing me. And since my three months in Madagascar, where I didn't take Belle must. I flew out there. I bought a motorbike and then sold it the end. That's really opened my eyes to the fact that yet I can arrive in an island nation by a motorbike riding around and then sell it, which opens up a whole load of possibilities for May,
spk_1: 1:6:04
huh? And where can people get more information about?
spk_0: 1:6:09
People can get more information about me by following me on Facebook or on my website, which is Tiffany's travels dot co dot UK. We don't get dot com in England on dhe Google, my name, you'll come across it on. If people have considering their own trips, I'm happy to answer questions. All right,
spk_1: 1:6:30
thank you very much for being our guest on what makes them tick. I hope all of you have gotten a little bit more insight into what would make compel a woman to bride so low around much of the world and want to up which is some ways almost seems more amazing than going solo. Thank you very much, Tiffany.
spk_0: 1:6:53
Oh, thank you very much. It's been
spk_1: 1:6:55
fun. Learn more life lessons from extraordinary people. Find all my podcasts and video interviews at what makes them tick dot com and you want to see the world on two wheels. You can see Tiffany's website and get her contact information at www dot Tiffany's travels dot ceo dot UK. Thanks for joining us and remember, get out there and make your life extraordinary.