Tom & Kirstin's RTW Jaunt

TOM:  Born in County Limerick, Ireland in 1966.  Former chef and motorcycle courier, and now very work-shy .  Once had a dream to ride a bicycle around the world, the next year I turned 13 and discovered girls.  Spent most of my life riding motorbikes and my brother introduced me to the joys of owning a BMW.   Inspiration for travel came from many motorcycle camping trips with my sister and her husband.  Kirstin and I did a 2-up trip to Egypt (R80GS) back in '97, the travel bug bit, and dreams are now becoming a reality

KIRSTIN:  Born to an adventurous mum in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1968.   Moved to England in '92 to see more of the world and continue my nursing career.  Met Tom later that year, discovered motorbike camping, and decided to go for the unobstructed view of solo riding after pillion riding 3.5 months on our trip to Egypt.   In 1997, I negotiated a decent price for a brand new Yamaha XT600E.  I've fallen a few times, broke a few ribs in Pakistan, and am having the time of my life!

The Trip:

Our trip began long before we ever left England, with many months spent sorting Passports, Visas, Carnets, motorbikes, gear, and equipment.  Although we were getting ourselves mentally prepared, it wasn't until I (Kirstin) submitted my resignation 6 weeks before our rough departure date that we sealed our fate:  Riding off into the abyss of a Round the World Jaunt.

We left our hone in England on the 8th of Aug, heading for Ireland (yes we know it was the wrong way) for a systems shakedown and to spend a couple weeks with Tom's family.  From here our jaunt headed the right way: EAST.  We gathered our meager funds, bid our farewells to friends and family, made a quick dash through Europe, onto the Middle East (Iran being a first milestone in the trip), and clear through to India. 

Today is January 26, 2000:  Our time in India is almost over, our 15th country, having wheeled over 23000 kms (14000 miles) with 7 punctures (2 in 1 day on the Yamaha), 1 new battery, 2 broken ribs, many blown bulbs, and numerous oil leaks on the BMW which Tom is managing to keep one step ahead of (but only just). We have 8 more countries to pass through before we get to New Zealand and no doubt many more hours of fun and adventure.

We have been fortunate in meeting loads of great people so far, and hope to meet even more along the way . This trip is much more than we ever imagined, and since we have been on the road it has mushroomed into something much bigger. Our thoughts are, a year and 24 countries is not really long enough, we may continue further.

Email Us:  twkp@hotmail.com