8 Ways to Overcome the Struggles of Traveling

- Tim Notier

What eight years on the road has taught me, more than anything, is that adventure is not a constant state of euphoria. It is a constant state of problem solving and teamwork. Sometimes life on the road feels like 50% pure bliss, while the remaining 50% is just trying to push through difficult terrain, poor accommodations, bad food, and motorcycle problems.

I wanted to try to shine a small light into some of the realities of motorcycle travel in an effort to explain some of the struggles we have had, and what we have done to try to overcome these obstacles. I also wanted to share some of this 'behind the scenes' reality because for a while I thought we were somehow "doing it wrong." We should be having the time of our lives, an 8 year "vacation" that most people only dream of.

And I want you to know if you have ever felt overwhelmed and out of your element, you are not alone. But by the end of the blog I hope you feel confident that you, as we have, can overcome obstacles, emotional downs, and the daily struggles that are often wedged between the beautiful FaceBook photos.

From the outside, our journey has looked cinematic. We have ridden through the Americas, halfway up Africa, and now across Southeast Asia. What a lot of people assume, and what Facebook and Instagram would lead you to believe, is that these once in a lifetime journeys are filled with nothing but bliss and wonder.

And don’t get me wrong, there is a whole lot of bliss and wonder involved as we meander around the world. From faraway lands to our own country as we explore the world as a team.

Social media captures the golden light, the sweeping drone shots, the kiss at the overlook. It does not capture the struggles that happened in the days leading up to, or even ten minutes earlier, nor do they reflect the anxiety quietly building under our helmets.

Some days truly are surreal. Riding across the mirror-like expanse of the Salar de Uyuni with a thin layer of water reflecting the sky felt like floating between two worlds. The horizon disappeared. The motorcycle hummed across a surface so flat it felt imaginary. In those moments, every hardship fades into the background.

But salt water is not kind to motorcycles. What looks like magic in a photograph can turn into weeks of electrical gremlins. Corrosion crept into connectors. Warning lights flickered. The bike that carried us across continents suddenly felt fragile. We learned quickly that every “epic shot” sometimes comes with a mechanical bill attached.

We have successfully traveled as a duo over some of the worst terrain imaginable for being 2Up and overloaded.

​But as we pass elephants and other exotic wildlife, a true sense of wonder always washes over us. Reminding us that we are truly on an adventure of a lifetime.

​And we’ve made out in some pretty amazing places...

It would appear that we are just two happy people meandering around the world having the time of their lives without stress or worries. ​​Traveling and snapping pictures all the way to the ends of the Earth.

​And after years on the road, we returned home and got married after a blissful circuit halfway around the world.

But, in reality, flat tires, oil leaks, and mechanical problems plagued our trip.

Sometimes we feel as broken down as our motorcycle. We had our share of electrical problems, no thanks to our little joyride through the Bolivian Salt Flats.
 
When things go wrong, all our vulnerabilities are exposed. Sometimes we’re left stranded in remote villages but were always lucky enough to be rescued.

And there were even overheating issues that left me stripping down the motorcycle in the middle of a deserted mountain pass in Argentina. Below, the coolant was so low that I was debating on whether I should pee into the coolant reservoir… I didn’t.

In some of the posts I’ve made, I projected a false sense of happiness. Let’s take a second look at the below picture to dissect what is actually going on. First off, and most notably, we can all see that Marisa has absolutely no vertical jumping ability. And secondly, a fact that is a little bit harder to see through the smiles is, that I, at this moment, having reached the southern tip of South America with a lovely woman over the course of two years, was absolutely miserable. 

Fin del Mundo translates to ‘the end of the world’ and that is exactly how I felt. After all the bike problems we had been having over the previous month, and having the journey that we were so eager and excited to be on had basically turned into us riding from one mechanic or dealership to the next in an effort to keep the bike rolling.​

But throughout all the triumphs and failures, we had to not only navigate the roads that wound their way across continents, but we also had to figure out how to do so as a team. Marisa and I were physically touching each other for nearly 20 hours of the day. And that was a new ‘arrangement’ than in our previous life.

Some of the 1st issues that we noticed were where to stay the night. We now use iOverlander and Google Maps to plan out a few options along the route depending on how the day is going. But at the beginning of our journey, it was more of a potluck as we never knew exactly where we would be. Hotels are expensive, but Marisa insisted that she needed to shower every 3 days whereas I could go a week straight without a shower.

​Luckily for us, we had the same major interests. Ruins, nature, and archaeological sites. We grew up just outside of Chicago, and we both desperately wanted to avoid big cities. Marisa is a little more culturally dignified than I am, so she enjoys churches and museums, but we have both learned to compromise and find common interests with periodic offshoots that she may favor more than I do.

​My ‘off shoots’ were mostly roads that led up or down mountain passes that would leave me grinning from ear to ear, but Marisa would be behind me breathing heavily, sounding like Darth Vader. Our levels of comfort while off road was one of our major issues for the first couple of years. But I knew that her confidence in not only me, but in herself, would grow. I think that us gradually diving deeper into the deep end made her feel more confident than if I just continued to take every nasty road that I could find.

​Another issue, right off the bat, was what food we would eat. I, again, had a much lower standard and could survive off McDonalds and gas station food for the rest of my life. But Marisa quickly snubbed that option out. She demanded substance that had nutritional value.
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She also gets a little more ‘experimental’ with what she will consume. She ate grubs in South America, caterpillars in Africa, and deep-fried scorpions in Thailand… and I wanted nothing to do with any of that.

​We also realized that we needed both physical and mental breaks from being constantly on the road. Time to reflect on where we have been, laugh over some of the oddities that had happened to us, and just absorb nature for all that it had to offer.

​As hard as it is at times, we knew we needed to give each other personal space while not on the motorcycle. Just some good old ‘I’m not right next to you’ time.

​While on the motorcycle, we both have Bluetooth headsets, but are in our own different worlds. Marisa usually listens to podcasts as I am rocking out to Guns and Roses. But even though we are physically touching, we have our own ‘helmet time’.

We used to get upset with each other when one of us would dramatically hang up on the other person via our headsets, only for the other to chime in and yell some more. But we gradually realized that arguing while going 80kph or over rough terrain wasn’t the wisest thing to do on multiple levels.
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The alone time within our own helmets could at first be used to think of all the damaging things to say, but that gradually faded. And by the time we would stop, most of the time we would both immediately apologize to each other having realized the bigger picture, and just how stupid some of our arguments are after reflecting on them.

​Even while on the road, having the time of our lives, we would get into arguments. My biggest stresses didn't even come from Marisa directly, but through the magic of male stubbornness, and it somehow seemed to always transfer to Marisa in the thick of the moment. When things went wrong with the motorcycle, there was tension in the air. And I will admit that I sometimes became less than ideal to be around as I cursed and swore on the side of the road.

​But I think that Marisa would agree that this is something I gradually became better at, still not 100% ‘enlightened,’ but I now know that every problem always seems to figure itself out.

​I now try to wait 24 hours before completely freaking out. I’m still not as Zen as I would want to be, but I began to realize that all of the gods in all of the multiverses, along with Marisa were NOT teaming up to make my day miserable. But for a while there, it was pretty rough for Marisa to have to deal with my child-like behavior.

​But the truth is, even when we found ourselves in the most beautiful of locations, we were able to ruin it by fighting with each other. Marisa had almost flown home 3 times before we entered South America. But we wanted to resolve our issues and be able to continue traveling the world together.

​So how did we navigate through the twists and turns of our relationship?

​My biggest challenge to overcome, was to focus my attention on the problem at hand, not on each other. Once I started to conquer this flaw, it led to us working together as a team in getting us out of whatever situation we found ourselves in. And it truly felt rewarding once we managed to get through it. We would often high five and hug each other knowing that we had avoided pointless stress and had turned it into an achievement.

​One of my favorite quotes that I have come across is “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it”.
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I don’t think there are any other words that could wrap me up as an individual as those.

We have also learned not to be afraid of some of the obstacles that we are bound to come across. Because just as Marisa’s confidence grew as we took worse and worse roads, and my skill level grew at the same time, our relationship also became stronger as trust was built on multiple levels.

​Above is a picture of ‘not-so-happy’ Marisa as we rode down Titus Canyon in Death Valley.

​And here is that same wonderful woman, on a very similar road in Southern Peru.

​I couldn’t have asked for a better partner than this lovely woman. At times there have been struggles for sure, but we both learned that there are larger priorities in life than who may be right or wrong in a pointless disagreement. I know that I wouldn’t be able to do this journey without her. But Marisa has stood by my side through some difficult times, and I am forever grateful for her patience.

​Don’t assume that the rider is the captain of the ship. We are a team, and we need to always keep that in our mindset.

I also listened to Marisa when she would say, “Let me off for this part”. At first I felt offended that she didn’t trust me or my skills. But slowly I learned to respect her requests.
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This worked out for multiple reasons. First, she would be able to go ahead and feel out of harm’s way if the bike were to drop.

​Secondly, it would make traversing down crappy roads a bit easier due to her weight being taken off the bike.

​And thirdly, it allowed for her to take some pretty cool photos as I splashed through puddles or bounced my way over baby head rocks.

​Marisa would cheer me on and help motivate me through some more of the difficult roads, all while she was safely on flat earth.
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Marisa knew that confidence was half of the battle, and when she wasn’t physically helping me push my way through something, she was always there like a cheerleader saying things like ‘you got this’, or ‘you’re doing great!”

We would still find ourselves in situations where the bike had fallen over with us both on it. But we were beginning to act more as a single unit instead of clashing against each other when things got tough. Communicating is very important.

Sometimes in the heat of the moment our brains would conclude that this was the end of the trip. That things weren’t working or fun or enjoyable. But it never was the end of the trip. We just needed to end that state of mind. We kept pushing through, and now we have the mentality that we know we’re going to get through it. We still hit roadblocks and potholes in our relationship just as we do when driving down crappy roads, but just like any good suspension, we need to absorb them.

​Marisa and I know that you will possibly find yourself in tough situations. Stress will rise, arguments may occur, but we are equally confident that you will be able to get through them as a team, and grow both individually and together.

​In the end, after all the beauty and the thrill of the open road, mixed in with overcoming obstacles and emotional battles, Marisa and I know that traveling the world together is the best thing that has ever happened to us. And we are both willing to fight for the ability to travel more, opposed to fighting with each other that could potentially end our journey.

​Just remember to focus your energy on solving the problems at hand, listen to each other’s needs and request, and be vocal about any potential issues before it can erupt into an argument. At first it may be challenging, but we promise you that it is an achievable dream, and one that is worth pursuing.

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Marisa and I would love to answer any questions you may have. We reply to all of our Patreon comments and are so thankful to the growing community that we have.

And we are also ecstatic to announce our latest motorcycle tour in Thailand!! Join us on an epic adventure through the endless twisty roads in Northern Thailand and relax on stunning beaches on Koh Lanta in Southern Thailand! Check out the itinerary and available dates HERE.

We would love to ride alongside you and explore the world together! 

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