Peter & Kay Forwood an end of an era

[KTMphil]

Peter & Kay Forwood an end of an era


Peter & kar Forwood are riding rockstars. Why? - they took a fully dressed Harley to EVERY sovereign nation recognized by the United Nations, as far as we know, the only people to EVER do this. They did a presentation for us last year.

Sadly, their adventure has come to an end for now, I just received this email from them:


Hi Everyone



Kay and I hope all is going well in your lives and that this email finds you contented and happy.



Our life is currently going through a change, as all good things must come to an end. We have been travelling the world on our motorcycle since 1996, a

journey that has now ended, at least for the time being, for who knows what the future will bring.



The motorcycle that has generally kept us mobile for those 15 years is now on a ship back to Australia, arriving mid July, according to the agent.

Why are we stopping travelling? Well like most decisions it is not just one reason but a combination of many things that ultimately led us to this action. We feel we have been marking time with our travels since visiting the last country, New Zealand in 2008. We have not felt as enthusiastic since then to go to the effort of breaking through border paperwork and shipping hassles and whilst we have thoroughly enjoyed our revisits of places and catching up with friends it somehow now feels a bit hedanistic and meaningless to continue indefinitely. There has also been a diminishing window of opportunity to continue travelling as our now elderly mothers are becoming more frail and with two grandchildren on the ground and one due later this year life at home seems more valuable. We are also enjoying our piece of rural Australia about an hour's drive north west of Brisbane. It is 64 hectares of bush, where the challenges we used to enjoy in travelling are now being applied to returning this piece of Australia to its more natural state. The block contains some rainforest gullies, some wet eucalypt and dry eucalypt forests, harbouring koala, wallabies, pythons and goannas, along with less enjoyable biting insects and lethal snakes. We are currently living there under canvas with solar powered electricity. A creekside location, alongside some rainforest while we contemplate future plans for the block that include having minimal impact whilst removing introduced weeds and allowing nature an opportunity to restore itself. We haven't really become greenies but did notice in our 15 years of travel that the world was losing what we think it should value most, nature.

Most of you we met whilst travelling or have had email contact over that time and we would like to thank you for your friendship. We have also had many invitations to people's homes whilst we were travelling, something much appreciated travelling in foreign lands, and whilst conditions at our block are not overly comfortable by western standards we still feel most people could appreciate a visit, so you are all invited to come and stay, tomorrow or any time into the future, just email us when you would likely be arriving.



We still plan to be riding the Harley in Australia once it returns, and perhaps we will again take it overseas to new countries, like South Sudan, but not for a couple of years, but again, who knows what the future will bring.



We would love to hear what is happening in your lives and please stay in touch.



Peter and Kay

 

[KTMphil]

A few photo's from their website:

SCROLL DOWN AND PICK A COUNTRY

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/forwood/


Here in the Congo, Africa!

 

[DrGMIA]

Below is a picture of Peter and Kay in California, last fall. We were laughing about what exactly "retirement" meant for wanderers, travelers like us who have crossed paths around the globe over the past 10-15 years. We agreed it did not mean we would park ourselves in some community and let our brains turn to mush from too much swill, nor would we become cyber-keyboard-hunched-over old men and women posting our daily opinions on trivia ranging from political happenings or where we thought were the best places to eat in town.



I suspect Peter, Kay and I will again meet on the planet somewhere, whether planned or unplanned, like our meeting in Chiang Mai last year or later in the year in California, USA.

Their resting, I also suspect, is not the end of an era, more like a pit stop, as was mine after I announced retirement from 'round the world expeditions several years ago, only to later start planning another.

These "pit stops" in life can become very boring.

I received the following today:

"Keep in touch and perhaps we will see you either in Aust or Thailand or somewhere, who knows.
Peter and Kay"

 

[MartinThai]

Respectfully, how does one finance a continuous traveling expedition? Do you and Peter and Kay have sponsors, or did you have a successful younger life in business and have a good pension to allow you do do this now? Do you have a successful business now that allows you to be absent from it? (I've often dreamed of having my Electra Glide done out in Red Bull livery and have unlimited sponsorship to travel and record the world!!) Sorry to be personal and if you don't want to answer personal questions that is of course your choice.

I know there are many readers who would love to be able to ride a fraction of what you guys do...... I myself had a motorcycle oriented bar/cafe in Thailand (Ace Cafe Thailand) which allowed me a few tours a year, and now working offshore I have better finances for touring, but to be a professional wanderer one needs guaranteed finances for all eventualities, otherwise you'll just have to make do with what 99% of other bikers have to make do with and that'll be maybe a couple of tours per year on holidays from work!

I think a lot of people will not have the freedom to do as you do until they actually retire from the mainstream, and so then in their actual retirement they become wanderers!

(If the answer is in Peter and Kays website I've missed it...... I'm thoroughly enjoying reading a few pages per day. Epic. )

 

[KTMphil]

I think Peter and Kay rented their house out in Australia & organized every single trans-shipment and clearance for the bike themselves. If you analyze and break down the total cost of shipping a bike its alarming what percentage of the total cost is Customs broker and other "fees", they do all this themselves, they've also said they have NEVER paid a bribe to a government official.

Respectfully, how does one finance a continuous traveling expedition? Do you and Peter and Kay have sponsors, or did you have a successful younger life in business and have a good pension to allow you do do this now? Do you have a successful business now that allows you to be absent from it? (I've often dreamed of having my Electra Glide done out in Red Bull livery and have unlimited sponsorship to travel and record the world!!) Sorry to be personal and if you don't want to answer personal questions that is of course your choice.

I know there are many readers who would love to be able to ride a fraction of what you guys do...... I myself had a motorcycle oriented bar/cafe in Thailand (Ace Cafe Thailand) which allowed me a few tours a year, and now working offshore I have better finances for touring, but to be a professional wanderer one needs guaranteed finances for all eventualities, otherwise you'll just have to make do with what 99% of other bikers have to make do with and that'll be maybe a couple of tours per year on holidays from work!

I think a lot of people will not have the freedom to do as you do until they actually retire from the mainstream, and so then in their actual retirement they become wanderers!

(If the answer is in Peter and Kays website I've missed it...... I'm thoroughly enjoying reading a few pages per day. Epic. )

 

[DrGMIA]

Good question Martin:

I believe we all do it differently. If there was an easy answer there would be 1,000's (instead on the now 100's) living the dream of riding around the world with no worries.

Some have sponsors, while others were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. A "How To" book could be written about the various options, tricks and tips. I covered some of the "Sponsors" aspect in my book, RIDING THE WORLD - The Biker's Road Map For A Seven-Continent Adventure, which is now out of print.

Like Peter and Kay, I try to keep my overhead down (like no house/car/ payments) as well as my expenses. Seldom will you see my motorcycle parked in the parking lot of a Sheraton/Hilton hotel (nor that of Peter and Kay) unless someone else is picking up the expense, which does happen.

The choice of equipment and gear come into play too:



Some people choose a $20,000 USD motorcycle, then add another $10,000 USD in gear and gizzmos. Others choose a $6,000 USD motorcycle, $3,000 worth of gear and use the $21,000 USD difference for travel costs.

I usually try to have banked enough $ before I start, but even my best plans have failed. Once I had to park my motorcycle in Africa, fly home and sell some more items (truck, etc.) or I knew I would be eating sand and running on air.

Personally I'd prefer the silver spoon/rich parents/trust fund/MicroSoft bailout options, but have never been so lucky. I "guess" if I had to describe how we (Peter, Kay and I) have done it, it would best be said we had to work at it, and likely will continue to do so.

My personal advice to travelers, wanderers and adventurers when they suggest they are going to do what we do "when they retire," is not to wait that long because when they reach that age they will likely not have the energy to do what we do.

You can find a lot of discussion on this funding topic over on the http://www.horizonsunlimited.com forum.

Regards,
DRGMIA
Chief, World Affairs Adventure Desk, CITY BIKE Magazine

 

[Captain_Slash]

My personal advice to travelers, wanderers and adventurers when they suggest they are going to do what we do "when they retire," is not to wait that long because when they reach that age they will likely not have the energy to do what we do.

Very good advice there Greg

 

[jb2112]

I second the Captain!