Details

Written by: Jörg Heierli

Category: Category (en-gb)

Published: 14 May 2018

Details

Written by: Jörg Heierli

Category: Category (en-gb)

Published: 14 May 2018

Type: Aarios "Expedition"        Website Aarios: Aarios AG

I am a really big fan of this Bicycle. It is made with a lot of knowledge and everything is well thought through. I went down paths that couldn't even be considered tracks anymore and the bicycle still runs well. It might be a bit expensive compared to other Bicycle brands, but the price is truly worth it. Also the service and support of the builder is simply great.

Weight Bicycle:                                  15Kg

Luggage:                                            45Kg

My Weight:                                         73Kg

Water                                                 3 Litres/Desert up to 12 Litres per Day

Max poss. Load alltogether                   200kg

Details

Written by: Jörg Heierli

Category: Category (en-gb)

Published: 14 May 2018

The Preparation
I’ve been working on the preparation for more than a year, and it’s still surprising how much work such a journey takes.

Gathering Information
The most useful information I found where from books. I used the internet as a source too, but I also read about 20 guidebooks. And I read a lot of other books too.

The route
It takes a lot of time to find a route for every single country which encounters all the places of interest and avoids dangerous places. Even though I now have a planned route I will be forced to change it again and again as Africa is always changing. And you often can’t see what a track really is like if you only have a map in front of you.

The Equipment
A big part of my equipment was bought new. However wherever I could I used stuff which I already had or were already used. I spent hours looking for the exact right pieces of equipment and what I couldn’t buy in a local shop, I simply ordered on the Internet.
For the bicycle parts, I work together with Krapf Bicycle near my home who has always been reliable and supportive. You will find the details in "The Equipment"

The Bicycle
At first, I thought that I could just take my still quite new mountain bike for this tour. But I realise quickly that a normal bike wouldn’t meet the demanding for Africa. The disc brakes cylinders would rust in salty sea air, I couldn’t mount any baggage in the front, it would be impossible to repair the antishocks and so on.
So I went to my local bicycle trader and together we chose the bike and its parts according to my special wishes.
As I wanted a steel frame, there was only one single company in Switzerland who still manufactures this.
The company Aarios in Gretzenbach CH is building steel framed bicycles since 1976 and has already equipped a lot of big adventures. So I went there to check the details with the company.
Together with the senior chief, we selected all the parts I needed. He turned almost all of my ideas down and in the end I had completely different bike parts than I thought would be the best choices. However I have to admit, that He really knew what he was talking about and finally I got the bike I needed.
After a few weeks I finally received the “Aarios Expedition” and I really love this bike. Even fully equipped and on tracks which I wouldn’t’ even consider a track for hiking, the bike didn’t show any weakness.
More details in the chapter ”preparation tour” and “The Bike”.

Insurance
If you are on a budget, it is almost impossible to find any insurance for such a long journey. Somehow long time travellers simply don’t exist in the mind of an insurance company.
In the end there were only Statravel and worldnomads who offer affordable insurances with the conditions needed.
But it still takes a lot of time to read all terms of conditions and some parts of the journey still remain uncovered. I finally decided for worldnomads, as the Sta-travel only cover, what my overly expensive swiss insurance wouldn't cover.

Languages
One of the most important things is of course the languages. Everyone who ever travelled abroad will admit this. I had already studied English and so I began to learn Arabic. It might be difficult in the beginning to learn but it gets easier the more you know. After over a year I am at least able to do some smalltalk, reading and writing in High-Arabic. I also took courses to improve my French. I have to admit, that I prefer to learn Arabic instead of French as this language is much more logic and simple. Even though I speak much better French I sometimes knew the Arabic term while I completely missed the French one. That’s why I finally stopped to learn Arabic.

Finances
Almost all the money I’ve earned in the past two years are being used for my project. Everything has become at least twice as expensive as I calculated at first, forcing me to safe money wherever I could. In the end, I will have to live on a budget of just a few dollars per day.
But I can proudly say, that it is all money I’ve been working for and that there is no sponsoring.
Except some price reduction and some sponsored equipment parts and the priceless help of Velo Krapf.
Big adventures with the bicycle are no longer as extraordinaire as they used to be and it takes a lot to convince anybody to sponsor you. You need a good website, a lot of followers and you become obligate. And you already have to have achieved something and need to do something extraordinary to get the attention of the big sponsoring comapnies.

Training and mock tour
It is very important to take a mock tour. I drove to Italy (read mock tour under travel reports) and I am very glad that I did it. Even though I was well trained through my boxing training, I didn’t train bicycling during the winter. I could easily regenerate and never really came out of breath. However I took the tour too hard and fast and finally got problems with my knee. I then gave up my boxing training and started to drive at least four times per week.
There were some things with the equipment I had to change too. For example my newly bought small laptop didn’t work the way it should so I decided to take my old heavy laptop with me.
Or the dynamo didn’t produce enough power to load all the devices so I’ll have to take a lot of batteries with me. There were many other things which I had to change but in the end it pays to select the best possible equipment.
But the bike itself still has no scratches or problems despite the very bad road conditions and I am really happy, that I don’t have to worry about this part.

Visa
It was a real waste of time to try getting the Visa in Advance. There is almost no chance of getting a Visa in Africa in advance, when you travel overland. The requirements are vast and the visa are valuable only by three months after issue. I tried to contact the embassies and consulates in Switzerland, but either the e-mail addresses didn’t exist anymore or even if they had an up-to-date website, they wouldn’t answer when I asked for help.
That’s why I will have to try to organise the visa on location. This also means, that I will have to go to big cities I originally wanted to avoid 

Safety
This is the only part I can’t really calculate. It is sometimes difficult to get accurate information for Africa and depending on the platform, the information can be quite dated and are often exaggerated.
I will have to ask on location about the current situations and I will have to register at the Swiss embassies in every country, so if anything happens to me, they would at least know where I was going and where they could find me.

Medical Aid
It is actually rather easy. You go to your doctor and he will tell you what kind of medication and vaccination you need. But additionally you also have to be able to treat yourself when there is no doctor around. I read some books about this topic and I’m really glad about the medical knowledge I could gather from it. The book “where there is no doctor” from travelknowhow is really a good and useful book. In my opinion, every traveller should have it with them.
I also read some other book to this topic and at least I now know how to sew a wound or how to prepare a numbing paste from Vaseline. You should in every case be prepared for every kind of incident!

Details

Written by: Jörg Heierli

Category: Category (en-gb)

Published: 14 May 2018

From Switzerland to Spain, to Morocco then all the eastern coastal countries south to Cape Town. Then back along Eastafrica, through Ethiopia, Sudan. From port Sudan to Saudi Arabia, then Jordan and Israel. with the boat to Cyprus and to Turkey and then finally back to Switzerland.

How does one come up with such a crackbrained idea?

Well, I have always been a guy who’s travelling around. When I had been working on the MS Europa2, I began to think about, what I am going to do, once I finish the Job.
There’s nothing I fear more than the work-eat-sleep-repeat routine, waiting for a day off and after retirement beiing left with nothing to life on. That’s why I travel. But where should the journey go. Everybody nowadays goes to Southeastasia, or Australia with a backpack and nothing destroys the beauty of a place more than lots of tourists.
I want to be different and travel to places still unknown to the all inclusive tourists.

So I decided to go to Africa.
But how? I couldn’t repair a car or a motorcycle if it broke and all other means of transportation would probably finally starve to death. So there was only the bicycle left. And why not? It is environmental friendly, you will see the world from a different angle and you have to work hard to get from A to B.
And I like physical and mental challenges and sport.

But why all around and not just a few nice countries, do you ask?

One day I want the book of my life being a bestseller. And I’m having a strong belief, that I can achieve everything I dream of. To me, if I travelled to only a few safe destinations, I would feel, as if I was just a tourist. But I don’t like being a tourist. I am a traveller. So I aim high even though the success of my journey will mostly depend on the political situation and my finances.
I’m going to travel as long as the money will last or the situation forces me to finish my journey.
And I want to see those parts of Africa, which are still unknown to the world. This is what will make my storybook a bestseller.

But why exactly Africa?
Africa has still some unknown and fewly visited places to show. And as I began to collect information, I found some a lot more reasons to go to Africa.
I want to know what Africa is really like because mostly all we know about is, starving people, poverty, wars and the Serengeti. I still believe that the world is a much better place, than we are told it is.
I want to see the great natural reserves, landscapes and deserts like the Kalahari desert, the Congo and lake Victoria.
I want to know how the people live like and want to listen to their stories.
And as a professional cook I want to see the cooking pots and stoves of Africa. There are still many other reasons for this journey but I wouldn’t like to present you this list now.

Though there’s one more reason for this journey I want to tell you:
I want to step out of the hamsterwheel like one says in german and would like to find out if I am actually able to do something like this just on my own, without much help from the outside.

Details

Written by: Jörg Heierli

Category: Category (en-gb)

Published: 14 May 2018

I am Joerg. A very ordinary man. Ok, i might be a little above average ambitious and crazy, but if you knew me a little better, I can be quite accessible too.

You might rather ask me what I am.
I am a baker, confectioner, cook, pastry-chef, seaman and globetrotter. I’m a black humoured BIker, Rock’nRoll listening amateur-photographer and a passionate boxer and sportsman.

But let’s start at the very beginning.
I was born in 1991 in Switzerland as the second of four children. Still after this very important event in the history of Switzerland, pilgrims keep coming to visit my place of birth and bringing flowers and gifts.
I grew up in a small village in the region of Lake Constance close to the city of Bischofszell. Here, where you know your neighbours cows better than your neighbour and the last burning of witches took place last Saturday, is the world still peaceful as it once used to be.
But this is an other story.
After a lot of years in school, I was quiet glad, that I could start an apprenticeship as baker-confectionner in a small bakery. Just after I successfully finished my apprenticeship I started another as a cook. I finished this one too.
As it is still mandatory to serve in the army in Switzerland, I had to join the army right afterwards. I served as a soldier for almost a year, and was always on daggers draw with the officers.
As I finally finished the looney-bin service, I moved to Hamburg where I worked in all three of my professions. I went there because my stepmother came from there and I liked this city because of the harbour and the flair.
After one and a half year, I was able to join the very new cruise ship “Mein Schiff 4”, thanks to my then head chef.
I joined the ship as a pastry chef, when it still was in the shipyard and everything was still new. I am proud to say, that I am the first pastry-chef to ever set foot on this ship.
We had to start up the pastry section from the very beginning. I had to create recipes, produce desserts for 3000 guests, checking the sanitation, making fancy cakes, doing the work of a head pastry chef and a lot more. It was a really hard time. A cruise ship is a completely different world and I was fucking glad, when I finally could leave the ship after six months of hardest work.
Nevertheless, I have to admit, that I have never again learned that much in such a short time. And of course, I could see a little bit of the world, at least everything of the east and northern sea and its harbours.

After some time working for my father on construction, I took up on a season in a 4* hotel in Switzerland where I worked as baker-confectioner and cook and also became keen on playing ice-hockey, which I still like to play to this day.
In the summer I went to Canada for a road trip together with my father and after two months, when we came back, I was a little broke.
I didn’t take long until I was back on a ship, even though I had sworn to never go on a cruiseship again.

The “Ms Europa 2” ist a 5*plus ship with a crew of 350 and 500 Guests. And it is said to best cruise ship in the world. I had a hard time to match the expectation of the guests and the chiefs and I was often shouting with my chiefs. But nevertheless I could learn a lot and made a lot of new friends.
And of course, I saw half of the world and some of the most beautiful and exclusive places on the world. I joined the ship near to Montreal in western Canada and then we headed south. Along the west coast of the USA, then New Orleans- Mexico-South-America, the Caribbean sea to Panama. From there through the channel and then all over the southern Pacific to French Polynesia, south seas to New Zealand. Then to Tasmania, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and finally Hongkong, where I left the ship.
This route and the stories I could tell, redress a little for the hard work. The salary didn’t really.
If you support slavery-like working conditions, environmental pollution, food waste and lot of tourists, a cruise ship would be the best choice to spend your vacations.
But anyway, it didn’t take long and I took up a job as baker near my home, where I’ve been working since, whilst preparing for my great journey.