A road trip on a motorbike is something that most motorcyclists consider from time to time, but former internet marketers Tom Bowden and Rachel Balm took it to the extreme – by travelling on their two-wheeled steeds to Mongolia.

After quitting their jobs, Tom and Rachel carefully prepared their bikes and their route, and caught a ferry to Calais. From here they travelled across Europe, through Germany and the Czech Republic and a number of other nations.

Their blog, www.travelexpeditions.co.uk, offers up dozens of fascinating stories about their journey eastwards, including travelling the Transfagara?an Highway in Romania, which twisted and turned through snow-capped mountains, and offered some remarkable views. Completing this challenging route was made all the more impressive by the fact that Rachel completed her motorcycle test only five weeks before.

We have blogged before about the Transfagara?an Highway here: http://www.startrescue.co.uk/blog/the-transfagarasan-highway-transylvania-romania/ - helpful if you’re looking for road trip advice on the area.

As they headed east they also ventured through Moldova, a country with astonishing numbers of corrupt police and pot-holes, but a place where they also met a lot of friendly people.

The pair used couchsurfing.org in order to find people who would host them, usually on sofas, but sometimes in proper bedrooms. This method of travel offered the twin benefits of free accommodation, and more importantly, a way of meeting lots of friendly locals.

Next up was Russia, from where they would visit Kazakhstan (which is entirely unlike the country depicted in Borat, say Tom and Rachel), and meet even more kind, generous people, who would help guide them through the Kazakh steppe. After re-entering Russia, the duo hot-footed east, since they had only been given a 1 month visa by the Russian authorities – and Russia is a big place.

Reaching Mongolia after weeks and weeks of riding was a very satisfying moment for them both.

If you want to read more about Tom and Rachel’s journey, visit their personal blog: www.travelexpeditions.co.uk.

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