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Looking for a solution to that ho-hum where-to-vacation problem?

Try motorcycling around Europe. Ride over to the east coast of the

United States, spin around until your nose is pointing toward Canada

and your rear end is lined up with the Everglades in Florida and glance

out over your right shoulder. There's a place out there called Europe

and experienced motorcyclists who have searched everywhere for a unique motorcycle adventure say Europe tops the list. We've done it several times, covering thousands of road miles in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Belgium and other countries. Most people want to know how much does this adventure costs, how do you go about putting this experience together, what clothes and things should I take and how should I take them and one of the big questions: who the heck's got the motorcycles? We're here to give you some of the answers.

By compromising here and there, you can pull this adventure off on almost any budget...if you know the options. We've learned that anyone with the desire and an average touring budget can accomplish this trip. If you're rich, you can leave tomorrow. If you're not, you can start saving and eventually the day will come when your adventure budget cup runneth over. If you can save for a television, a microwave or a new pair of shoes, you can save for a Europe tour. It takes a little longer but when you return, the touring memories will last forever while televisions, microwaves and shoes will eventually show the effects of time.

Once you're across the Atlantic astride your machine, it costs not much more (give or take) than it does to tour in similar style here in the United States. Prices in Europe have been on the rise for the past few years and we'll guess you'll find them a little higher overall than here in the U.S. but not everywhere. There are spots in Europe that are much cheaper (food, hotel, etc.) that here in the U.S. Because different people need different things and different things carry different price tags, the cost can range from expensive to reasonable, depending on your style. While sorting through the solutions we offer in this book, you'll discover alternates to most of the problems and expenses, so you can compromise here and there until you can come with something you can afford. One rider who compromised until he couldn't compromise anymore told us he wound up riding around Europe with his girlfriend on a Vespa scooter he purchased used for $650 in France. When the three month trip was over, they rode into the airport parking lot, downloaded their gear, taped the title and a note to the scooter seat and flew back to the United States. Where did the scooter go? Who knows? Some Frenchman probably read the note, got the message ("take the scooter...no charge!) and is riding around on it today. "Who cares," the rider said. "$650 for three months worth of transportation was well worth it." His conclusion? "You gotta do what you gotta do if you want to do it!." Once you're astride your machine, you can make your choices: sleep by the side of he road and cook your own meals or stay in hotels and dine out in fancy restaurants. Your choice based on what you can afford.

Basically, you have to get there ($XXXX first class to under-$XXX round-trip last class, depending on the time of the year and your destination), you have to have a motorcycle (buy new or used over there, ship your own, join a tour group that has motorcycles, rent upon arrival, or steal one (only kidding!). You have to deal with on-the-road expenses which range from a few dollars a day plus gasoline for those who can rough it by sleeping in the bushes to $XXX a day or more including gasoline to support something a little more elegant. Because there are fixed expenses (transportation over and back, gasoline, motorcycle, etc.) and flexible expenses (where you sleep, what you eat, how many miles you travel), the experience is fairly adjustable price-wise. First, decide what kind of tourer you are. Are you an A-style tourer? The A-style tourer hates bugs, dirty bed linen and toilets that won't flush. They choose accommodations with in-room baths and gladly pay the extra 20%-30% premium for the privilege. They eat every day in sit-down restaurants staffed by waiters with black bow ties and tour Europe with the understanding that strict budgets are made to be broken. They think nothing of buying a genuine Bavarian coo-coo clock for $XXX because it's a once in a lifetime souvenir opportunity and there's always that credit card.

B-tourers can live without a bath for a maximum of two nights. They need a roof over their head when they sleep and dine out regularly in snack bars and roadside cafes. Their evening meal budget rarely exceeds $XX per person and they never order anything that's not included in the all-inclusive (including tip) house special. They eat roadside lunches by hopping off their bike and shoving wedges of cheese and cold cuts between two big slices of French bread they carry in their tank bag just for that purpose. They overeat for lunch to delay paying for dinner and can say "doggie bag" in seven European languages.

C-tourers are your ultimate motorcycle adventurers, bred from a long line of motorcyclists who years ago road Harleys and Hendersons from coast to coast with only a spare pair of pants, a blanket strapped to their handlebars and their voice as company. They love camping, public toilets surrounded by high bushes and carry recipes for cooking local wildlife and road kill over a campfire on bent wheel spokes. They spend only when necessary and bathe by taking quick dunks in rivers with famous names. You see C-tourers all over Europe, their motorcycles piled high with survival gear, bedrolls and four-day old French bread. When you ask them "why?", they reply, "...it's the only way to travel."

In between the A's, B's and C's are the A-5s, the B-3, the C-14s, etc., the ratings based on variations of the original style (get the idea?). Heading the list are the big-spender A-1s and bringing up the rear are the C-54s who deserve a medal for their ability to survive on almost nothing.

First, the good news. If you're a C-5 through C-54 tourer, you're in luck. Inflation and the dollar's performance overseas has barely put a dent in famous river bathing, farmyard/ditch accommodations and eating cold beans out of the can. With the understanding those fixed expenses are always fixed, you can survive over there on $XX a day for two plus the fixed stuff if you stay off the expensive toll roads, limit your daily mileage (miles=+gasoline=money), don't buy any souvenirs and avoid accommodations made out of everything but canvas.

The B-tourers face the same fixed expenses as the Cs, plus the cost of accommodations, meals and the necessities that boosted them into the B ranks. You should be able to find adequate under-roof accommodations outside the big cities for $XX a night which includes a free breakfast if you shop around. By choosing hotels where the management doesn't change the sheets until three guests have used the room, you can shave that by ten bucks or so. Spartan lunches and dinners are available for about $X-XX per person if you limit you meals to snack bars where the European eat.

The A-tourers, cursed by the need for luxury, obviously needs a budget to support their habit. Rooms with down the hall baths are available outside the big cities for under $100 (and up) a night for two. Private baths might cost extra. Allow $XX-$XX for a good lunch, $XX_$XX for a fair dinner (per person) and you're in business.

Based on the average cost of $X-$XX a gallon for gas, everybody will spend about $X-$X for every eighty miles or so they travel. You can cut those expenses by limiting the amount of time you spend on the road. There's no need to eliminate where you go, only the amount of time you spend on the road each day sucking up gasoline. In the mountainous areas of Europe, you can plan on covering about 150 miles a day which doesn't seem like much but when you see Europe's mountain roads - fifty-two zigzags every one hundred yards - you'll understand what we mean. One or two liters of oil should last you through the trip and barring a blow out, the two tires that come with the bike will keep you rolling until you're ready to come home.

With no serious mechanical problems, you should be able to tour somewhere within the figures mentioned above. Just determine your fixed expenses, multiply your daily dollar costs by the number of days you'll be there (try for two weeks), add twenty percent for beginner's error and that's what you'll need. Don't over classify yourself (which many people do) and come to the conclusion you can't go.

Europe...What's Going On Over There?

If you're eighteen years old, sound of mind and body, capable of handling a variety of experiences and believe, if things don't go right today, they'll surely get better tomorrow, we'll go out on a limb and say a motorcycle tour of Europe can be pulled off with a minimum amount of adjusting. Your attitude is probably right, your tolerance level far above anything you're likely to encounter and even if the adventure turns into a dud (highly unlikely), chances are you'll forget about it by the time your twenty. If you can afford it, we foresee no problems.

On the other hand, if you're not a youngster, sucking in a sagging waistline, set in your way (longevity tends to do that) and believe if things don't go right today, they'll never go right, you might have to do some adjusting so you'll get the most out of a European ride. Phil is no youngster and has that sagging waistline but did whatever adjusting was necessary and pulled this adventure off several times.

Europe is Europe and riding a motorcycle from Paris to Rome is different than riding a motorcycle from New York to Miami. There are few fast-food restaurant along Europe's highways (although McDonald's and KFC are making progress) and you're not like to see a blinking Holiday Inn sign offering shelter for the night. If you do, it's going to cost you more than it would here in the U.S. When you think about it, who wants to fly all the way to Europe only to eat at a fast food restaurant and stay in an American-style hotel? Communicating with people is more difficult and it's easy for some people to get a quick case of culture shock upon arrival. While there are two and four-laned roads leading to destinations and enough restaurants and hotels to keep the body rested and the inner furnaces burning, the routine is definitely different, so prepare yourself ahead of time and they'll be no surprises.

Everybody has their own touring style. The riders we've run into in Europe fall into two categories. There are the all-out-gotta-get-there guys who cling to the handlebars eighteen hours a day to reach a destination, only to catnap and roar off again a few hours later. Then there are the casual riders who happily log a few hundred miles a day so they can spend time exploring Europe up close with both feet on the ground and an open mind. If they're sharing the experience with a companion, everybody benefits from this style of touring.

On our first tour, Phil had us zipping from one country to the other, riding all day, sleeping all night. It wasn't long before Beverly reminded him that things weren't going right. About halfway through the trip, at an outdoor cafe in downtown Paris, they had a confrontation and she convinced him they were missing out on some unique European experience, blurs by the side of the road. She reminded him you can't walk up to a stone wall that's stood for over a thousand years and touch it if you're straddling a motorcycle and revving the throttle. You can't chat with a European motorcyclist you meet at a roadside restaurant if you don't stop long enough to make the connection. You can't...well, there are lots of you-can'ts if you don't slow down and appreciate what this experience is. Most riders find themselves confronted with the options - riding only or riding/experiences. If you're traveling with someone, talk it over before you leave so they'll be no misunderstanding about what this adventure is going to be. Most twosomes discover riding/experience is the only way to go. If you're a rider only, consider doing it yourself.

On the last half of our first trip (and on subsequent trips), we choose the "meandering" style of moving around, choosing general destinations, often on the spur of the moment. As an example, we were just outside some little town in northern Italy one day, sipping really-strong coffee at a roadside cafe, looking over the map and because we had no firm destination, decided to head south on some secondary roads that led to nowhere in particular. An hour later we were winding our way through small, quaint villages en route to that nowhere-in-particular place. We stopped that night in a town with a quaint hotel sitting along the coast of the Adriatic and stayed two nights because it was a neat place. During the day we strolled through town, tried the local food out at small restaurants, fumbled through the conversation routines and had a great time. While we eventually visited Rome, Pisa and Milan before heading back into Germany, we found these away-from-the-tourist-crowds locations to be a great way to meet the people and save money. And, money is important to most of us. All across Europe, you'll find hotels outside the city limits for half of what you'd pay in the downtown areas, not unlike the situation here in the U.S. In small towns, you can eat like the natives and save money. In small towns you don't have to worry too much about bike security. In big towns, Iwe worried about that all the time. In one town in Austria, the owners of the hotel moved their Mercedes out of the garage and provided us with a lockup for the bike. In a town in southern France, the owners of a restaurant next door to our hotel helped us roll the motorcycle into their dining room for the night. By comparison, in downtown Nice, I chained the bike to a tree and was up all night, looking out the window for bike thieves. In Paris, we were a nervous wreck because of motorcycle security. Fortunately, no motorcycle thieves ever showed up on any of our trips but we spent a lot of time worrying about. and we did all of the worrying in big cities.

Time permitting, we travel in this meandering style all the time, visiting different places because they're just out there, meeting the people and having a lot of fun. After doing this over and over again, we find touring with a map marked with a specific destination every night too limiting for our style. Exactly what happens along these meandering route is unpredictable as are the experiences, but they're almost always interesting and challenging. Accepting the good with the bad, we just keep moving around, laying over for two nights if it's a really neat place with good experience possibilities. You'll find that small town folk treat Americans on motorcycles like VIPs while in the big towns, you're just another annoying tourist face in the crowd. This doesn't mean you shouldn't visit Paris, Rome, Vienna, Munich, London, etc. Go ahead but just be a little more security conscious.

Tourism is big business in Europe. Last year, millions of Americans visited Europe. In some European areas, tourism contributes more to the local economy than business and industry combined. Most countries devote a portion of their national budget to the operation of tourist offices, information centers and bureaus designed to provide information and assistance to both the rich and the poor traveler. Any of these offices can supply you with free maps, free hotel and campground guides, information on alternative accommodations (hostels, private homes, etc.), free booklets, free language guides and literature explaining where to go and what to do when you get there. Just send them your name and address (a postcard will do) and explain you're planning to tour their country by motorcycle. Then step back as the mailman's truck backs up to your door and deposits this valuable information on your doorstep. If you're computerized, go online and check out the different European country websites. If you're not, there's a list of European tourist offices listed in the Source chapter in the back of this book. Careful study of what's provided will give you a better understanding of what to expect and some interesting ideas on where to go, what to do and what experiences are available. Keep whatever you can use (maps, accommodation guides, etc.) and leave the rest behind. This information, combined with what you'll learn from these book is all you need to pull this trip off.

When you're done reading this book, you'll know what your planning strategies are. There are things you gotta know and things you gotta do. How much is this adventure going to cost? Should I do it myself or join a tour group? What's the best place to start? Who's got the motorcycles? What should I take and how should you take it? How do I communicate with people who don't speak English? If you're choose a tour group, they'll supply you with all of the information you'll need. If you do it yourself, you have to make your own decisions. One decision usually leads to another question and we'll answer those questions in this book.

If you start in London, for example, you might not have enough time to make it to southern Italy. If you find a motorcycle in London, you might decide to ride around Scotland or Wales and (a) call it quits or (b) cross the Channel and head for France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, etc. If you find a motorcycle in Munich or southern France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy are easily accessible. Decisions, decisions, decisions. With the eastern European countries opening their doors to tourism, there are some great adventures in Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, etc. Scratch Yugoslavia for the time being although we spent a week there in the late 1970s, riding into Bled, then along the coast to the Albania border, then inland over the mountains into Belgrade and back to Graz in Austria.

Eventually, you're going to need a good, overall map of Europe, one that covers all of the countries you plan on visiting. Tour operators will provide you with all of this stuff. This will give you an idea of the lay of the land and some of the route possibilities. We've overspent on the best and the worse and the best we've found are Michelin maps. They're available at all bookstores and from AAA and you might get something good from one of the tourist offices. There's one Michelin map that covers all of western Europe, most of Eastern Europe and the entire United Kingdom. A good choice. Once on the road, we prefer maps with a scale of 1:600,000 or smaller for close-ups of the major and secondary roads. If you have Internet access, you can look at some European maps online. Enter European Maps in the search block and you can download maps of all of the European countries and get an idea of what's located where. With these in-hand, you can start dreaming about where you might want to go.