The world is not enough!

So after ten and half months on the road, Sydney finally beckons.

Short of the front brakes being taken out, the water pump failing, a foot-breaking front-wheel puncture at 80kph, the back wheel disintegrating, a cooling system leak, a series of Pakistani police checkpoints or a 5 day late Azeri cargo boat getting in the way of things….I should be there on Saturday, crossing the Harbour Bridge to complete the job.

London to Sydney, solo by motorbike in 320 days. And only 135 days later than planned.

This week, however, there has been one final big decision that I’ve been chewing over for some time.

Where next?

London to Sydney has always been the main event for me, even when I first travelled to South America in January last year.

But as my close friends know, for some time there has been a crafty, ambitious part of me that’s been nagging away - what if I went one step further and completed a full round the world (RTW) trip?

The idea is a thriller - a full circumnavigation of the globe, solo and unsupported, by motorbike.

I could ride off the ferry at Newhaven, straight to the chippy at Brighton and then up the A23, standing up on the foot-pegs triumphantly at 70mph along the way.

And even after this long on the road my appetite for adventure remains unabated, so it appeals to that.

The bike could go on a plane to LA on Monday and I could collect it on Thursday, ride 5000km to Montreal over two weeks and then do the same again to Lisbon to ride home to London, which I have to return to by 5th June.

After all, back in 2013 I completed a whopping 9000km round trip to Istanbul and back in just 15 days.

And I’ve had everything lined up now for two months - customs brokers, air freighters, timetables, emissions paperwork.

But whilst I might have done that a couple of years ago, I won’t be doing it now.

It’s no longer question of finances as I feared back in January - after creating an amazing, complex spreadsheet with formulas mixed with a little bit of increased self-discipline, that problem fell away.

After India, I successfully took the approach that I would do what I can to keep the door open to a RTW so long as it did not compromise what I want to do or see at that particular point in time.

However since reaching Oz, that balance has tilted. And I’ve found that frustrating.

I’ve come to realise that I’ve changed as a traveller since 2013; rather than simply going out there and chasing slightly mad targets and indulging in the thrill of the chase of what I once boasted to friends as ‘travel tapas’, I’ve learnt to appreciate having the time and freedom to explore at will what’s around me at any given moment, to go with the flow and not to sacrifice the opportunities of today in pursuit of tomorrow.

Going for a RTW right now would run contrary to that - I’d miss out on what I want to see here in Oz and I’m pretty sure I’d get frustrated with missing out in seeing things in America too. And it would go against perhaps the single most important lesson that I feel this trip has taught me.

Perhaps most importantly, that’s a lesson that I’m glad to have learnt along the way.