Are you ready to tour in 2024? | Our tips and hints to a great tour!

Touring aborad is amazing, but what do you take to wear, what do you need to think about before going and what do you need to think about when you are there? We talk about what we do from being tour guides.

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0:00 Intro
2:12 Clothing
9:55 Tools
14:45 Travel Insurance
15:14 Injections
16:07 Documents
18:53 Ferries & Tunnels
19:53 Money
22:48 Passport
23:48 Customs
25:01 Travelling on the tunnel or ferry
29:44 Hydrate!
30:23 Adjust to the road
32:02 Sat Nav Speed Camera Warnings
32:21 Drinking & Riding
32:48 Speeding
34:39 Filtering & Speeds
36:37 Alcohol test kits
36:48 Helmets
37:48 Your Holiday!
38:15 Toll Roads & Air Pollution Zones
40:39 Tyres!
41:44 Service your bike
42:00 Fuel
43:25 Recovery
44:11 ICE Details
44:43 Bluetooth Headsets
45:30 Outro

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Hola first things first so like an old man I feel like an old man where’s the other one I’ve got another one somewhere there we go right first things first welcome to another video and we’re going to talk to you about some stuff in a minute but what we

Wanted to do is say a massive thank you to a guy called Glenn out in Texas would you Texas who got old of me and I thought it was a bit of a scam and I was like oh do I say do I say yes or no but

He’s 3D printed coasters for us and they are awesome they’re like massive Co he called them coasters but we’re going to use them to uh were they as foots yeah foot stands for the bike marks 1250 GS adventure for your 1300 GS when you get

One I’ve got a couple with the 1250 RT and Barney on it really but it’s really really good and we’ve been using them as well so thank you Glenn brilliant thanks a lot Glenn two things come from Texas Glenn and coasters I don’t so we had a subscriber didn’t we

Mark that can’t remember his name though which is bad but you’re equally as important it’s like one of those things you’re on hold you’re important to us but we’ll get to you sometime but there was a guy music yeah there was a guy that um asked us if we could talk about touring

He was planning a tour this year which is 2024 and wanted to know if we had any tips and things to think about and things like that which is great we’ve done tips on uh we need to do another packing video at some point we’ve done packing now

We’ve we find it we’ve done packing videos uh what we think tools you might want to take which other than the people on the bike like me um but I think he just wanted to know about some basic stuff about you know what you should I don’t know take as a

Well an interim thing yeah so it depend I think the first thing depends on what you pack so packing your stuff is really easy for some and difficult for lots of people isn’t it that light’s going to keep flashing because he’s got a sensor on oh well hopefully it’ll be right Sol

The powered yeah we’re Eco here abely well you need to be because everything keeps getting knocked out with the storms anyway I think you need to focus on your packing first so what space you’ve got on your bike is really important so on Barney I’ve got two 20 l

T 20 liter paniers on yours you’ve got like 50 lers either side I me you’re something ridiculous they standard boom up metal Piers yeah um I don’t know what size they are but don’t take the unnecessary stuff so if you’re going just for a tour in week or two weeks

What are you going to be wearing all the time the stuff that I’m dressed in so is it really worth taking 15 shirts 20 pairs of socks 20 pairs of pants all I take and I’m sure you’re much the same is I’ll take three t-shirts um I’ll take my wicin top that

I wash every night my bikeing gear is on me I take a pair of shorts a pair of Crocs couple of pairs of socks for riding you know you’re going to alienate yourself now by saying Crocs Crocs are the best thing ever invented for feet they really are I’ve even got some Aldi

Ones with fur inside to keep you warm but I take my Crocs I might take some trainers um a light jacket to go over the top sunglasses and a hat that is all the clothes I take because I wash my clothes at the end of the day hang them

Up because these one like the wicking shirt and pants they’re dry by the morning and you’re wearing them the next day so you’re not coming home with loads of smelly stuff I do exactly the same with my um I wear H Hansen mesh uh chaps underwear it’s it’s

Underwear basically but if if you’re in a hot country you what you don’t want to wear is cotton because cotton just gets wet yeah it doesn’t allow you just to to dry out properly and it’s really uncomfortable so wicking stuff is amazing and you have to use the layering

System you know so if it does get a bit cold then you bring another sort of like um um a down jacket or something yeah or you know not even that just you know zip up as long as it’s wicking and and and it’s whatever and we’ve got rst thermal

Oh that wind brakes are for 30 or 40 quid they’re some of the best things to keep you warm I’m wearing it now in the winter and I was riding it the other day it was minus 4 and all i’ got is a hle Hansen underneath it and I was boiling

Yeah it was really nice so things like that you know and the we can give you loads of brand names and places to look but I go on a there’s a website called military first oh they’re really good and cheap and cheap and you can get a

Hansen zip up um crew neck thing or not crew neck but Polo shirt it comes up here Wick and all the rest of it they’re 80 quid or you can buy one from this military first thing and we don’t get sponsored by them honestly I just use

Them because I’m ex military and you can buy the same thing it’s called Viper and I think they’re about 15 pounds yeah it’s exactly the same and don’t forget the things that you’re wearing so I’m wearing a Clen C no a Rucker c yeah Rucker comfor R it will wet out which

Means that it will get so after prolonged rain I’ve been in prolonged rain and it’s never wetted out it’s dual laminated rather than triple laminated it’s got a thermal liner inside if you go for the navala jacket or something like that you’ve got a down jacket that

Is not only for you wearing when you’re riding you can use it like a jacket like you’ve got on for in the evenings so think about how you can double up on what you might need to wear so I’m going to Iceland perhaps I’ll wear something that keeps me warm that down jacket

Inside for riding keeping me warm but I can also wear it in the evening as a casual jacket if I’m going to Morocco you might think about the clim marz jacket or something that’s really cool and then you only need t-shirts don’t you you don’t need a rain coat and stuff

So if we’re talking like that’s high-end stuff you is quite expensive on the opposite side if you’re looking for like rain gear I used to use uh and still recommend it um military gortex jackets and trousers yeah I never bought the green camouflage stuff cuz why would you camouflage

Yourself you know but the sand the desert stuff it’s gortex and I think I bought a set of trousers and a jacket for I think it was about 80 quid yeah never ever ever got wet in them well and and you can also go one extreme further

So your budget might be everything you want to spend on the tour and we’ve all got different budgets nothing’s better than anything else your budget might extend to you having a really nice pair of comfort able jeans and let’s face it riding a bike you have to be comfortable

And warm or cold or whatever you want to be but you might decide well these jeans keep me warm they’re really good I’ll wear my jeans with a cheaper jacket because that’s what I really love wearing we’ll buy an over a rain overit go to Mountain Warehouse and buy a

Really cheap really effectual um over jacket and trousers because it’s got hasn’t got motorcycle on there they haven’t added the premium on and all you’ve got to do if it stops starts raining is stop and put it on yes you might sweat a little bit in your jeans but you’re actually having the

Time of your life on your bike so it’s not about go out and spend on the best things because we found that some of the best equipment actually really doesn’t do everything you want it to do anyway no at all um with regards to what you what you’re packing for your like night

Times and things like that just pack real I mean Toby’s told you what he takes minimalist you know just wash it what’s wrong with washing stuff at night and it’s dry and you’re the stuff you’re wearing for riding if it’s a bit damp in the morning doesn’t matter does it

Because if you’re in riding in Europe in the summer it’s bound to be hot and you’re dry dry very quickly you know so don’t worry about things like that and toiletries if you’re not going camping use the toiletries in the hotel room don’t take towels use the hotel hotel

Towels that’s what they’re there for I never take them I might take some roll on under AR just so that I don’t stink when I’m riding during the day but when you get to the hotel they’ve all got complimentary shampoos use that to wash your kit wash yourself stamp on it in

The bath ring it out hang it up and even things like toothpaste you know you why take a big toothpaste you when you go and buy a little 100 Mil one you know that you have to take on for flights just a bit of logical thinking like that

Saves you lots of time and space yeah um bizarrely enough I’ve come across people who take kettles because they like coffee in the morning and in Europe not many places do Spain don’t have them hard anywh your coffee in your room France do in France quite often so I had

A couple who were on a tour with me and they had a a kettle they were telling me about the kettle because they love coffee and I was all like I was expecting a little travel Kettle 1.7 L Kettle I mean that’s massive all right so if you’re going to take something

Take something really small but do you really need it I can get by with it but having said that there are people that like to take their creature or home Comforts it’s not bad is it you’ve just got to perhaps think about what you don’t take that you might need to have

Those luxuries you want it’s not about us saying You must not take it don’t get get us wrong you take what you want to take but You’ got to think about how you pack it and the weight of the bike if you’re packing um 20 or 30 kilos one

Side and only 10 the other side you’re not going to be having the best time because your bike’s going to be all over the place and so let’s talk about things like tools you might take um you don’t need I I’ve had people have I had one guy took a torque wrench with

Him to tighten his bolts up on his um if he checked his tires we’re away for eight sorry not his tires his chain we’re away for eight days chances are he’s not going to have to do anything about his chain and you know to be honest if you do need to adjust it

Europe is not England you can turn up at M motorcycle dealers and say look I’ve got a problem I’m on a tour I have never ever so far in all the tours I’ve done had somebody say yeah can you come back next week no which is what would happen

In the UK typically and don’t forget we are bikers when you go to a garage that have got people that work on bikes they are bikers what do bikers do we look after each other they’ll be out so you know if you need if you really needed to

Sort your chain out yeah I can do it for you it might cost you 10 euros you know I’ve had guys have fallen over drop snap foot pegs off you know we’ve gone to a Honda dealer or you whatever the dealer was and they’ve gone yeah I’ve got a

Second hand one for you you know and they fixed it and not charged him anything you know or charged him just for the price of of the foot Peg which are really cheap you know he’s got off a secondhand bike so people will always try to help you out so don’t worry about

Taking masses of tools and all that kind of stuff but I would suggest you take a um fun repair kit yeah tie wraps yeah of different T different sizes duct tape and inside your duct tape I might have some here actually okay so I just oh gosh throw it all away

Throw it all away so inside my duct tape which I squash down right so it takes no space I’ve got some rubber gloves not cuz I like wearing rubber gloves if you’re ever going to you know mess in with a chain or something like that you put them in there it doesn’t

Take up any space so that’s just a handy little thing I take tire inflators there’s loads of them out there you can get from hord’s for5 a tire inflator that will plug into your bike and inflate your tires they’re quite big I spent about 5060 on a Mitchell in one

That’s about that long we show it on the screen about that long about that wide it does everything it’s got a battery in there it doesn’t need to connect to anything and it works really really well torch well we’ve we’ve both got booster packs because obviously NOCO we’ve got I

Think NOCO Loco yeah we’ll we’ll put it up on the screen but we’ve got them basically because we’re guiding and you get people whose batteries die on them you know this will start a six lit engine on it on some amazing charge it it’ll hold its charge for a year it’ll

Charge act as an extra backup to charge your phone things like that and it also has torch lights on it so we carry those I’m not saying you would spend necessarily have to spend that but it’s a good thing to have and it takes up a little space it’s only quite small um

First aid kit first a kit is a must but when you look at a first aid kit take everything out and then put it back systematically as you think oh I could might need that not all of the extra ancillary stuff do you need 15 bandages

In in a when it comes to bandages I would go to a you know a pharmacy or something like and buy three or four triangular bandages yeah yeah all right all the rubbish the you know the little plasters plasters are are great but you know you don’t necessarily need you know

Different sizes but you know triangular bandages are fantastic and I my toolkit uh sorry my first aid kit is full of I think about five or six triangular bandages because they can be used for holding people’s arms all sorts of stuff you know amazing some of stuff that’s in

There you don’t necessarily need um and don’t overlook your first aid kit if something goes wrong with a bike one of those triangle bandages they’re so strong when they’re wrapped up you can use it to tie bits back onto the bike don’t just think that I have to use

Stuff out of my tall kit to fix fix my bike you can even use the tie wraps as torques if something went wrong could you absolutely you know yeah don’t always think outside the box paracetamols though and iofin are a must because in Spain paracetamols are really quite expensive same as iofin and

They don’t do them in the same way that we do here they’re they’re like 500 milligrams they’re so much better thousand milligrams oh the Thousand yeah we’ve got the 500 but you’ll pay extra for them and every Farm Pharmacy doesn’t have them because thees aren’t the same as over here are they

So so we’ve spoke about what you should wear what tools we think you need to take um and something that is really really important is obviously travel insurance yeah travel insurance that will cover you for covid and if you get Co and have to be you know stay there or so you’re

Going to miss flights and or not flights faeries yeah that kind tunnels that kind of stuff um most insurance companies now for travel insurance are doing that but it’s something to think about if you’ve got if you you know already got it and you want to go do I check it um

Injections if you’re traveling in Europe you don’t necessarily need you know hepe or whatever and but speak to a doctor speak to your pharmac your GP or even go to a pharmacy and say what do I need you know it’s the information on the do go

Website is there of what you may may not need if you’re going to somewhere like Africa um I would suggest you’d have hepe um typhoid that kind of stuff tanus a booster yeah they don’t necessarily do that now but think about that I think if you go to places like Morocco in Algeria

They offer you um rabies it’s a horrible injection it’s in your belly I don’t necessarily think you need that but you know it’s personal choices you also get a record of what injections you’ve had whether you can keep that on your phone a picture of your phone that’s on your phone that’s

That’s important yeah when it comes to documentation you might need to take take your V5 which is your ownership document the original the original but also make photoc copies yeah and I say make photocopies because if you’re ever stopped by the police and they ask for it I always produce my photocopy first

Yeah and they go oh yeah and they look at it you know and they quite often they just not that I get stopped that often but more often than not they’ll be happy with that if you need your original for like traveling across borders then you’ve got

That yeah for example if you go into Bosnia you have to have buy a green card and they need your V5 they won’t accept a photo copy but you’ll get it back yeah yeah um and I keep them in separate places so my my 100% genuine original is kept in my

Paperwork so it be in my bag with my passport and stuff but the stuff that I might need to show is in an envelope in a pan here as photoc copies so if anything happens to the bike I know that on me I’ve got all the original copies

Like passport that sort of stuff so it’s not all over the place but if you lose original you can still prove that you’ve got it with the and I also take a picture of it and keep it in my iCloud or keep it on my phone so that I’ve got

A pdf version of it if I need it and so that’s a documentation you might need um so we’ve done travel insurance your motorcycle insurance you will have to take your the schedule you don’t have to take the whole 90 pages I just take the certificate just Insurance

You know take that so you can prove that because quite often they’ll they’ll ask for that as well your driving license a photograph of your driving license front and back and obviously take your driving license with you as well and an international driving license so in

Europe I think is it the Shang outside Shang outside the shangan area you need an international driving license so I B braces for people people living in England it’s really really simple you go into the post office and you ask them for an international driving license tell them which countries you’re going

Into and they will tell you which ones they need they’re about5 10 pounds each they’ll fill them out there and the people in the queue will hate you because it takes ages but they’ll fill it out and you’ve got it with you it’s a paper copy and it basically tells people

In the language in the country that you’re going what categories that you’re able to drive or ride and how long from and to Val for a year I think some of them are five years some of them are a year so you need to check on which

Country you’re going as to how long they’re available for but you don’t really need them in Europe inside the shenen yeah area which is like the old which is the EU area basically if you want what else we need I suppose you got to think about how you’re going to get

To where you’re going so if you’re going to go on a ferry turn up in really good time so that you aren’t hassled because if you turn up to the ferry and it’s wet the ramps onto to the boat will be wet so just think about if you’re with a

Plion take your plion off and get the pon to walk alongside the bike if you’re worried you don’t want to damage your bike on the bottom of the ship before you’ve even left for your tour that you’ve planned so much for if you’re going on the tunnel there’s a different

System on the tunnel isn’t it you can turn up at any time you can scan your thing and you can go through it’s really simple when you turn up the tunnel we’re talking about the channel tunnel you you go through their check-in system and they offer you if you’re there really

Early they may offer you you an earlier train it makes no difference in my experience no matter what train number you’ve got on your ticket you’re going to get on the next available train you know they’ll say start boarding now for whatever train it is um and by the time

You got through you you won’t you’ll be on either one just before just after but it’s such a short thing um money money a lot I mean if you’re traveling in Europe you the it’s the the Euro isn’t it yeah so I don’t take a lot of

Cash with me because a lot of places aren’t using it now which is like it’s a reflection of society isn’t it so I have a uh a caxton FX card which is a preloaded card you can load it with about five or six different currencies um and basically if you were

To lose that card um you can cancel it straight away and they send you a new one and they’ll send you a new one and you still have your money on it you know it’s it’s Chip and it’s also uh contactless yeah you know and you can

Actually do it on an app now on your phone so you can put it in your wallet on your phone and pay on your phone see I’ve stopped using kton now and I use monzo and I use monzo for my everyday Banking and joint account and business

Account all that sort of stuff um and I find that really good because it’s all instant on the app and the same as kton um but when I use my monzo I haven’t got to change currencies I can pay in always pay pay in the currency of the country

You’re in say that and when you pay monzo will give you the preferential um conversion rate into that currency and it will come out straight out of your account and you can cancel the card you can stop the account uh stop the card you can get a new one

Ordered for wherever you are and it’s really really versatile for what you what you need and you can stay in touch but I take probably about four or500 but that’s because we’re tour guiding so I might have to pay for the walking tour around a city in cash I

Might have to pay for somebody fi you know pay so we we always take more than I guess the average tour I suppose for those reasons so what you need to think about is think about what countries you’re going to travel through for example we do the Arctic tour we go

Through Holland through the Netherlands Germany Denmark Norway Sweden Denmark Norway and Sweden all have their own currency they’re not EU they’re not Euros okay so you need to have that money and what I what you can do with a a prepaid cash card or whatever you want to call it for example the

Kton as I leave Norway I’m not going back into Norway any Norwegian croner that I left on there I can transfer back into Euros pounds or I can put it a Swedish croner just cron it and then you know as you follow around you just collapse it all back and then once you

Get back to your to home again any money that’s left in there you just transfer it back into your bank and it’s just as simple as going on the on the for example the cson out and say load my card it doesn’t matter where you are as

Long as you got a Wi-Fi put 500 500 quid on whatever it might be and it just puts it in into the currency you want it to be so it’s it’s seamless and there are lots of different versions of it but it works great so that’s money covered so

Passports again take photographs of be passports and you have to have over six months left on your passport at the date you’re going to go and travel so really think ahead and also you’ve got to have your name correct name on it yeah on the back of your passport there’s next of

Kin details for people to for to contact if you have an incident also your driving license make sure that’s in your correct address name I’ve had people have turned up with the wrong passport they’ve got married since they’ve you know booked the thing and it’s you don’t

Need that extra hassle it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get through it means it’s going to take longer for you to get through potentially potentially not get through I guess also when you go through uh certain parts of Customs they’ll want to swab your bik

Yeah um or they might want to take you to open the paner open the bag inside some of them might might want you to take it to the X-ray I went through the X-ray once at um Portsmouth and they said what are these things because they

Were the canisters for the air vest they said you’re carrying explosives said no it’s in air for this vest oh no no that’s fine also they ask you if you’re carrying knives yeah the answer is no if you’re carrying a little U multi thing just say no or well it depends how

Honest you want to be because some ports are actually getting wise to it and saying are you carrying a a multi-tool but my argument is if I was I don’t carry one in my tool kit for that very reason I’ve got a Leatherman it’s like 90 quid and they’re

Not having it you know it’s in a tool box either in a tool box bolted to the bike or in the pan where the tools are no ready access so why would they be taking it really infuriates me that’s what they’re looking for is saying oh

Yeah if I’ve got a knife into your top box swing out comes a 12 12 in Machete they’re going to take it off you but if you just say no no I haven’t no that’s fine they’re going to accept it obviously as truthful as you can okay um

Some places don’t like you having your cameras on if you’ve got a camera that’s flashing on the side of your helmet as you’re approaching customs and places like that so just switch switch them off um dash dash cams that he said is that on and just have to say no because

There’s no no way of turning the dash cam off cars have it anyway don’t they so they don’t ask you know they’re not asking cars to switch them off so don’t worry about that so when you get to for example the tunnel tunnel takes about 40 minutes to

Go through you stand by the side of your bike they’ll tell you where to part your bike at an angle put it in gear put it on its side stand and that’s it there’s nothing else really have to worry about when you go on a ferry some places some feries for

Example fairies will chain your bike down uh they’ll not chain it they put a strap over the top and it’s got massive cushion to go on your seat and it will um cinch down won’t it yeah just stand and watch them when they do it because I

For example on a they’re not bothering about it for example I had a person on a KTM who had their side stand bent because they put too much pressure on them okay I’ve seen people take their own straps to add to the straps that they’ve put on which talking big straps

Here in rough weather they’re not going to go anywhere these guys are professional it’s what they do for a living isn’t it you know so don’t have to take extra ratchet straps let them do it however when you come back to the to get your bike afterwards they’re still on they’re

Still on so you just have to take them off and have a bit of Common Sense put them to the side people who just throw them on the floor and bikes have to try and drive over have a bit of decency we’re all there to look after each other

And the big thing that annoys me about Britney fairies is if you go from Sant there to Portsmouth the fer lovely they all are lovely but where they put the bikes is much more accessible there’s much more space on the pondon from Plymouth to Sant andere and Sant andere

To Plymouth they put you in the bowels of the ship and treat your vehicle really well but I feel as a biker that we’re treated like second class Citizens We’re Not only put on first right down the bottom but we’re taken off last they’ll push your bike right up to the

Bulkhead which means you’ve got loads of people that aren’t really confident about moving their bike with with it not being on having to reverse it to then drive out and there’s literally this much space to get through and people are taking these off and just leaving them

On the floor which are adding to the extra problems that we’re having so just have a bit of decency about your other bikers and put get people work together there’s not enough space so you take it off help that person they’ll take it off you push it over and then before you

Know it’s by the side of the boat and also when you’re trying to get off the ferry you get these people who switch their engines on you know you’re not going to get off the till they tell you you’re getting off until other vehicles have started their engines and moved

Away so don’t try to rush it any quicker than you know I’ve been last off the fery and still been queuing up with everyone else to get through customes all right so don’t rush take your time think about what you got to do you got

To push your bike back or turn it round and just take it easy you know I’ve seen people drop bikes because straight away they’ve tried to turn the bike round you know like look at me I’m I’m on my big multi Strada you know and suddenly it’s

Sliding down the floor there’s no need to do that no need to do it’s not you know it’s an ego and and the thing is with the ferry ports in particular when you get to your destination you’ve then got to go through passport control where now for English people they have to

Stamp you in and out they change the ports every time I go there it’s changed so if you’re with a group of people plan ahead of where you’re going to meet the other side of the passport control because sometimes there’s like 5 600 bikes on a ferry and you’re riding a

Queue of or four you know who they what they look like but you can bet your bottom dollar that somebody else will have the same color GSA and same color jacket and the same color hat and before you know it you’ve lost each other the

Other side so have a clear plan of where you’re going to meet the other side it’s not hard Google Maps is there and you plan for that and also have your passport ready yeah don’t put it in your mouth you get told off because they they

No not in your s you know so if you got a flip up helmet flip it up they may or may not ask you to take your helmet off off if You’ got a B basically they’ve got to be able to match that much of your face to your passport photograph

You know so just you know they they’re doing their job be nice to them you might have sat there in 32 Degree heat waiting for these people to get through they don’t care they’re just interested in making sure the process is done if you get there and

You we ble that yeah if you get there and you start swearing and saying this has taken ages it’s going to take longer isn’t it you’re in their country respect you’re in their country yes you’ve had a bit of a bad time in all this heat sweating profusely but you got more good

Things to come just be polite to these people they’re doing a job so now we’re talking about being hot waiting and queueing so always think about rehydrating yourself yeah yeah okay it’s very important 40 degrees of heat in Spain like we had in the Pyrenees coming

Back in in September okay it’s it’s it’s really really quite debilitating so always think about drinking uh plenty fluids Now by that I would suggest water sparkly water normal water Coca-Cola will make you pee it’ll it’ll dry you out you know so don’t think about fizzy drinks think about water and also once

You’ve left the heart the the either the tunnel or or the ferry port okay you’re riding in another country you may or may not have been there before you certainly haven’t been there for at least a year all right so what I do and I suggest to

All the people who come on my tours is we don’t go mad as soon as we get off the ferry we build up slowly I when I have like ducklings behind me I start off riding with them following me and I get up to the speed limit really

Really slowly so they can all get used to riding in a different country on a different side of the road understanding how people drive out there because quite often it’s not the way it’s better than it is in the UK respects but you know they get to know

How people drive and then we’re going to put a link to a website on um it’s a guy who’s put this this website together and it tells you whether you can filter in different countries not different you know what you can do in this country speed limits and all that kind of stuff

Um and it’s quite important to just take a little time to work out no matter how many times you’ve been there what’s changed what’s different the side posts are a little bit different yeah and some people put arrows actually have um printed arrows or um laminated arrows

And stuff pointing on the side that you should be riding on I find riding on the right side of the road than the left side of the road a lot easier I find it really natural but lots of people will get on their bike thinking of other things and you’ve really got to

Concentrate within the first couple of hours because you’re in a different country on a different side of the road different speed limits whether you set your saavs and stuff to miles or kilometers depending on what it is but when you’re turning left certainly in Spain you’ve got to go off right to come

Back to stop then cross the road cross the central reservation yeah even to go unless there’s dotted lines big question about GPS is first question everybody ask you is can I have my notifications for Speed cameras on no in Germany in Germany when they pull you

Over the first thing you do is go look at your sa and Spain and they’ll take you to a cash point and get you to pay the fine there and then and if you can’t they take the bike away okay also drinking I mean we’re all on holiday we

All have to like to have a nice time however if you caught get caught above the legal limit wherever it may be in that country some of the fines are massive for example in Norway they will confiscate you bike off you yeah okay and I’ve got a friend who lives in

Norway and he said they quite often take you and watch you have to go and watch it being crushed you know so massive fines we don’t need that you don’t really don’t need that I got caught speeding in France twice in one tour I got caught by a drone yeah they’ve got

Believe It or Not they’ve got drones and when you see on the signs drones and helicopters they are using them the Pacos Pyrenees that sort of thing you’ll see marks on the road and what those marks are for is they’ll have a drone or a helicopter out there they’re not

Following you at that speed they’re timing you from the moment you go across that first marker to when you get over the next one and if it’s faster than it should be you’re going too fast both of my speeding tickets in the same trip I was two miles an hour over the speed

Limit it’s horrendous but you know that’s just the way it is I got caught in Spain on Barney um not far out of sant de doing 106k in 100K now bearing in mind we’re riding English bikes mine’s an analog dial so that analog dial was probably reading a little bit over but was

Reading right on my bike because I wasn’t speed it well I was because I’ve got caught for it but my bike has probably led to that so you need to think about the needle being in the right place and perhaps putting some lines on the speed limits if it isn’t in

Miles per hour in the bigger figures for English people I thing for your to pay to not about your GPS um you don’t have to change it to kilometers when you go abroad unless you really want to your GPS will tell you that 50 km an hour is 31 miles an hour

It will sh display 31 instead of the 30 you know so don’t worry about things like that if you want to do it then fine but you don’t necessarily need I always do because in my mind I like to be able to see that and know that’s what I’m

Doing there or less rather than trying to work out I know that it wasn’t until you said that that will tell you the miles which is confir yeah so but anyway so the there are various rules about filtering in some countries Germany you can’t filter but what you typically find

Is the traffic staggers itself yeah and if there’s any kind of a roadblock or an accident or traffic slows down in a lot of European countries they’re automatically by law required to move to the outside edges of the lanes okay and that allows emergency vehicles to go through not many people complain about

You um going down the center of that you know but filtering in itself is not accepted so if cars are moving along and they’re driving like that you’ll notice what local bikers do is they go in between yeah okay but they don’t do it fast they just do it slowly in France

Well we’ve know well we’ we’ve heard of countries like in France France is very different with speed limits now they went from 90k on like our a roads in the UK down to 80k realized I think that that wasn’t having the desired effect so I steadily putting them back up to 90

But go with what the sign says not what you think it should be go with this what the sign says because what they’re doing now the ride driving in in France is so different not once did I feel like people were pushing me because they will

Drive very close to you in Spain and France because they’ve got no concept of the danger they’re causing but they they’re really polite towards bikers but don’t give you much dis distance behind but when you’re um riding in France bear in mind that not only are the traffic police out they’ve got speed

Cameras that aren’t bright yellow like they are in the UK they’re black and gray and they look like bins um and all sorts but they also pay for security companies to drive around unmarked cars just below the speed limit enticing people to break the speed limit and as

Soon as you do you’re caught and that’s why lots of people in in France are really scared about breaking the speed limit which is a great thing I think yeah yeah it it’s it’s really slowed and made things a lot a lot um more comfortable you don’t need to take

Uh alcohol test in kits in France anymore that was a thing that came in and the France w’t having that so you don’t do it you do are required in a lot of countries to have extra high Vis stickers on your helmets so if your helmet isn’t reflective anyway um just

Get some you get them off eBay cheap as cheap chips just stick on there have to be on the front the side and the back yeah uh you need to carry a high viz jacket if you haven’t got high VI why wouldn’t you wear hi is yeah but as long

As you’ve got the reflective stuff on like that on for example a Hite jacket that’s acceptable you don’t have to buy hi you and we’ve dealt with loads of accidents I say loads of accidents we’ve dealt with a few well I have in this country but um a few accidents that

We’ve had on tour with some of our clients and the police have come and they’ve not said anything about the fact that we’re wearing these rather than yellow ones you don’t need to have it war in Triangle where would you put it exactly so I had somebody turn up with a

Warning triangle I was like yeah just leave that in a bin somewhere okay so this website will put on this link have a look on there there’s lots of good information the thing I I think we need to get across is just think about what it is you’re

Trying to achieve you’re on a holiday you know if you want to drive like a loon you’re going to be treated like a loon yeah if that’s fair you know if you’re on the auto um there’s only certain places where you can exceed what their speed

Limits are and they will P punish you yeah you know and it gets increasingly worse the more speed that you’re doing over the speed limit in a lot of countries get asked about the PES in France okay we only use the P to get distance from the tunnel and then we’re

Off them the PES are really simple now in France you you you come to a barrier you press the button for your ticket a ticket comes out when you get to the page where you with the bit where you’re coming off you can pay by your card so

You get your card out put your ticket in it tells you how for Americans who are traveling in in Europe um Americans don’t necessarily have pins with their credit cards so you need to get a card that has a pin before you leave the US not many places accept

Mastercard the uh oh no American Express and I’ve time and time again it’s American Express well it’s not accepted widely in Europe so get yourself a card a Visa or a MasterCard debit card or something like that or one of these prepaid uh things and the the um payes

Or want the better word pay to use motorways in Spain there are some exactly the same thing you rock up on some of them you’re on them before you know it there aren’t many of them we had to do a detour and we were on one we had

To use it um but when you get there it will tell you what you need to pay again show your all the same sorts of stuff Mark done um and go off Portugal you need a vignette yeah to be able to use them like Switzerland so think about

Buying them it’s like um France with the um what do they call it the cryp air go on to we’ll put all the links in the description there is a genuine site for the French government for you to go on there English people hate paying tax French people hate pay paying tax it

Cost me £450 to get a vignette that covers me for the whole country so if you’re worried about is this a vignette city is this an emission Zone do I need one for 455 fill it in on their site get it sent to you stick it on your bike you worry

Don’t be worried about this clean air sticker in France because it’s only the really big cities like in the UK it’s London and Birmingham and Manchester you know it’s only the really big cities you’ve got it so if you’re not going in those cities you don’t necessarily need

It but once you’ve registered it for your bike there a sticker that goes on front and it’s done it’s done for the time that you own that bike yeah yeah all right so you don’t have to worry about it again um I think we ought to talk

About tires and very briefly if you’re going touring think about how far you’re going to go don’t go on a tour into a hot country with only four mil of Tire on your on your bikes if you go into your garage and you say will this do another 3,000 miles they’ll say yes

Because they’re thinking about the conditions here think about you might be going a little bit quicker on hot sticky roads perhaps with more weight on your bike ailon the stresses the bike tires are going to be under is greater than your normal riding so if you need to get

A new set of tires keep the old ones and put them on when you get back put a new set of tires on and scrub them in before you go simply because we’ve had people on tours before where they’ve had the braiding Tire showing through within two

Or three days of touring and it’s because they’ve not thought about the heat of the road the stickiness of the road the adhesion of the tires to the road the extra weight and all the extra wear that will come from your tires so just have a think about it and that

Brings it on to servicing if you if your bike for example is has a 6,000 M service and you’re going on a 4,000 M trip you might consider getting it serviced before you go yeah and that includes your your pads your discs all that kind of stuff and if you’re go to a

Really hot country you might have to check to see whether the oil in your bike is suitable for a really hot country yeah and Tak it take some extra oil with you cuz these bikes use them yep with regards to fuel I don’t take any extra fuel I’m in Europe there’s

Fuel everywhere even I’ve had uh people on tour who’ve only they oh I can only get 90 miles out of my tank all right all right so they have to look for a lot of fuel but the rules I try and get my clients on the tour to understand is if

You think you need fuel you need fuel and find a petrol station quickly if you’re going down below half consider looking at fuel stations and if you come to the end of your day fuel up before the end of the before you get to your hotel got worry in the morning you don’t

Have to worry about it in the morning you know if you see one oh I need it the only people I’ve ever had run out of fuel have been people on gsas yeah yeah it’s happened to me three times so I say to people not you personally no God no

I’ve been down to a mile on mine I’ve had mine screaming saying fill me up now otherwise it will stop but so I say to people on tour um if you’re run out of fuel don’t worry about it I said I will give you some fuel out of my bike

Because I always try to keep mine up um and I have a hose I don’t have a siphon yeah I have a hose that they can suck the fuel out of my bike into theirs and that’s that’s free of charge but the pipe is60 pound a

Foot but I I think above all when you’re thinking about going to tour it’s your holiday take what you want take some of the advice or don’t take some of the advice on all the stuff that we’ve talked about but it’s your holiday the the main thing

Is to have fun if you have an accident call your services that you use if you use BMW and you’ve got their warranty and their recovery they are topnotch the other one that’s topnotch is Barkley’s Bank we’re not we’re not sponsored by any of those but we had a

Really serious accident where Barkley’s Bank allowed me as a guide to start everything off for the client get their family and everything over before the client was even at hospital and they just work seamlessly and don’t scrimp and save on your recovery because it’s only when you need it you find out how

Good they are just something very very quickly to think of is on your helmet and your telephones they all have these ice things you know in case of emergency make sure that is up to date and also if you take tablets you know people get to a certain age and start needing tablets

Put them in one place in a bag okay so you if you’re lying there you know you’re being taken away say I need my tablets in my top box or something like that yeah and usually that’s probably good place to have it near your um paperwork and things well and and also

Um just very quickly before we finish because it’s quite a long video yeah um headsets Bluetooth headsets there’s so much controversy on the internet especially around Spain and France can you use the inear plugs can you use this can you use that I’ve been at several accidents in Spain and the police have

Always been there and I’ve had my inar things hanging out here with the stuff there on side of the helmet not once if they ever question there was a I think there was legislation in France in particular and Spain to say that you couldn’t use in ear things like airpods

And stuff in your ear to listen to music or communicate but largely I’ve never seen that enforced and I don’t think that law is actually there no I think it’s just one of those heay things yeah so ride what’s comfortable for you feel safe on your bike but above all enjoy it

And make sure you got all those things thought about way in advance because when you’re off riding you can just think about riding and enjoying your ride and your tour so if you like this video yeah which is very very long but hopefully there’s some hints and tips

That people can use or you can use when you go out tour and then they’re just based on our experience of tour guiding aren’t they really so yeah thumbs up subscribe All That Jazz and come back for the next video please