Wow Wow, What a place it is!. Excellent write up & i was engulfed in the pics. The beamer looks like a King of the Rides.

Thanks Haroon bhai...shot a speedy PM to Adil. Sure hope to meet him, since I am out of the riding scene for three months.

I am getting the visa next month, so hoping to follow your tracks around Europe. How did you book the bike in advance before reaching? Are there any specific requirements for booking in advance?

BTW, when are you coming back to Jeddah? My client company is based there and I might pay a visit if I ever happen to go there.

@ diffuser911- I am already back in Jeddah and cursing the 40+ deg C heat here.

I am happy I am inspiring others. Once your travel plans are finalized, I can give you all the required help & guidance. You can PM me and we shall take it from there.

BTW, if you are here on a week-end, I can also take you for a ride on my GS on friday morning.

Awesome trip...and the place and the roads are absolutely enticing...I'm sure u had a blast...
Waiting for rest of the log and more pics...
Btw, Loved the Indian Flag on your bike...

haroon bhai
truly amazing

u have now given me the bug!!!!!
im seriously seriously thinking of something like that!!!!!
mashallah great trip
and wish u better and bigger trips in the future

That's an offer I can't refuse!!! You got a PM. Let's have a mini-G2G whenever you come across. Regarding the Europe ride, I will get in touch once I get the visa.

Thanks Whizzkid_ram.

Thanks suvo. Yeah the Indian pride is always there.

Thanks Adil. Yes, its time you get out of Khobar and start exploring....

Sure Sunil. We shall meet sometime.

Beautiful! You gave me a preview of what I will be riding in the Italian Roadtrip, we have Cortina De Ampezzo on day 3 and then towards Mont Blanc in the alps!

Wow Sunny. I looked at my Michellin maps and your route has lots of scenic roads. Probably, you could take the route to Arabba and then proceed to Trento and carry on from there. If you want to really enjoy Europe at leisure then avoid the motorways & autobahns. Its in the secondary roads that you see the true beauty of europe with very little car traffic and lots of bikes.

Just sheer awesomeness... I am glued to this thread now. Keep it coming Haroon Bhai

Wow

I don't know how I missed this thread so far.

Haroon bhai - amazing trip - awaiting the rest of the trip details/pics.

Just wanted to let you know that you have just lived a dream. I know you had been dreaming of such a thing for long but not everyone gets to live most of their dreams - lucky you alhamdullillah. Hats off to bhabi ji to have accompanied you on the tour. Once again, lucky you. Looks like you are from one of those rare breeds who gets to live all/most of their dreams

BTW you back in Jeddah? Aren't you taking the RS out for a spin this coming friday? Can I be the pillion?

Hey Haroon, Person riding in KSA finds it difficult to cope with Kerala weather? I don't think its that bad.

Will send a message on xbhp with my mobile no, you can check when you land here. If at all you are on FB, let me know your full name so I can add you.

Good to hear about the RT and lovely pictures. Should be a very intriguing experience to be jumping from one country to the other and observing the differences - the driving style, food, roads etc. etc. I do that when I jump states and that is a fun experience by itself!

A dream ride for many of us. Very similar was the BMW ad shot in Norway. I think that video was posted on your other thread. Nevertheless, posting it again-> YouTube - BMW Motorrad R1200RT Norway Promo

What kind of range does the RT have? I was reading about the GS on ADV which had 33liter tank I did find your thread on ADV btw. Those guys are hardcore, I was stuck reading one of their threads for 2.5 straight hours only to realize it was 9 in the night.

Wonder if you shot an videos? And yes, very very much looking forward to the museum experience. That should be some drooling stuff especially the BMW vintages.

Thanks born2lead. Certainly, some more log on the way in a couple of minutes.

@ yaser. Thanks. Just landed back in Jeddah 2 days back. Sure, its been a dream come true and I am grateful to the almighty for having granted my wish. Also, to my loving wife who has supported me all thru the planning & execution. The remaining dream inshallah is to do one such ride on every continent. Guess its a tall order??? But Europe itself is so intoxicating, I want to go there many more times..

My GS is presently in Riyadh for some warranty recall issue. As soon as it arrives back, we shall plan something. OK, now you have to go back to doing some work in your office

Dear Silver_falcon- Here in KSA, I do 250-300kms in about 3-4 hours, whereas in Kerala, the same distance would be....

Not very active on facebook. But do give me your mob.

The RT was absolutely amazing. Thats were it belongs and you really appreciate that bike when you do this kind of touring. In all the 1300kms we travelled, neither me nor wife faced any body fatigue or discomfort. The wind protection was fantastic. A full tank will easily take you 350-400kms and thats why I decided on the RT as against the K1300GT which has a fuel range of about 250 odd kms and is heavier & would be more work on all the tight hairpin bends. Esp while on hairpin bends climbing up a pass, handling almost 450kgs of bike, rider, passenger and luggage needs some amount of technical skill so as not to stall the bike and negotiate the curve slowly. And when wet, its a bigger challenge. But I was very comfortable with the RT.

We have shot about 60-70 videos. I will try and put it all on a DVD and perhaps give you on my next trip to blr in a couple of months. In the meanwhile I will try & see to upload few on youtube also. But that will take time...

Day 3 (Arabba to Kranjska Gora)

Woke up to a bright sunny day with clear sky. Ofcourse, sunny day in the Alps could also mean the temp was about 3 deg C. As usual our B&B owner had set up a nice breakfast. Soon we packed up and hit the road back to Cortina as the plan was to head east and touch Slovenia and head to Villach in Austria for the night. But later in the day the plan changed for the good. We headed on the Dolomite road to Cortina di Ampezzo (thru where we came to Arabba the previous evening) but today the Mrs is ready to brave the heights with camera in hand.. we then turned right towards Pievedi, Ampezzo, Villa Santina & Tolmezzo. Another wonderful ride with long curves & fantastic scenery on either side of the road.



Our B&B owners Monica & Pio pose with us



The Lord, the Lady & machine at the start of another glorious day of riding





The surroundings in Arraba and loading up the bike

Alps Bike trip 2010- Loading panniers in Arraba, Italy - YouTube














































Heading towards Cortina in Italy

Alps Bike trip 2010- Heading towards Cortina, Italy - YouTube




Arriving in Cortina, Italy

Alps Bike trip 2010- Arriving in Cortina, Italy - YouTube









Riding thru the Italian Alpine roads

Alps Bike trip 2010- Riding thru Italian alpine roads - YouTube






On the way around lunch time we saw a place along the mountain that had a bike indicating bikers welcome.


























Again the Italian-Slovenian border is an anti-climax. There is a formal gate like structure, but its left open and there are no guards or any human soul anywhere in sight. We pass thru and enter Slovenia heading into nice country roads with a burst of unrivalled natural beauty. Very sparsely populated and road directions very very well marked. We turn right into Kranjska Gora and enter the town.










Kranjska Gora is a calm and beautiful town that is famous as a winter sports destination as it hosts the Annual Alpine Skiing World Cup. We decide to have an early dinner since the lunch earlier in the day was a fiasco. We go to a place selling Chicken Kebabs (Balkan food) and have a wonderful meal.













Slovenia













I think its called window shopping!


Two lonely travelers in a lonely town






Our B&B for the night- Villa Romana






Sunset in almost all the places we visited was 8:45 to 9:00pm so we always had a lot of time to stroll around after each days ride before it got dark. Total kms traveled today 224 kms.

Wonderful again! I hope we dont have to many Lost in Translation problems in Italy!