Blitz Travel vs Slow Exploration

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Damaraland

Race Dog
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
646
Reaction score
89
Location
Windhoek
Bike
KTM 990 Adventure
Read an interesting topic on ADVRider, regarding blitz travel vs slow exploration.

I used to be a smell the roses, purist, ride the bike to where you want to go kind of guy.  Life then happened spectacularly over the last decade or so, career took off, ongoing education, started a family, moved to the city, lots of time spent endurance training, trying to maintain family and friendships and somehow I find myself just without time.  I guess it's a situation that most are familiar with.

Having said all that, I still *need* to ride my bike.  The fact that I'm required to squeeze as much biking as possible into limited time a couple of times a year was a huge part of the reason why I changed from a 990 to a 500.  This also means that the riding has changed drastically (no wasting time, trailer as fast as possible to remote destination and go).  We optimised to the extent that we can leave Windhoek on Thursday morning, do an Angola loop including all the cool gnarly bits and be back home Tuesday.  VZP is a 3 day trip.  Damaraland leave early Saturday, ride the rivers, back home late Sunday night.

I know that I obviously miss out on a lot, and I dearly miss those soul trips where you just head off in a direction, no real plan, just follow your feelings. No itinerary, no chasing waypoints or arrival times.  One positive is that even though the trips are relatively short and intense, you still get to spend some real quality time with your mates and the older I get the more cherish and realise the importance of these relationships.  Nothing like a good friend calling you out on your bullshit and ensuring you keep an even keel.

I guess I can't really change anything without compromising some other aspect of my life.  I'd be interested to hear how other people do it - what do you prioritise, what compromises do you make.  Do you feel you're missing out somehow or are you happy that you're making the best of the situation?
 
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