Heading down to South-East Asia

Scott Wilson is the co-host of the TV show Departures, in which he traveled the world for three seasons with his friend Justin Lukach and cameraman Andre Dupuis. That’s all very nice, but he’s also a keen motorcyclist, so we’ve asked him to tell us about his upcoming trip to south-east Asia.

Follow him on CMG’s social media for the next couple of weeks as he travels around, then come back here to read about how it all went. It’ll be a great trip, and you can be a part of it from your armchair. –Ed.

It seems to happen about this time every year. The Christmas decorations come down, the joy of the holiday season fades, and the New Year’s hang-over has finally subsided. It’s now painfully clear how far away it is to riding season.

This year, I’ve finally decided to do something about it by combining my love of travel with my passion for motorcycles. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? Doh!

I’m off to explore Laos and Philippines, and it seems there is no better way to explore them than by motorcycle. Due to the still-budding infrastructure, roads are expected to be anywhere from freshly paved to single-track paths. And while I’d love to be on an adventure-touring machine, the rental options are limited, so I’ll be making miles on a dirt bike – and I’ve not much experience with dirt bikes.

I have been spending evenings poring over Google Maps, creating a route, and trying to imagine what it will look like in person, when I arrive next week.

Follow me along the way here at CMG, as I’ll be blasting through Instagram and Twitter and Facebook (as limited internet allows) with whatever ups and downs I encounter. What can go wrong?

More than 75 countries visited, all seven continents, more than 1.3 million kms flown (more than three times to the moon, or 32 times around the world) Nearly 500 flights, 1700 hours on a plane — that’s 2.5 months sitting in an airplane seat.