Mamma Mia!

Sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I decided to drive a motorbike to Albania? But then in the end it always turns out to be a great idea doing such an epic trip. But until the end, there are many obstacles to pass and many decisions to take.
So far it was pretty easy, as a good friend of mine joined in and helped me getting so far (I probably would have even struggled to leave Switzerland as most of the passes were covered with snow and therefore closed. Luckily he called me late night before I the day I started and told me to join in. So I changed my plans for the third time and decided to tail along and it was exactly the boost I needed to start this trip! It's just so much fun having a wingman when heading out for adventure!!
I would have been lost a zillion times without his GPS and after I made him the biker he is, he returned the favor by escorting me all the way to Pisa. Today he ufortunately had to turn around, but I guess someone has to stay in Switzerland and see that things get done, while I'm traveling around the world.
So now I'm facing the state of mind that evey journey begins with: what the hell am I doing here?? It's the absence of safety, friends and a known environment that hits me. In solitude I realize once more how much I appreciate my social life that I have back home. But those who never set sail, will never reach new lands. So it's all part of it and it has always been like this and will always be. It's nice to share laughs and cries and makes it all so much easier. But in any case I always succeeded and I always will. My bike starts overheating when I don't drive (a problem I was struggling with for month on my last trip a couple of years ago) and it's a bad idea to set over to Albania while it's not fixed. So I made my way today to a small town with a Yamaha dealership and I hope that tomorrow Monday early morning these people can fix my bike. Or better said, I hope they can fix it with a reasonable ammount of money in a reasonable time. I also need a new set of tyres as the ones mounted now seem to be pretty old and hard. So yesterday when accellerating in a curve on a wet road, the bike almost slipped. Scary stuff! So whatever new tyres will cost, I will gladly pay the price to feel safe again on the road. I already drove more than 80 000km in 20 different countries and soon it shall be 25. As for the gear I'm ready for battle! lot's of protection against the asphalt, the rain, the cold. In fact all hell could brake loose and I would just smile peacefully in behind my visor. Only the damn pollums are killing me. I don't even know where they come from. Some tree or bush or weed.. just that's blooming right now and that this species also grows down here in Italy. It's just so annoying to have a dripping and still blocked nose with tearing eyes and sneezes that almost blow my helmet off. I hope it's getting better further south. It's a vital part of riding bike to have my helmet open so I can feel the wind and all the smells surrounding me. Only wearing glasses is a must, as some big ass insects are suiciding while I come along. Some are banging really hard against the helmet and by the sound of it, I definitively don't want them smacking onto my eye balls.
While typing these lines I'm eating some original Italien yummi pizza after I took some pictures of that tilted tower in Pisa. Somehow it is already an epic trip, but there's still a long way to go and the adventure didn't even start yet. While driving here, I learned something about Swiss geography and a big deal about Italian geography. Of course I heard of all these places we were riding through, but I never got it straight where they actually lie and how they're connected together. So day by day, ride by ride I start understanding how the world actually looks.
Mostly I'm a low cost traveller, but as Europe isn't exactly cheap, I have to deal with it that getting a bed and a hot shower cuts deep into my budget. Probably have to adapt my budget a little bit, then I can travel easier without thinking too much about money. What is money anyway.. I got plenty of it and as I don't know how long I have to spend it, I shouldn't save it all up until the last moment, but enjoy life to the fullest day by day! Carpe Diem they say and they're damn right about it!
So far I'm fluent with German, English, Spanish, French and I'm trying to improve my Portuguese, but as I'm here in Italy all I speak is a horrible mix of all of them and it probably doesn't make a lot of sense. I actually studied this language for three years in school, but then I converted it to Spanish and since then my Italian never recovered. I'm also afraid to mix Spanish and Italian too much, so I just stuck to Spanish that covers a much bigger part of the world. But now I'm here and I really start liking Italy! Food is incredibly tasty, girls are super sexy and the countryside is just breath taking with all these old castles and monasteries. They even make delicous wine and great beer! I could grow old here, but then I probably wouldn't, because the people here just don't know how to drive. I start wondering if they even have indicaters installed in the cars or if all Italien models come without'em. Luckily I keep my eyes always open and expect every car hitting me, so I'm always a step ahead if they actually try.
Even if I give a crap about fashion, I have to admit that people here are dressed nicely and they are all super friendly (when not sitting behing a steering wheel). As the common man lacks of proper English, I might improve my Italian after all. Tomorrow will be another real life test when explaining the mechanic what's wrong with my bike. Maybe I should just turn it on and let it idle for a while until the cooling liquid vaporizes but I'd rather not let it happen again. Yeah.. I start remember how traveling is. You're never bored as there's always something that has to be taken care off and once everything runs smoothly, there's plenty of things to see and to do. So I shouldn't be too scared of what lies ahead of me. It always turned out to be great in the end. But there's still a long road to go.
time to head back and make some use of my pricy room. I really should bring a chick along to such a trip. Then I wouldn't have to type some dorky lines but instead could go down on someone and have some real fun ;) but yes, I use to say, you can't always have it all at the same time (but you should always aim for it ;). Take this as a good advice from someone who's conquering the world every day anew.