Why travel?

Meeting people

Silly question: because I want to explore this world I'm living in. On the other hand, it's not that simple when I try to describe what I like about traveling.

Maybe it's the differences you are able to notice in how people behave, in what remains of the history of a country, in the way houses are built, in the landscape. These differences enable you to view your surroundings at home and your own life and attitude with fresh eyes.

I like to wander around in a country to get a feeling of how people behave, of what the unwritten rules are, of the history that influences the way people live and eat and play music and build houses.

I guess that's why I like to explore Europe, and don't have the ambition (for the moment) to go on a world trip: my own history shares parts with the history of the countries that I visit, people are familiar, and therefore it's more easy to spot the differences, and to get a feeling for how life is being lived.

Another reason why I like Europe so much is that there is so much diversity, so many different cultures and landscapes, in such a small continent. Even in such a miniature country as where I live in, the Netherlands, there are huge differences within the country though no distance is more than 300 kilometers.

So, most of my travel stories are situated within Europe.

However, after I had visited the USA for my work and for visiting my brother who lives there, I decided I would like my children to see some of that immense country. For a European, the USA is very familiar (because many people have European ancestors, because of films and tv, and because aspects of USA-culture spread all over the world), and on the other hand very strange.

So you will find some travel stories situated in the USA as well.

Why on motorcycle?

Motorcycle riding in the Alps (Colle delle Lombarda)

The best way to travel, for me, is on motorcycle. Actually, it's the best way overall to move from one place to another. Why? Because every movement becomes a journey in itself.

It's a matter of the senses, I guess. Your view is unobstructed, you smell the earth, the flowers or the farm you pass, you hear the wind, your engine, you feel the surface of the road, and the corners.

Also, because you always have to be alert on a motorcycle, to keep yourself safe, you automatically not only notice possible dangers, but also unfamiliar churches, people working in the fields, unfamiliar flowers, people walking in the streets.

When you travel on motorcycle, your motorcycle becomes your home after some days, even though you sleep somewhere else. Sitting all day in the saddle, pacing over the map, with nothing else to do than look around, reflecting on what you see, simply is the best vacation that I know of.

I always try to reflect on how I ride, and I've tried to condense those thoughts in a series of pages with tips on motorcycle riding. You will find that information, together with pages on my motorcycles and my motorcycle adventures, on the motorcycle pages.

Who am I?

Intermot 2004

I live together with Ernst, who is the photographer, in "Zuid-Limburg" (the south of Limburg, by far the most souther part of the Netherlands): a great environment for motorcycle riding.

I ride motorcycle since 1994, and started writing about it from the beginning: about what I learned while riding, about what I saw, and about how to express what is important in motorcycle riding. I started maintaining this site.

For the rest: I have thre (grown up and almost grown up) children, and I am a university teacher at the Dutch Open University, in Computer Science. I like riding my motorcycle, traveling, birdwatcjing, walking, maintaining the garden, and, of course, working in this site.

And who is Ernst?

In the garden

Ernst is responsible for the photographs on this site. He is a fan of Canon cameras.

He rides motorcycles since his 18th birthday, has ridden an enormous number of kilometers, and tried a great variety of motorcycles. He always maintained his bikes himself (especially XT's: he is called the XT doctor).

At this moment, he is learning to become a motorcycle riding instructor.

Why Google Adsense?

For many years, I just payed the expenses to keep this site " in the air".

The nice aspect of Google ads is that they are related to the content of the page (if it works alright). That way they often contain links that might be interesting when the content of a page intersts you.

I don't earn mony this way, and that's not the idea, but this way, I can pay the costs for the site from the adsense earnings.

Place a link to this site

Thumbnail

If you would like to place a link to this site, or to a page of this site, that is, of course, always possinle.

In that case, you can use the picture to the left. The html-code would be:

<a href="http://www.sylviastuurman.eu/">
<img src="http://www.sylviastuurman.eu/pics/sylviastuurman.jpg"
width="256px" height="192px" alt="The site of Sylvia Stuurman"></a>