15: The Cost of Motorcycle Travel | Getting Prescription Drugs Across the Border

Featuring Shirley Hardy-Rix & Brian Rix, Grant Johnson, Sam Manicom, Graham Field and Jim Martin

On this episode, Jim Martin and the RAW co-hosts talk about handling medications, how to get prescriptions filled, and more. And if you're planning on taking a motorcycle trip in the near future, they've got some great tips on what you need to consider when budgeting for your adventure.


Handling Prescription Medications: Thanks to Gary from Memphis who wrote to ask us about how to get his prescription meds, including controlled substances, while traveling outside of the Canada and the United States.

Thanks to Sam Manicom for providing the following links:
International Narcotics Control Board: https://www.incb.org/ 
https://www.incb.org/incb/en/psychotropic-substances/travellers_guidelines.html


The Costs Involved on a Motorcycle Trip: When planning a motorcycle adventure, especially an extended one, there's a lot of consideration put in to cost. Making sure you have what you need to cover all expenses plus any unexpected ones is really important, particularly when in foreign countries. Of course, you need to figure out a budget before you go, so we've got together and discussed what you can expect and what you should plan on. 

  • fuel

  • food

  • visas, special permits, overstaying visa

  • accommodations

  • repairs

  • carnets

  • medical insurance

  • bike insurance

  • shipping

  • vaccinations (sam)

  • bike consumables such as tyres

  • medical needs (not covered by insurance)

  • city accommodations and transport costs when dealing with getting bike out of port

  • emergency money

  • and more...

Thanks again to Sam Manicom, this link to an informative site: mytravelcost.com
mytravelcost.com/petrol-prices/

What about dollar per day? Here is what HU says… 

To plan your budget, here’s some rough guidelines:

”First-tier” countries such as northern Europe, US$60-80 a day and up per person.

”Second-tier” countries such as the rest of Europe, Canada and the USA, US$40-60 a day per person.

”Third-tier” countries, such as Latin America, US$30 a day is considered enough for the average budget traveller, not counting major items like shipping the bike - or yourself, and repairs and servicing.

”Fourth-tier” countries, parts of Africa and Asia, can be done for less, many for less than US$20 day, especially in Asia.

— Horizons Unlimited

And thanks to Grant Johnson, read more about trip costs on Horizons Unlimited at horizonsunlimited.com/get-ready/budgeting and horizonsunlimited.com/shipping


DIARRHEA: Not the most pleasant of topics, but it did come up at the end of the episode, when Graham Field and Grant Johnson had some opinions on this messy subject. If you're interested in some more information, Grant from HU has provided some links:

Dukoral: https://www.dukoralcanada.com  https://www.dukoralcanada.com/infographics.html
NHS (UK) on travellers diarrhea: http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/disease-prevention-advice/travellers-diarrhoea.aspx


Music: "Turbo Tornado" by Admiral Bob 2016 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/54272 "DIRT ROAD TRAVELER" Jason Shaw Creative Commons Music by Jason Shaw on Audionautix.com