- Description: In 1953, Bell answered an advertisement for adventurers to join two Australian riders heading home overland from Britain to Australia. Having completed the overland leg to Australia, Bell and Wells then rode back to the UK via the USA on a 1952 Norton Dominator 500 cc, completing the round-the-world journey between 1953 and 1955. Together they covered 26,000 miles (41,840 km) on the trip, in addition to the 20,000 miles (32,180 km) the motorcycle had already accumulated before departure. Apart from punctures and a spark plug change, the Norton required no significant maintenance throughout. The journey is recounted in The Hard Way Round, based on Bell's travel diaries, which were not originally intended for publication
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://www.adventure52.com/adventure-motorcycles/ernests-1954-motorcycle-adventure/
- Description: In late 1961, Catalan adventurer and publisher Oriol Regàs conceived "Operació Impala" - a motorcycle crossing of Africa from south to north - as a marketing initiative for Montesa's forthcoming new model, the Impala, designed by Leopoldo Milà. The five-person team comprised four experienced rally and racing motorcyclists - Regàs himself, Juan "Tei" Elizalde, Enric Vernis and Rafa Marsans - and writer Manuel Maristany, who joined as photographer and chronicler despite having no motorcycle experience. Sponsored by Montesa and lubricant brand Wynn's, they departed Cape Town on 15 January 1962 on three 175 cc pre-production Montesa prototypes, with a Land Rover support vehicle named "Kiboko" (Swahili for hippopotamus). After 100 days and 20,000 km through southern, central and North Africa, they arrived in Barcelona on 16 April 1962, having demonstrated the reliability of the new motorcycle under extreme conditions. The model was subsequently launched as the Montesa Impala, winning the ADI-FAD Gold Delta prize for best industrial design in 1962. One of the three original prototypes is on display at the Museo de la Moto de Barcelona. The journey is documented in Maristany's book Operació Impala and in a documentary film produced by Bausan Film in co-production with TV3 and Montesa-Honda
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: Operació Impala
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Spain, Spagna, Espagne
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: -
- Internet: https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operaci%C3%B3_Impala
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11939383
- Description: Yanko Gluscevic was a Chilean cattle rancher, aviator and karate instructor. In 1972, during the agrarian reform of Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular government, he lost his ranch and left Chile, becoming, in his own words, "a globetrotter who travelled, lived and worked in more than forty countries over five years." Between 1969 and 1989 he travelled the world by motorcycle through more than 40 countries, including a journey through Africa during the Rhodesian Bush War. In the 1980s he returned to Chile and founded Rancho Río Sol, described as the first adventure tourism complex in Chile, running fifteen-day horse expeditions into the Andes. In the 1990s he founded Yanko Moto Tours (YMT), organising enduro motorcycle tours through the Bolivian Amazon, the Atacama Desert and Patagonia. He recounted his travels in the English-language Yanko, published by Trafford Publishing, Canada, in 2004, and later translated into Spanish as Yanko: Una lucha por sobrevivir
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Chile, Cile, Chili
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Gluscevic, Yanko. Yanko. Trafford Publishing, Canada, 2004. Gluscevic, Yanko. Yanko: Una lucha por sobrevivir. 2023.
- Description: Eduard Edlitzberger and Norbert Wittasek were Austrian long-distance motorcyclists. In 1953 they departed on a Horex-Felber sidecar outfit with the initial intention of riding overland to Persia (Iran). On reaching their destination they decided to continue around the world, riding through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, then crossing by ship to North America and riding through the United States and Canada before returning to Europe. Over 19 months they covered approximately 47,500 km (29,500 miles)
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Austria, Österreich, Autriche
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://www.berndtesch.de/English/Continents/WorldAround/WorldAroundMotorcycle1951-1970.html
- Description: Vagn Tyrsted Rasmussen was a Danish farmer, officer and adventurer. In 1960, while working in California, he purchased a yellow Vespa 150 cc Grand Turismo scooter from local gas meter readers who had asked for cars instead. He rode it south from the USA to Panama, crossing 44 bridgeless rivers and negotiating a railway bridge on foot - where a train approached and stopped just before hitting him. In July 1964, aged 28 and with only $100, he departed from Denmark on the same 29-year-old scooter for a round-the-world journey. His route covered West and East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan - where he was chased by wolves - then Pakistan, Kashmir and India, before shipping to Australia. He financed the journey by working aboard cargo ships and in various countries. He subsequently continued through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, and crossed the USA before returning to Denmark via the Netherlands, visiting 23 countries across four continents
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Denmark, Danimarca, Danemark
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Vespa
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://arkiv.dk/vis/3498799
- Description: Paul Pratt was a British long-distance motorcyclist. Between 1966 and 1979, over twelve and a half years, he travelled through 48 countries across five continents on a 650 cc Triumph Thunderbird, covering 185,000 km (115,000 miles) - a world record for continuous motorcycle travel at the time. During the journey he was shot and contracted various tropical diseases. He self-published his account in 1976 as World Understanding on Two Wheels: An Introduction to Overland Travel, investing his own money to print and distribute the book. He was still riding his Triumph Thunderbird shortly before his death in 2010, aged 84
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Pratt, Paul R. World Understanding on Two Wheels: An Introduction to Overland Travel. Alemar-Phoenix Publishing, 1976.
- Description: Leopoldo Tartarini (Bologna, 1932-2015) was an Italian motorcycle racer and entrepreneur. Giorgio Monetti was his childhood friend and university student. Tartarini had raced for Ducati in long-distance road events such as the Milano-Taranto and the Moto Giro d'Italia, until road racing was banned for safety reasons. With a remaining year on his Ducati contract, he proposed to Ducati managing director Giuseppe Montano a promotional tour - initially to Turkey, then expanded to Africa and finally to a full round-the-world journey. On 30 September 1957, blessed by Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro before 1,000 factory workers at the Ducati plant in Bologna, the two departed on two standard Ducati 175 Tourismo motorcycles modified with crash bars, rear luggage racks and aluminium cases. Over 12 months they covered more than 60,000 km across 42 countries and five continents: Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Burma, Indonesia (by ship to Borneo and New Guinea), Australia (Darwin to Sydney), New Zealand, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and by ship to Dakar, then Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain and back to Bologna, arriving on 5 September 1958. They were arrested as suspected spies in Indonesia and rode through Syria during a period of political tension. The journey, filmed on 16 mm cameras, is described as the world's first corporate motorcycle adventure. Tartarini later founded Italjet in 1959. The two original motorcycles were certified as unique historical examples by the Automotoclub Storico Italiano (ASI) in 2020
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Italy, Italia, Italie
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: http://1mapx2.com/en/the-film/
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Montanari, Roberto. Road Map: Il leggendario giro del mondo di Tartarini & Monetti su Ducati 175. LullaBit, 2018.
- Description: Shigeru Yoshida was a Japanese motorcycle adventurer and engineer. At the age of 24, having completed his studies in motor engineering, he proposed to Yamaha a solo round-the-world journey as a field test of the company's machines. Yamaha agreed, providing a 246 cc two-stroke Yamaha YDS-3 with Autolube automatic lubrication system and arranging technical support through its worldwide importers; in return Yoshida was required to report on the motorcycle's behaviour throughout the journey. Between 1965 and 1968 he covered 136,000 km (85,000 miles) through 60 countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. His route began with a sea crossing from Japan to Vancouver, then north America, Mexico and Central America to Panama, south through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, then by ship to Portugal and across Europe including seven communist countries - Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia - continuing through North Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia and Singapore, and finally by ship to Perth, riding across Australia to Sydney before returning to Japan
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Japan, Giappone, Japon
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Description: In 1964, aged 24 and with little money, Caggiani departed Montevideo on a 1947 Indian Chief motorcycle with Capelo as pillion, riding north through Bolivia - where they were shot at during a revolutionary conflict - Colombia, where they suffered near-starvation, and Panama, where a serious mechanical failure left Caggiani hospitalised for 17 days. They continued to San Francisco and then east to New York, where they separated after Capelo was pursued by the FBI. Caggiani continued alone through Western Europe, where the motorcycle was stolen in Rome. In mid-1966, following a further accident, he shipped home from Lisbon. The journey covered 26 countries
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: -
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Various, Diversi, Différents
- Internet: https://tracksandhorizons.tumblr.com
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Caggiani, Carlos A. Huellas y Horizontes. 2009. Caggiani, Carlos A.; Caggiani, Ed (trad.). Tracks and Horizons: 26 Countries on a Motorcycle. 2010.
| Precursori, Forerunners, Précurseurs |
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| Viaggi stravaganti, Weird travels, Voyages insolites |
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| Globetrotter contemporanei, Contemporary globetrotters, Globetrotteurs contemporains |
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| Personaggi fittizi, Fictional character, Personnages de fiction |
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About us
Museum of Travel and Tourism is a virtual museum dedicated to travel and tourism, founded in 2016. It began as a research platform focused on the biographies of women and men travelers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and has gradually expanded to include contemporary journeys.
Impressum
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