UK to Balkans ~ BMW F800 GS

Who	Jonathan Fox ~ email ~ website
Profession	web designer
Born 1972	Nationality Dual British & Irish
Previous travel experience	road trip across the US, worked as ski guide in France, windsurfed in the Canary islands, atv riding in Tunisia.
Previous bike travels	UK to Austria - August 2008 (passed bike test in May)

Best day	riding above the clouds on the Montenegrin coast and then moving inland to ride high above lake skadar.
Worst/ hardest day	worst day was the second one as I tried to get past London. The hardest was a 22 hour iron man ride from Vidin in Bulgaria to Linz in Austria.
Favourite place	a tie between Macedonia and the madness yet friendliness of Albania,
Biggest headache	The Serbian border crossing. they never did let us in... Turned us back into Kosovo as it was getting dark. Avoiding, carts, dogs, people and donkeys is one thing in the day... at night it's just dodgy.
Biggest mistake	not taking enough money and wishing I could do the whole trip.
Most pleasant surprise	the warm welcome we received at the motel Arena on the Tranzit (Millosheve - Podujeve) in Kosovo.
Any illness	none
Other trips planned	Want to do the Siberian section of this trip. Maybe an arctic circle trip.
One travel tip	pack light. No really! Halve your gear and double your money

Bike Model	BMW F800 GS
Age/ mileage on departure	2008 12000 miles
Modifications	Adventure-spec: bash plate, rear rack and crash bars. Touratech screen with MRA spoiler. Nippy Normans winglets. HID main and dipped beam conversion. LED aux lights. Centech ap1 fuse panel.
Mods you wish you'd done	changed the suspension to Hyperpro.
Type of baggage	ortlieb soft panniers and 1 roll bag for Walter's excess luggage
Tyres used	Continental TKC 80
Number of punctures	1 on the rear (valve had separated from inner tube)

Bike's weak point	Too heavy for serious off road
Bike's strong point	versatile
Bike problems	chain has seen better days
Number of accidents	dropped bike once and had an unscheduled power slide in Albania :)
Same bike again?	yes but with less luggage.
One biking tip	use an old phone with a pre-pay roaming sim card! If you lose it, or it gets stolen it's not the end of the world. I dropped mine out of my Tank bag in Bulgaria and it lived... I used an old blackberry and it lived after an 80mph impact!