Round the world reboot,

When Netherlands helpdesk engineer Wiljan Hooijer tired of telling callers to, ‘turn it off and back on again’ he set off on an adventure, low tech style…

Where are you right now?

I am now living in El Pardo, Madrid, Spain.

You’ve recently returned from a pretty epic ride. Where have you been?

It route feels started like yesterday! in Malaysia My and went all the way by road to the Netherlands crossing 25 countries including Se-asia, the lower parts of Asia and Europe. All in all it took me a bit less than 11 months and 21,748 miles to reach my hometown Ermelo.

Most people, for a long overland ride, use their own ‘adventure’ bike and prep at home. But you decided to buy a small ‘local’ bike and ride it back. What were the pros and cons?

I wanted to cross SE Asia on a bike instead of taking flights or buses. I did research on which country of origin would cause the least problems. It turned out that Malaysian plates were the best ones to go for. I decided on a Kawasaki KLX 150, bought it brand new for £1587 and registered it at a Malaysian hotel address. The KLX is a good, reliable bike with plenty of power, even when the panniers are fully loaded. The pros are it’s cheap, small and parts can be found all over the world. The cons came as I got closer to Europe, especially Iran with its major highways and 20mph desert winds and trucks overtaking me at over 60mph.

Did you make any modifications and what did you use for luggage and kit?

The only thing I bought up front were proper boots, gloves and a helmet. The Kawasaki dealer told me that there was an official GIVI store in Kuala Lumpur, so I headed out to the store and got myself a pannier set for £246, and obviously it had to be modified. Before going to Myanmar, I had a front rack fixed on the bike. Other adjustments were a new timing chain after 6200 miles and a better handlebar.

What was your motorcycling and travelling experience before this trip?

My were biggest moped motorcycling holidays, a trips two-day ride around the Netherlands and I hired a Ninja 250 in Indonesia. The idea for this trip came when I was nearing the end of a road trip around Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in a Ford Falcon.

What was the best moment of your journey?

Riding the

‘I truly started to believe in the universe – as long as I remained positive about my goal it actually happened’