A little update from Thailand 🇹🇭

I’ve had a really warm welcome from the local riders and scooter shops here so far. The scooter scene is honestly amazing. I’ve been visiting a bunch of shops making custom crash bars, touring setups, racks, and all kinds of accessories.

There’s also a huge tuning and performance culture here with some seriously wild builds, but for my overland journey I’m trying to keep things simple, reliable, and easy to fix on the road.

If there’s anything you guys are curious about or want me to check out while I’m here, let me know!

I’ll share a video later of some of the shops I visited during my time in Bangkok. For now, I’m heading to Vietnam for a while to explore the scooter scene there before returning to Thailand to collect my things and continue back toward Africa.

I think the crash bars are too big to take on the airplane, so I may need to find a shipping option instead.

I would kill to have my XMAX here for a proper shopping and install, but buying the parts and fly back to Africa will have to do for now, haha!

Thank you for having me and to all the new friends I made along the way!
ขอบคุณที่ต้อนรับผม และขอบคุณเพื่อนใหม่ทุกคนที่ผมได้รู้จักระหว่างทางครับ!

I’ll share a video later of some of the motorcycle shops I visited during my stay in Bangkok. Now I’m heading to Vietnam for a while to explore a few cities, then I’ll return to Thailand again after.

If anyone has more recommendations for motorcycle shops I should visit when I come back, let me know. Would also be great to join any group rides if there are some planned! Sorry I didn't make it on this time around!

Also, if anyone knows an economical shipping option, please tell me. I think the crash bars are too big to take on the airplane.

I’ll be back soon to buy spare parts before continuing my overland journey back toward Africa.

Thank you again for the Thai & expat hospitality. I feel very welcome here. Sometimes things can feel difficult where you live, but it could always be worse. Thailand is very lucky to be such a safe country compared to many places, and honestly has some of the best motorcycle touring roads, shops, and accessories in the world!

Recently I got a notification saying they “spotted me” in a city. So creepy!

Also I was traveling in Nairobi, Kenya over 2 months ago, and someone just replied to me yesterday. But it showed my message was only sent to them yesterday too. That’s crazy because I wrote to people in Nairobi months ago.

So apparently messages can randomly appear months later.

At this point maybe we should all just band together, cancel our subscriptions, and do chargebacks on our most recent Couchsurfing transactions. Even if the chargeback gets disputed as a valid charge, the money still gets held up for months and it costs them money to fight it. Collectively it could actually send a message, since they clearly aren’t listening.

A year ago I helped crowdfund a flight home for a stranded Czech man in The Gambia.

Now I’ve learned he was arrested when he got back to Prague and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

His name is Patrik Sysel.

For those who never saw the original story from my side about Patrik being stranded in The Gambia, you can watch it here:

Helping him get back home:
https://youtu.be/oDjGIRxVm-A?si=bdY6RvHlno2x9idU

Discovering he was arrested:
https://youtu.be/h0ihRarYb6g?si=Z5dxZeS_R4_vXe_O

Some people here may already know this story from Gambian & Czech news, but I only recently discovered what was allegedly happening before he ever arrived in Africa.

I’m a motorbike overlander who was crossing the entire continent of Africa while volunteering in different communities along the way, and last year I met Patrik in The Gambia. He was in a wheelchair and living in very poor conditions with a local Gambian woman named Adama who had been helping him survive. He claimed he had been stranded there for around 2 years with no valid passport, no money, and no way home.

The situation honestly looked terrible. He seemed abandoned. He had serious health problems and according to him, nobody back home cared what happened to him.

So I made videos about his situation.

People donated money. We organized documents, coordinated with embassies, helped arrange flights, and eventually got him back to the Czech Republic. At the time it felt like a genuine humanitarian story.

One thing that bothered me though was that after we finally sent him home, he completely disappeared.

No thank you message.
No updates.
Nothing.

At first we were just relieved the whole situation was finally over. Then as time passed without hearing anything from him, we assumed he had probably disappeared and gotten himself into more trouble somewhere. Eventually enough time went by that we stopped thinking about it altogether. All of this originally happened around last summer.

Then a few days ago people from Prague started sending me Czech news articles and TV reports about him.

That’s when I found out the other side of the story.

According to Czech prosecutors and court reports, Patrik Sysel manipulated an elderly man from Prague over the internet using dozens of fake identities. The victim was reportedly convinced dangerous people were trying to kill him and steal his property.

The elderly man allegedly fled through several countries before eventually ending up in Africa.

Czech media reports say the victim sold his Prague apartment for millions of Czech crowns and that the money ended up under Sysel’s control. Some reports describe the elderly victim becoming psychologically destroyed and even attempting suicide while abroad.

The courts have now reportedly upheld a 5 year prison sentence.

What shocked me most was realizing that while we were trying to help what looked like a helpless stranded man, Czech authorities were apparently already looking at him as a criminal suspect connected to a major manipulation and fraud case.

The strange irony is that all of us who donated and helped organize his return may have unintentionally helped Czech authorities finally get him back into the country to face justice.

I want to make one thing very clear:

We never gave cash directly to Patrik. The fundraising covered his flight home, while the remaining support went toward helping Adama, the woman who had been carrying the burden of caring for him for a long time and deserved to be made whole again.

Patrik may have been dishonest and hiding parts of his past, but when we found him he was living in extremely poor conditions and in very bad health. Regardless of his past, we saw a human being who needed help. Pastor Moses, Adama, and everyone involved chose compassion.

And despite everything that has happened, I still stand by that decision.

I don’t regret helping him because in many ways it became more about helping the Gambian people around him who were suffering from the burden of his situation and behavior. Local people were financially and emotionally carrying responsibility for someone who was never supposed to become their problem in the first place.

At the end of the day, we helped remove a serious burden from the Gambian people, we supported the locals who had been affected, and Patrik was able to return to his own country where he could properly face justice. Nobody else was hurt, and justice was ultimately served.

From reports online, Patrik now appears healthier back home while dealing with the legal consequences of his actions. The crimes he was found guilty of happened in Prague before he ever arrived in Africa or The Gambia, involving the theft of a large amount of money from another Czech citizen. Sometime after traveling around West Africa, the authorities had already acted and he no longer had access to those funds.

I’ve been planning to release a full video explaining the entire story from beginning to end because we always knew this situation was complicated. Even though I suspected Patrik was not being fully honest with us, the goal was always to help the people affected around him.

I truly believe that if he had stayed in The Gambia, things would only have become worse. More people would have been burdened financially trying to help him, and in his condition, he may not even have survived much longer.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that sending him home for his own country to take responsibility for him was far better than leaving him in The Gambia to suffer while also causing others to suffer.

My only disappointment is that neither the Czech media nor the Czech authorities ever contacted us to hear our side of the story while using some of our videos to report on it. Especially considering that we were essentially the people who solved the case and got him out of the country.

Gambian immigration and police never made any real effort to deal with the situation, and the Czech government, embassy, and consulate also made no effort to send him home. To this day, despite all my emails and pleas for help, I have never been contacted by anyone regarding this case.

I’ll be releasing a full video report in the coming weeks explaining everything from start to finish.

If anyone knows more about Patrik, the story, or anything else connected to this case, I’d genuinely love to hear from you and possibly include it in the documentary.

A year ago I helped crowdfund a flight home for a stranded Czech man in The Gambia.

Now I’ve learned he was arrested when he got back to Prague and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

His name is Patrik Sysel.

For those who never saw the original story from my side about Patrik being stranded in The Gambia, you can watch it here:

Helping him get back home:
https://youtu.be/oDjGIRxVm-A?si=bdY6RvHlno2x9idU

Discovering he was arrested & CNN Prima news report:
https://youtu.be/h0ihRarYb6g?si=Z5dxZeS_R4_vXe_O

Some people here may already know this story from Czech news, but I only recently discovered what was allegedly happening before he ever arrived in Africa.

I’m a motorbike overlander who was crossing the entire continent of Africa while volunteering in different communities along the way, and last year I met Patrik in The Gambia. He was in a wheelchair and living in very poor conditions with a local Gambian woman named Adama who had been helping him survive. He claimed he had been stranded there for around 2 years with no valid passport, no money, and no way home.

The situation honestly looked terrible. He seemed abandoned. He had serious health problems and according to him, nobody back home cared what happened to him.

So I made videos about his situation.

People donated money. We organized documents, coordinated with embassies, helped arrange flights, and eventually got him back to the Czech Republic. At the time it felt like a genuine humanitarian story.

One thing that bothered me though was that after we finally sent him home, he completely disappeared.

No thank you message.
No updates.
Nothing.

At first we were just relieved the whole situation was finally over. Then as time passed without hearing anything from him, we assumed he had probably disappeared and gotten himself into more trouble somewhere. Eventually enough time went by that we stopped thinking about it altogether. All of this originally happened around last summer.

Then a few days ago people from Prague started sending me Czech news articles and TV reports about him.

That’s when I found out the other side of the story.

According to Czech prosecutors and court reports, Patrik Sysel manipulated an elderly man from Prague over the internet using dozens of fake identities. The victim was reportedly convinced dangerous people were trying to kill him and steal his property.

The elderly man allegedly fled through several countries before eventually ending up in Africa.

Czech media reports say the victim sold his Prague apartment for millions of Czech crowns and that the money ended up under Sysel’s control. Some reports describe the elderly victim becoming psychologically destroyed and even attempting suicide while abroad.

The courts have now reportedly upheld a 5 year prison sentence.

What shocked me most was realizing that while we were trying to help what looked like a helpless stranded man, Czech authorities were apparently already looking at him as a criminal suspect connected to a major manipulation and fraud case.

The strange irony is that all of us who donated and helped organize his return may have unintentionally helped Czech authorities finally get him back into the country to face justice.

I want to make one thing very clear:

We never gave cash directly to Patrik. The fundraising covered his flight home, while the remaining support went toward helping Adama, the woman who had been carrying the burden of caring for him for a long time and deserved to be made whole again.

Patrik may have been dishonest and hiding parts of his past, but when we found him he was living in extremely poor conditions and in very bad health. Regardless of his past, we saw a human being who needed help. Pastor Moses, Adama, and everyone involved chose compassion.

And despite everything that has happened, I still stand by that decision.

I don’t regret helping him because in many ways it became more about helping the Gambian people around him who were suffering from the burden of his situation and behavior. Local people were financially and emotionally carrying responsibility for someone who was never supposed to become their problem in the first place.

At the end of the day, we helped remove a serious burden from the Gambian people, we supported the locals who had been affected, and Patrik was able to return to his own country where he could properly face justice. Nobody else was hurt, and justice was ultimately served.

From reports online, Patrik now appears healthier back home while dealing with the legal consequences of his actions. The crimes he was found guilty of happened in Prague before he ever arrived in Africa or The Gambia, involving the theft of a large amount of money from another Czech citizen. Sometime after traveling around West Africa, the authorities had already acted and he no longer had access to those funds.

I’ve been planning to release a full video explaining the entire story from beginning to end because we always knew this situation was complicated. Even though I suspected Patrik was not being fully honest with us, the goal was always to help the people affected around him.

I truly believe that if he had stayed in The Gambia, things would only have become worse. More people would have been burdened financially trying to help him, and in his condition, he may not even have survived much longer.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that sending him home for his own country to take responsibility for him was far better than leaving him in The Gambia to suffer while also causing others to suffer.

My only disappointment is that neither the Czech media nor the Czech authorities ever contacted us to hear our side of the story while using some of our videos to report on it. Especially considering that we were essentially the people who solved the case and got him out of the country.

Gambian immigration and police never made any real effort to deal with the situation, and the Czech government, embassy, and consulate also made no effort to send him home. To this day, despite all my emails and pleas for help, I have never been contacted by anyone regarding this case.

I’ll be releasing a full video report in the coming weeks explaining everything from start to finish.

If anyone knows more about Patrik, the story, or anything else connected to this case, I’d genuinely love to hear from you and possibly include it in the documentary.

A year ago I helped crowdfund a flight home for a stranded Czech man in The Gambia.

Now I’ve learned he was arrested when he got back to Prague and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

His name is Patrik Sysel.

For those who never saw the original story from my side about Patrik being stranded in The Gambia, you can watch it here:

Helping him get back home:
https://youtu.be/oDjGIRxVm-A?si=bdY6RvHlno2x9idU

Discovering he was arrested & CNN Prima news report:
https://youtu.be/h0ihRarYb6g?si=Z5dxZeS\_R4\_vXe\_O

Some people here may already know this story from Czech news, but I only recently discovered what was allegedly happening before he ever arrived in Africa.

I’m a motorbike overlander who was crossing the entire continent of Africa while volunteering in different communities along the way, and last year I met Patrik in The Gambia. He was in a wheelchair and living in very poor conditions with a local Gambian woman named Adama who had been helping him survive. He claimed he had been stranded there for around 2 years with no valid passport, no money, and no way home.

The situation honestly looked terrible. He seemed abandoned. He had serious health problems and according to him, nobody back home cared what happened to him.

So I made videos about his situation.

People donated money. We organized documents, coordinated with embassies, helped arrange flights, and eventually got him back to the Czech Republic. At the time it felt like a genuine humanitarian story.

One thing that bothered me though was that after we finally sent him home, he completely disappeared.

No thank you message.
No updates.
Nothing.

At first we were just relieved the whole situation was finally over. Then as time passed without hearing anything from him, we assumed he had probably disappeared and gotten himself into more trouble somewhere. Eventually enough time went by that we stopped thinking about it altogether. All of this originally happened around last summer.

Then a few days ago people from Prague started sending me Czech news articles and TV reports about him.

That’s when I found out the other side of the story.

According to Czech prosecutors and court reports, Patrik Sysel manipulated an elderly man from Prague over the internet using dozens of fake identities. The victim was reportedly convinced dangerous people were trying to kill him and steal his property.

The elderly man allegedly fled through several countries before eventually ending up in Africa.

Czech media reports say the victim sold his Prague apartment for millions of Czech crowns and that the money ended up under Sysel’s control. Some reports describe the elderly victim becoming psychologically destroyed and even attempting suicide while abroad.

The courts have now reportedly upheld a 5 year prison sentence.

What shocked me most was realizing that while we were trying to help what looked like a helpless stranded man, Czech authorities were apparently already looking at him as a criminal suspect connected to a major manipulation and fraud case.

The strange irony is that all of us who donated and helped organize his return may have unintentionally helped Czech authorities finally get him back into the country to face justice.

I want to make one thing very clear:

We never gave cash directly to Patrik. The fundraising covered his flight home, while the remaining support went toward helping Adama, the woman who had been carrying the burden of caring for him for a long time and deserved to be made whole again.

Patrik may have been dishonest and hiding parts of his past, but when we found him he was living in extremely poor conditions and in very bad health. Regardless of his past, we saw a human being who needed help. Pastor Moses, Adama, and everyone involved chose compassion.

And despite everything that has happened, I still stand by that decision.

I don’t regret helping him because in many ways it became more about helping the Gambian people around him who were suffering from the burden of his situation and behavior. Local people were financially and emotionally carrying responsibility for someone who was never supposed to become their problem in the first place.

At the end of the day, we helped remove a serious burden from the Gambian people, we supported the locals who had been affected, and Patrik was able to return to his own country where he could properly face justice. Nobody else was hurt, and justice was ultimately served.

From reports online, Patrik now appears healthier back home while dealing with the legal consequences of his actions. The crimes he was found guilty of happened in Prague before he ever arrived in Africa or The Gambia, involving the theft of a large amount of money from another Czech citizen. Sometime after traveling around West Africa, the authorities had already acted and he no longer had access to those funds.

I’ve been planning to release a full video explaining the entire story from beginning to end because we always knew this situation was complicated. Even though I suspected Patrik was not being fully honest with us, the goal was always to help the people affected around him.

I truly believe that if he had stayed in The Gambia, things would only have become worse. More people would have been burdened financially trying to help him, and in his condition, he may not even have survived much longer.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that sending him home for his own country to take responsibility for him was far better than leaving him in The Gambia to suffer while also causing others to suffer.

My only disappointment is that neither the Czech media nor the Czech authorities ever contacted us to hear our side of the story while using some of our videos to report on it. Especially considering that we were essentially the people who solved the case and got him out of the country.

Gambian immigration and police never made any real effort to deal with the situation, and the Czech government, embassy, and consulate also made no effort to send him home. To this day, despite all my emails and pleas for help, I have never been contacted by anyone regarding this case.

I’ll be releasing a full video report in the coming weeks explaining everything from start to finish.

If anyone knows more about Patrik, the story, or anything else connected to this case, I’d genuinely love to hear from you and possibly include it in the documentary.

Hey fam, just landed in Thailand and it’s wild seeing XMAXs everywhere after being basically the only one across most of Africa

Gonna take it slow for a bit and catch up on editing. Definitely feeling a bit of FOMO without my bike here, but I’ll rent one and do a small tour to make up for it.

West Africa absolutely drained me financially… somehow spent more there than in Europe and Asia combined.

The scene here looks awesome though. Planning to check out some custom shops and make a few videos on the builds and setups. If there’s anything specific you want to see, let me know.

And if you’re around Thailand or anywhere in Southeast Asia, hit me up, would be great to meet up

Let’s give this a try. How do we get everyone to make a coordinated move across Reddit, Facebook, and other social platforms?

I just checked my Apple subscription and saw it renews on July 30, so I canceled auto-renew. Check your Apple App Store or Google Play subscription and cancel it for now until we actually see meaningful changes.

In the meantime, I think we should all create accounts on Couchers. So far I really appreciate their honesty and transparency. The biggest thing they need right now is a larger user base. I just made an account there myself and I’m updating my profile now, send me a request!

This has to be the worst rollout of all time

Hey everyone, I’ve been using Couchsurfing since 2017. In the beginning I never really felt comfortable being hosted because I’ve always hated feeling like people were doing more for me than I could do for them in return. So instead, I mostly joined meetups around Southeast Asia and ended up making a ton of friends through the community.

The first time I was actually hosted was kind of through volunteering. There was a group of friends in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon running a guesthouse where travelers could stay and help local students practice English. Around that same time I also started using Workaway because I liked the idea of a more equal exchange where I could contribute something back.

Most of my travels ended up being through Workaway. Then during COVID I stopped using both Couchsurfing and Workaway completely. I also stopped staying in hostels and just stuck to private rooms and guesthouses. The world changed a lot during that period, and honestly so did Couchsurfing.

After things settled down, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and let more people host me. Since then I’ve traveled through South America, Europe, and most recently across the entire west coast of Africa.

It wasn’t always easy for someone like me. I hate feeling like a burden or receiving more than I give. But over time I realized Couchsurfing was never really about a strict 1-for-1 exchange. It was more like a full-circle community. Sometimes I couldn’t offer much to one person, but later I’d help someone else a lot more. Sometimes I gave more, sometimes I received more, but overall the balance of the community always felt right. It was more of a vibe and shared culture than just “free accommodation.”

Sadly, this new update feels like the final straw for me.

I recently set trips for Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia and started getting tons of messages and invitations again. Then the app updated… and honestly I can barely even navigate it anymore. I don’t even feel motivated to try. For the first time since 2017, it genuinely feels like this chapter is over for me.

At first I kept wondering why the community never came together after COVID to build something better. But maybe rebuilding isn’t the answer. Maybe it’s just time to move on, or let new communities naturally evolve elsewhere.

Personally, I’d love to see some Couchsurfing-style features added into other platforms. Workaway is probably my favorite example. They’ve already started adding meetups and events, and honestly it feels like they’re moving in a much healthier direction. If they added some kind of hosting/community feature, I think a lot of people would migrate there naturally.

And honestly, I don’t even think the paywall itself was the real problem. Workaway also charges an annual fee, and considering how much value I’ve gotten from it over the years, it’s completely worth it to me. One smart thing they do is not charging hosts. Hosting stays free, while travelers who actively use the platform contribute financially.

Maybe Couchsurfing should have gone that route instead. Free to host, paid only if you’re actively using it to stay with people.

Because realistically, servers, moderation, development, storage, AI systems, all of that costs money now more than ever. Most people understand that. I just think somewhere along the way Couchsurfing lost the feeling that made people willing to support it in the first place.

Hey everyone, I'm returning to Vietnam at the end of the month, after spending over a year crossing Africa on my Yamaha XMAX, and it honestly feels like a full circle moment.

Vietnam is where this whole journey started for me. I had never even ridden a motorbike before coming here. I bought the cheapest scooter I could find in Saigon, rode it all the way to Hanoi, and somehow managed to sell it at the end to an Australian guy. That trip completely changed how I travel and pretty much set me on this path.

Now, after some much bigger overland trips, including crossing Africa, getting back here feels surreal. The chaos, the energy, the endless stream of bikes everywhere… it all brings me back to the beginning, but with a very different perspective now.

Africa was on another level. Especially West Africa, which was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Breakdowns, getting sick, being robbed, scams, sketchy situations… pretty much everything you can imagine happened at some point. Border crossings that take forever, roads that barely exist, fuel issues, parts impossible to find. It pushes you in ways that comfortable travel just doesn’t.

But that’s also what made it so addictive. You’re forced to adapt fast. You meet people you would never cross paths with otherwise. And somehow the worst days turn into the stories you’ll never forget.

But one of the coolest and most unexpected parts of that journey was how often Vietnam would pop up in the most random places.

Right at the start in Morocco, I stumbled across what’s known as the “Vietnam Gate,” tied to the history between Morocco and Vietnam from the time Moroccan soldiers were sent to fight in Indochina during the French colonial period. Some stayed, some connected with Vietnamese communities, and there are still traces of that history today. I found a small community there and even came across Vietnamese food in places I never expected.

Later on, in Guinea Conakry, I found a small Vietnamese spot and the owner was so happy to hear I had been to Vietnam that he gave me a coffee on the house. And then Luanda, Angola… that one really surprised me. There’s a huge Vietnamese presence there. You can feel it straight away with all the restaurants and businesses.

On my first day in Luanda, I was in a supermarket and heard two Vietnamese guys speaking. I went up and tried to chat with the little Vietnamese I knew. They didn’t speak English, but we still had a bit of a moment. At the time I had no cash, my cards weren’t working, and ATMs can be unreliable there. I ended up having to leave my food and walked out pretty defeated.

I sat on my bike trying to figure out what to do next, and suddenly those same two guys ran up to me and handed me what was probably around 3 USD in the local currency. They just said “bye bye” and ran off before I could even properly thank them. That moment stuck with me more than a lot of the harder stuff.

Coming back to Southeast Asia really puts things into perspective. It’s so easy here compared to what I just came from, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s comfortable, safe, and honestly kind of a dream for riding. But I can already feel how easy it is to slip into that comfort and stop pushing yourself. Africa reminded me how much growth comes from being uncomfortable, so now I’m trying to find a balance between the two.

I’ll be around Vietnam for a bit, taking some time to reset, reconnect, and hopefully meet some local riders and see what people are building and riding here these days.

If you’re in Vietnam and into bikes or overlanding, would be great to connect. I'd also like to join in a group ride, if anyone knows an affordable option to rent or borrow a XMAX for a short trip that would be awesome.

See you on the road.

Ps: Appreciate all the interest in my journey! I was hoping to connect with people more than talk about myself but I'll share a little details here! You can check out my YouTube and some articles they wrote in my country.

https://www.youtube.com/@CyprusNiko

https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/04/04/43000km-ride-in-the-name-of-cyprus?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1775306033

https://greekreporter.com/2026/04/04/greek-cypriot-motorbike-journey-across-africa/

Just landed back in Thailand after a bit over a year riding my Yamaha XMAX across Africa, and honestly it feels surreal to be here again.

Thailand is where I first learned to ride properly and where I got hooked on this whole style of travel, just moving slow, living on the bike, figuring things out as you go. Coming back after Africa hits different. The roads, the food, the people, and especially the bike scene. I forgot how next level the custom XMAX builds and touring setups are here.

Africa was a completely different game. West Africa in particular pushed me harder than anything I’ve done. Constant breakdowns, getting sick, being robbed, scams, a few genuinely sketchy situations where things could’ve gone very wrong. Border crossings that take days, fuel issues, parts impossible to find, roads that barely exist. At times it felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

But that’s also what made it so addictive. You’re forced to adapt fast. You meet people you would never cross paths with otherwise. And somehow the worst days turn into the stories you’ll never forget.

Coming back to Southeast Asia really puts things into perspective. It’s so easy here compared to what I just came from, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s comfortable, safe, and honestly kind of a dream for riding. But I can already feel how easy it is to slip into that comfort and stop pushing yourself. Africa reminded me how much growth comes from being uncomfortable, so now I’m trying to find a balance between the two.

I’ll be around Thailand for a few months, taking a bit of a reset, fixing gear, and setting things up for the next trip. Plan was to grab or rent another XMAX and do a loop out to Isaan, but rental prices are pretty wild.

If anyone here is in Thailand and riding, or has ideas for a more affordable way to get on a bike, I’m all ears. Always keen to meet other riders or overlanders too.

See you on the road.

Ps: Appreciate all the interest in my journey! I was hoping to connect with people more than talk about myself but I'll share a little details here! You can check out my YouTube and some articles they wrote in my country.

https://www.youtube.com/@CyprusNiko

https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/04/04/43000km-ride-in-the-name-of-cyprus?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1775306033

https://greekreporter.com/2026/04/04/greek-cypriot-motorbike-journey-across-africa/

I never expected one of my most memorable travel experiences to happen in Liberia… pet sitting a tiny puppy for three weeks in Monrovia.

Through Workaway, I found myself not just passing through, but actually building a routine, a home, and a connection in a place most travelers overlook. Between daily walks, chaotic puppy energy, and learning the rhythm of life in Monrovia, this trip became something deeper than travel.

This is what slow travel really feels like, creating a home wherever you land, even if it’s temporary.

If you’ve ever thought about traveling differently, this one’s for you.

Gave a little shoutout to Workaway and some of the incredible projects I joined during a short interview about my motorbike trip across Europe and Africa while volunteering along the way. Grateful for the people, places, and experiences that made the journey unforgettable.