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After I left Iran I headed to Europe, where I was forced to take a four months break, due to a broken leg. It was September before I was able to jump on Chillie again. Too late to explore much. So, I headed down to the Balkans. From Albania I caught a ferry to Italy, because I wanted to go to Israel. It took me seven days, but I finally reached Israel.

I ended 2018 in Jordan. I did not expect too much of it, but it turned out that Jordan is one of the safest countries in the Middle East. Very stable, no terrorism and very pleasant for foreigners. For bikers the scenario is a bit different: you cannot rent a bike in Jordan, so you either bring your own or you won’t be exploring this country. This is probably why it is still undiscovered. In terms of beauty it is exactly the same as Morocco: a dreamland for adventure riders.

Jordan is also a very hospitable country. I made great friends there who really helped me out with preparations for Africa and managed to recover my confiscated drone at the border crossing!

The scenery is so overwhelming that I finally had a mental break through. After my injury I was a bit paranoid about my leg and I had a persisting fear that I would break it again, but when I saw the Wadi Rum desert I thought: “Screw it! I’m going for it!”. I finally fought through the trauma of my last crash and I couldn't have felt more alive.

Another highlight from Jordan was Petra, an impressive 2000 year old, rock-cut city.  I’m feeling a bit spoiled in terms of seeing so many beautiful places. Things must be really special for me to get impressed, but the moment I saw Petra I was left dazed. It was so magical that I didn’t even care there were so many tourists.

After one month I went to Aqaba and caught a ferry to Egypt. I started 2019 on the Sinai Peninsula and I’m still here. The route I’m taking is a bitrisky, but it is the cheapest way to get to Africa. There are no guarantees that I’ll be able to cross the Sinai since motorbikes are not allowed in the tunnel that leads to Cairo. Seeing as they just want you out of the peninsula once you’re there… I’m still hopeful! But forget about doing this route in reverse, you won’t be able to cross from Cairo to Sinai. That won’t happen for sure!

Sinai is mostly stable, but still from time to time there’s some terrorism, with bomb attacks on tourists being an example. There are lots of police check points though, and as long as you follow the route along the coast you’ll be fine. I’m feeling safe.

Safe and excited! This new part of my RTW trip already has a different “taste”. I’m in Africa! Will I like it? Will I ride it top to bottom and bottom back to top again? Or will I catch malaria five times and take off at some point? I don’t know what will happen, and as you probably already know, I don’t plan a lot.

What I do know, is that now I’m slowing down the pace. My approach for 2019 is to take at least one month for each country I visit. There’s no need to rush anymore. No stress.

I’ll start with Egypt, then Sudan and after that I’ll be following the East coast to South Africa. The rest? The rest is unknown!

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