Here at Pikeo, we like stories which come out of the ordinary. With JoniOnTheRoad, we are served! It requires a lot of perseverance and perhaps a little rashness to leave Paris on a 125cc bike to go to Sydney. We were looking forward to having a word with them. Here’s what they had to say about their once in a lifetime adventure.
Can you tell us more about you ?
Our nickname JoNi stands for Johanne and Nicolas. We’re a young couple, we love travelling and discovering new people and places. Right now we’re heading to Australia on a 125cc motorcycle.
When did you leave Paris and when do you think you'll arrive in Sydney?
We left Paris on August 31st. We’ll arrive in Sydney sometime in February.When did you say to yourselves “Now is the time to embarque on a crazy adventure” ?
People often ask us this question and we have a hard time answering it. We don’t really know for sure. It all started with a trip to India where we enjoyed discovering new people and a new culture. Back in Paris, we both worked hard for two years. At one point, we felt like we needed something new in our lives. We bought a motorcycle. Travelling in the french countryside became our favorite week-end past time. We went as far as Brest in the West of France. Then we decided to explore the East of France. Leaving France was the next logical step. We had this idea of going to Australia on our motorcycle. At first, our relatives thought we weren’t serious. Three months later, here we are!
Which countries have surprised you the most ?
Each country has its particularities. We had our first cultural choc in Albania, as it is still a developing country, even though it's in the heart of Europe . We weren’t expecting either the modernity and diversity of the turkish society. Montenegro, which we knew practically nothing about, had beautiful landscapes. We had been looking forward to going to Iran too, even with the media being not tender when it comes to Iran.The Iranian people gave us a very warm welcome. We were quite amazed by Ispahan, which is the 3rd most crowded city of Iran. One word also about Dubai : it’s quite an amazing city. It’s extavagant and superficial in some aspects, but it’s destined to become an even bigger economic and touristic center as it is today.
So globally you received a warm welcome from the locals ?
Yes, absolutely. In Europe, people didn’t pay attention to us, except in Albania where there are very few tourists. As we were going East, the people were nicer towards us. In Turkey we were given lots of tea and fruits by the locals. Oh yeah and there was this kid who threw a rotten apple at us, but that doesn’t count ! In Iran, people honked their horns when they saw us. Others yelled « hello » and « welcome » from they windows. Each time we stopped, someone would come to talk to us. In some cities, people followed us on their motorcycles ! In Dubai, people thought we delivered pizza, as the only ones who ride motorcycles are pizza delivery boys!
You constantly update your blog and Pikeo profile with new pictures. What camera do you use ?We use a Canon 30D for most of our pictures. Our Lumix DMC-FX35 also comes in handy, but mostly for capturing videos footage.
What do you like the most in Pikeo ?
We really like (and our readers too) the slide show which is kind of like having all our pictures laid out on a table and being able to grab the one we want. Another good thing about Pikeo is that it is available in all the countries we visited, which is not the case for all photo sharing sites (some are censored). We like the geolocalisation feature too, which let’s people track us down when we’re travelling.
A last word?
One might think that we take close up pictures of people after asking them. Most of the time, that’s the way things happen but sometimes, the locals are the ones who ask to be on the picture. During our crossing of South Turkey, we stopped in a deserted area to take some gas, not far from the Syrian border.We quickly attracted people’s attention. The place was more than a simple gas station. People came there to socialize and have their tea. Once again, we were offered some tea. An old man with a friendly face asked us where we were from. He didn’t believe me when I told him we had drove from Paris on a motorcycle. He told us that the next town was far away (100 km away). One of his friends then replied « They already drove much longer distances ! » Before leaving he wished to immortalize this moment together. Thanks to encounters like this one, we never feel lonely.
Thanks to Johanne and Nicolas!
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