Ever felt like quitting your job, renting out your house and using your savings to go travel the world?

Well, that’s exactly what Tim Burke did earlier this year.

I first heard of Tim Burke via a couple I met when riding my motorbike across Canada last year. Kevin & Beth Young of 2up Together from Utah, USA.

They put us in touch as Tim was planning his epic trip around Europe this summer. We connected online and, like many people, I offered him a place to stay and any assistance I could whilst in the UK and on his European trip.

When Tim arrived in the UK he had places to stay and visit already worked out and our schedules were at opposites so, like the thousands of others that follow Tim on social media, I settled back and enjoyed seeing his daily posts about his ride, where he was going to and what he was up to and how he was getting along.

He visited many places I have been to before on my motorbike and many places that I have not seen or been too…yet.

I contacted him a few times about meeting up for a ride and we exchanged messages but never got around to actually crossing paths until his last day riding in England before sending his bike back home to the USA.

We met up at the top of Portsdown Hill which overlooks Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. He pulled in on his GSA and, although I had never met him before, it was like two pals meeting up after a long time.

We talked about our bikes, travels and experiences and drank a cold beer whilst looking over the view in front of us.

Tim has been an inspiration to me and many many people along his journey. Yes, there are many bikers out there, but not many Americans who have come to Europe for the first time, so all his experiences are new and from a totally different point of view.

I like the way we have a similar style when riding and exploring places solo, like stopping to take pictures of whatever catches our eye, thinking that we may never see it again, how we both have a loose plan of where we are heading but no real schedule to keep to, and how the people we meet along the way make the journey all the richer.

We are not the millionaire bikers whose trips are funded by others, but by savings and giving up a life that holds mainly the repetition of the same routine, and in changing that trend, we change the daily routine set out for us by seeing different things and meeting different people for however long that journey lasts.

All worries soon disappear when the wheels start rolling.

Nice to meet you Tim, check out his amazing photography here.