36,000 kilometers, 2 BMW motorbikes, endless roads, booming wheels and just one word – WOW! Anders and Petra Stridfeldt, both nearing 50 years of age dared to take on the world on their motorbikes. The journey which started in February 2013 from United Kingdom is still in progress.

Originally from Sweden, the couple is living in England and started their feat to travel around the world from Manchester. They sold their house, quit jobs and purchased two BMW F800 GS bikes to start their journey.

After travelling 19 countries, the parents of three grown up children, Anders and Petra reached Udaipur yesterday on 31^st March from Kota and will be leaving probably tomorrow for Bangalore. “The most interesting part throughout the trip is people we came across,” quoted Petra.

“They welcomed us as family and helped us like we are guys next door. 99% of people we’ve met, regardless of their nationality are nice, despite of what we used to see and read on media or on news,” added Anders.

 “We always wondered looking at the world map, of how long it would take to travel around. Boy! It is hard and long,” said Petra.

On asking about what is one thing that they realized on this journey, Petra replied, “There is still hope.”

“Media gives us warnings about what ‘bad’ is happening around world, and people of one country sometimes warn us about dangers ahead, but most of the time, we meet people who are generous and helping to us. This is one of the best realizations of this trip,” she added.

The couple will head to Bangalore where they will be giving a presentation at MTM (Motorcycle Travelers Meet, April 11 – 13). “People in India are crazy about motorcycling, and we love to see their enthusiasm,” said Anders.

On asking about how their trip is being sponsored, Anders informed, “Not exactly, we are on our own. Though, guys at BMW were kind enough to provide us bikes and spare parts at relatively lower cost.”

The two bikes – BMW F800 GS (White and Black) are their partners on this journey which they keep constant care of. In the cities where they have BMW workshops, they get them serviced. Else they at least do the basic jobs themselves.

“The best part about riding on bike in such a feat is the time you get to savor the nature and environment around,” quoted Anders.

On the part of their experience in India, they said, “It’s a beautiful country with very welcoming people, but the unorganized traffic gave us some really hard time.”

“Udaipur is a beautiful city, we went to Gangaur Ghat and areas around and we plan to cover more today. The lakes all around the city makes us feel surreal,” they added.

After India, the couple will decide on where to go next, as currently they have South America, Alaska, Australia and New Zealand on their list. “It will mainly fall on to what is the climatic situations in these countries,” said Anders.

Their journey is expected to conclude somewhere in the year 2015. “We expected it to complete it by the end of year 2014, but as we do not plan anything rigid, we will see what future holds for us”, quoted Anders.

Petra and Anders update their journey snippets on their Facebook stream and also have a site www.twobikersoneworld.com where you can follow their journey and experiences.