I passed my driving test at the age of 18. At 20 I'd fallen hopelessly in love with the design of the Suzuki VX 800. By the time I was 21 I'd saved enough and made my dream come true. Riding a motorcycle has remained my passion to this day, a passion which I have to thank for the greatest adventure of my life to date: travelling round the globe on a motorcycle.

Up to 2007 I hadn't been any farther than Italy on my motorcycle. Then I came across a report by Joachim von Loeben in a motorcycle magazine. He wrote about his journey from Cologne to Cape Town. The photos from such different worlds outside Europe, the differentness of the experiences and the curiosity concerning things foreign somehow seized my imagination as I was reading. I sent a mail to Joachim, we got to know each other and then decided to set off together on a tour right round the world.

That isn't an easy question to answer. There were too many really unbelievable moments on the journey. The incredible heat, 50 degrees Celsius, during the ride through the Saudi Arabian desert, the plunge into the traffic chaos on the roads of India and Pakistan, an accident in Nepal which turned out not to be serious, the flight from bandits in El Salvador, the thousands of meetings with people of all cultures and nations … all that moved me very greatly, did something to me, changed me and today gives me a new feeling for the world and the people in it (www.world-tourer.de).

I met motorcyclists who had spent three years preparing their journey round the world down to the last detail on each day of the trip, everything planned with utmost precision. But I believe that the less you plan a journey the more valuable it becomes, and the more you can simply let it happen. That doesn't mean setting off unprepared or being careless. Good preparation for a journey lasting several months takes two or three months. Just submitting visa applications, buying equipment, giving up or renting your apartment...that takes time.

A lot of valuable information on how to do this is provided on the international world traveller website www.horizonsunlimited.com and at www.berndtesch.de.

The helmet must function reliably, especially a flip-up helmet. If a chin guard no longer shuts or the visor no longer closes properly when you're in Pakistan, Nepal, Nicaragua etc., you can be certain that you won't find any replacement parts. Not infrequently it can take weeks before a new helmet from Germany arrives by mail in these countries. I would never cut corners with a helmet and always ensure good quality and a comfortable fit. After all, I spent several hours each day wearing it... :-)

On my longest journey through 51 countries which covered 100,000 kilometres I wore a silver C2 helmet. Today I wear a C3 which incorporates an SRC-System so that I can talk to my girlfriend behind me or listen to the radio for entertainment.