Itchyboots
 

I started binge watching Itchyboots a week ago.

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She's a Dutch geologist who got the travel bug and gave up her career to become a traveling Youtuber

https://www.itchyboots.com/

She has a nice balance of music, drone shots and she talks about the area she's riding thru along with all the odd experiences of traveling thru parts of the world none of us will ever see.

I've been wanting to tour the US since I retired but covid shut everything down and I'm still undecided which bike to take.

There is absolutely nothing on television worth watching so Noraly (pronounced Nora-Lee) is a welcome escape.

Last year she got stuck in Peru when the pandemic shut the world down. She was holed up in a small village for two weeks until the Dutch government came to the rescue. She had to leave her bike in Lima. She was doing the Patagonia to Deadhorse Alaska run. I'm glad she got back to Holland because she would have tried to travel thru Mexico and that could have been the end of her.

Noraly,

If you're reading this stay out of Mexico. You stayed out of Afganistan and you would be safer in Afganistan than traveling in Mexico.

This ^

Mexico is too much like the old west when one didn't know if the injuns or the outlaws would be waitin' around the next bend.

And 99% of the "law" are corrupt.

Like we need more drone shots, almost as bad as shallow depth of field trend for food photography.
Mexico will give her more than itchy boots.

Some use of drone shots is cool or even useful. I've seen some drone shots of the sites of battles in Europe, and having the bird's eye view that shows trenches and craters is an enhancement to human eye level shots. It also might be nice for some beautiful landscape shots.

And don't even get me started on the "filters" for shallow depth of field or when someone photoshops a shallow depth of field. Some of that stuff is really horrible (it's not all bad).

She is very personable.
I will watch more.

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and more you will get

She is nice, watched a lot of it.

About drone shots: I wonder is she is obtaining permits? For example, some of her Swedish drone shots done in "old Uppsala" were basically 2 miles from active military base and I have hard time believing she filed and got OK to lift her drone so near the base.

I am also drone pilot and regulators are not nice if you fool around near restricted areas.

cool video blogs.

video blog channel name? not so cool. itchyboots? yuck..put some cream on that.

I really like how she shows the problems that a traveler might run into in a foreign country.

Itchy boots is a good name for her travels.

Mexico?
the USA is far more dangerous place, in a fact-based comparison.
research it.

Ive been watching her adventures. Single woman out in some of these areas feels pretty dangerous - kudo's to her for really getting out there and doing it.

Especially a good looking women like her.

Ever drove thru Mexico? I used to scuba dive down in the San Carlos area. I have a friend who's brother used to work for the port securities in Mexico. They wanted him to move to a port in Oaxaca and didn't want to give him any security so he opted to retire. The guy who eventually took that position in Oaxaca lasted 2 weeks before he was murdered.

Why don't you tell us about your experiences in Mexico and the people you know down there or are you just talking out of your bung hole?

i grew up on a border town. i am quite versed with driving into mexico for a steak and beer.

now, i wont do it. the tough steak and cheap beer isnt worth it now that i am drinking age here in the USA.

Yeah...I hate tough steak also.

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She made it thru Mexico but had at least one panty staining encounter

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She should be home free all the way to the Artic, if the weather holds.

She's got the upper and lower body strength of a baby. And the same sort of balance as a toddler. Painful to watch. Amazingly bad rider given the mileage she's got on the odometer.

Whenever I see a trip report like this I wonder "how the heck do they keep fuel in the tank?" Especially in a place like outback Mexico. It's not like there's a Sheetz every 100 miles.

Prob because of all the cameras/electronics she is carrying.
I thought she did very well.

Thanks Otto for posting...will be watching for the next one.

Thanks for posting, she's got more balls than most of guys that keyboard warrior crap about her. I admire her courage. Wish I had half of it.

I just watched this one today. On her way to Alaska!
The repair shop in CA did her no favors.

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Lots of turtle content...:)

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She's very friendly on her riding thru these countries. She waves to people and that warmth is reciprocated. If you watch the last video I posted she stumbled upon a security detachment of unknown origin. She had cameras mounted on her bike but they were turned off, which may have saved her. She did her homework with her trip planning thru Mexico and talks to the locals about what areas to stay out of and she still ran into an armed group. The captain of the group just waved her thru. He must have recognized her as a tourist and not a threat. Being a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes in Latin country probably helpled.

Since you are such an expert rider, how would you have done going through the same situation? You are alone, unsupported, in a foreign country in the middle of nowhere and you run into a checkpoint of armed men with no uniforms- they're not police or military.

The last time I went diving in Mexico I ran across a group like this with the exception that the guns were hidden. Everything else was there; the security detail, the older gentleman with the mustache in charge, and the VIP. These are people you want to stay away from.

I'm happy she got through Mexico unscathed.

I think they just bolted whatever she ordered on the bike and didn't adjust anything. Slap it on and get it out. Its common.

The episode where she crossed the wet swampy area in Central America was more than I would have done. She had the bike halfway up the wheels stuck in mud and still managed to pull it out.

I would have turned around and said 'forget it'.....she continued on.
Her outlook is very commendable.

OK got it. You're saying that people need to put on a blonde wig and wave when they ride. I'll write that down.

nope, don't think you do

you're a snob and you think you're better than other people

There was a lesbian couple from El Paso that went to visit family across the border earlier this year. They crossed the border with their American mindset and they ran into the wrong people and they paid for it with their lives; raped murdered and dismemebered and left in a ditch.

I'm guessing but I suspect they didn't try to blend in to the environment once they crossed the border. They probably did a bunch of other things wrong like travel at night but thats just me guessing again.

Itchyboots is a stranger in a strange land. I thought she was foolish for traveling thru Mexico but she made it. I was dreading seeing a story of a young Dutch woman on a motorycle disappearing in Mexico.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/20/mexico-lesbian-murder-nohemi-martinez-yulizsa-ramirez/

OK, I'm a snob for thinking that she ought to be able to pull her bike upright and get it out of sand on her own. You've seen her videos, right? She constantly relies on the charity of strangers. Not a good plan when travelling alone, especially for a woman. I'm not of the opinion that any of this is a good idea. If that makes me a "snob" then so be it.

Love her YouTube channel. Her sense of adventure, bravery and positivity continually amazes me.
I also appreciate her interest in Geology, she often goes to explore volcanoes and other natural wonders.

I don't think she relies on anyone from what I've seen. She manages to pull her bike up all by herself plenty. Sometimes however, a passerby offers a hand and who would turn that down?

^ I've watched almost all of the Season 6 Alaska episodes, and a few of the previous years episodes. I've given her thumbs up of course for the really beautiful video landscapes and such.

But trust me, she has A LOT of trouble in sand, on hills, in mud, off camber hills, and can't back up at all. When she falls, which happens probably every 3-4 episodes, she has strangers help her to get the bike back up. The time when she did on her own, she stripped to her tank top and turned pink with exertion. It was a bad, bad bad situation. It makes me really concerned for her safety. All I'm doing is calling it like I see it. Bad idea. She needs to drop the heroine Joan of Arc independent woman thing and get a security detail to ride with her on the questionable areas. She needs a riding buddy in the rough terrain. Otherwise she's going to be found dead somewhere.

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She struggles with the bike sometimes but seems to get back on the road

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7:40

If I put myself in the same spot with a R1200GS fully loaded, I would be equally struggling to get out.

I know she is riding a Honda...anyone know which model/size it is?

^^^ Thanks.... I was thinking it was a single cylinder because of the sound.
Not a bad price at all.

Excellent bike. Very hard to find now with the current supply chain issues.