What You’ll Find in This Section:
- 📌 The Story Behind Rag-the-Red – How this journey began
- 📌 Meet the Pack – Who we are, both human and furry
- 📌 From Corporate Life to Full-Time Travel – Why we made this life-changing decision
- 📌 How We Prepared – The bikes, the training, and the logistics
- 📌 Our Goals & Expectations – What we hope to achieve on this adventure
What is Rag-the-Red?
Rag has been Ken’s nickname since childhood. The name Rag-the-Red was born in the early days of the internet when usernames had to be long enough to be unique. Now, it’s the identity of everything he creates, let it be art, writing or travel stories.
Our journey officially began on August 17, 2024. Zsófi rides with Ricky, and Ken rides with Molly—our two Border Collies in their custom-built dog boxes.
Take your time, explore our stories, and join us on the ride.
The humans
Rag (aka Ken) and Zsófi met in the IT support business and have worked as managers together in various large corporations ever since. Zsófi was living in Hungary at the time, and Rag was based in the UK. With an expert amount of blagging, they found a way to end up in the same country, working for the same company.
Zsófi: the operations lead
Zsófi was raised as a city girl in Budapest, Hungary, and has spent time living abroad in Canada, US, the UK, and the Czech Republic. She has always had a thirst for travel and is always restless, unless she sees the next challenge in front of her, which she creates for herself. Although a dreamer, she can also be quite analytical, especially regarding finances. Needless to say, she is in charge of costs; if this were Rag’s responsibility, it would be a short trip. Zsófi will never be a successful poker player because whatever is on her mind is usually written all over her face.
She doesn’t like coffee, wine, or whiskey but enjoys lemonade and ice cream. She hates shopping or owning things she doesn’t think are needed. However, she does love to socialize and try new things; give her a zip line or a tent, and she will be happy.
And of course, she is a dog lover and always ensures that the “kids” (Ricky and Molly) are healthy and that their papers are up to date to allow us entry into the countries we visit.
Before Snow White (the Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro) she has always ridden street bikes for everyday commute as well as touring. Quickly adjusting to the wind factor that comes with riding a naked bike she loved the speed and manoeuvrability in the city. However Snow White immediately took a special place in her heart and by now she cannot imagine not riding an adventure bike.
Rag: the writer
Rag was born and raised in a small fishing village in the North East of England but was raised a Scotsman by his larger-than-life Scottish mother. Trips to Scotland to see family were constant history lessons etched into his soul. However, being raised in Yorkshire adds a unique outlook on life, not to mention a very peculiar English accent that has had to change over the years to allow people to understand him when delivering training classes around the globe.
Half of Rag’s life was spent in the security industry and the other half in the corporate world, with both careers being quite successful. Still, his favourite job was as a forest ranger because he prefers the great outdoors. It’s not hard to see why hitting the road on a motorcycle might be appealing to him.
Rag loves coffee, beer, and whiskey, and he is passionate about his toys. So, you can imagine how hard it is for him to leave some of his gadgets behind.
Most of his time is spent writing, route planning, and finding accommodation. So, if things go wrong, we know who to blame.
His philosophical approach to life is a comedic glass-half-full, even if the glass had a chip in it and the handle was missing. He has the patience of a saint, which is very much needed when you marry a fiery Hungarian woman who can’t wait for you to have your morning coffee before she starts bombarding you with ideas she had at 4 a.m. that morning.
Rag has been riding motorcycles from an early age and has put many miles on the road. Yet, he still knows nothing about mechanics, so this adventure could be a real learning curve for him.
Started with a KTM250, before moving on to a Thundercat 600. After a trail bike and a sport bike it was only fair to try and adventure bike and a Varadero XL soon became a trusted partner on some of the long journeys. During the quiet years of COVID he switched to a Suzuki GSX 950, which was probably the sexiest bike he ever owned, but less convenient to tour with. Therefore he swapped it for a Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro, which much like Zsófi, he absolutely fell in love with.
The furry companions
Travelling with us in their very own motorhomes (dog box on the back of a bike) will be our two adopted Border Collies, Ricky and Molly. We have always felt a level of guilt when leaving our pups behind to go on adventure for a couple of weeks. Zsófi’s mother has always been our go-to person for dog sitting because she knows how to handle them (and when I say handle, I obviously mean spoil).
Now, with our new pooch carriers, we never have to worry about leaving them behind again. We did think about trailers behind the bikes, but we didn’t want the dogs breathing in our exhaust fumes all day. Also we still wanted some agility when sitting in traffic, especially on a hot day when you need that airflow to keep cool.
Ricky: the big bear
Ricky and Molly are very different characters with two years separating their ages. Ricky was only 5 months and was up for adoption once his owners realised he was deaf. We of course fell in love with him and were willing to take any risk that came with adopting him. He has learned hand signals that we have taught him over the years and we are so in sync that his condition has never been an issue. He is a proper mummy’s boy and, for a Border Collie, is pretty much lazy. His hobbies include eating followed by a snooze, light walks followed by a snooze, eating dog treats followed by a snooze, and sleeping on the nearest foot or leg he can find. He is not big on being stroked by strangers and prefers to be left alone. He will let you know when he is not happy, so please keep all fingers in the carriage at all times. We have invested in a warning scarf for him that he wears around his neck with pride, hoping it will deter anyone from approaching him. He is not a vicious dog; just leave him alone, and he will leave you alone. This attitude comes to us all at some point in life. Ricky in now 10 years old and although he is very much a dog of routines, he adjusts to every situation like a champ.
Molly: the hyper
Molly, on the other hand, is quite the character! She is nuts! This is a dog that thinks everyone is here to see her and loves the attention. Even though she is 8 years old, still acts like a pup. She loves the bike and has even taken to wearing goggles. She rides with her head out of the window most of the time, with her tongue flapping in the breeze, which means she gets plenty of protein on our trips. We call her the sheriff because if anything is kicking off, she needs to get involved, sorting it out and giving her opinion. This is a huge step up from the reactive dog she was when we rescued her at the age of 1,5. She wasn’t in great condition, so it took a long time for her to settle into our pack and become the little super hero she is now.
Molly has an irrational fear of thunder, loud bangs, and fireworks. You might say, “Why irrational? Most dogs have this fear.” But Molly will try to escape by any means necessary, even climbing up onto a shelf, half destroying a kitchen, and flooding a bathroom because she wanted to stand on a water pipe. This might be her biggest fear, but it is now also ours, along with health and injury issues for all of us. We don’t want to run into any thunderstorms with her on the back of a bike, and we will be paying close attention to the weather forecast daily.
She is 100% daddy’s girl and her funny gaze with the different coloured eyes always helps her achieve the affection she seeks from Rag.
The decision
Ever since we have been together our holidays have always been about touring on our motorcycles. Before this trip, we have covered the UK to Hungary and back again twice, the UK to Luxembourg, a tour of Transylvania, and a tour of Italy. Recently, we have covered quite a bit of the Balkans with our Serbian friends. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia are incredible places to visit by motorcycle and have become some of our favourite regions to explore by bike.
Touring the world by motorcycle was always a dream and never much of a reality. Just like for everybody else: the jobs, the house, the dogs… Then in early 2024 something changed. Life just became too short and precious not to realize our dreams. What if we could take the dogs with us? What if we sold the house and all our possessions? How long could we last on the road? Would the dogs take to riding on the back of a motorcycle?
Fast forward a few months, and the house was sold within a week of being on the market, which brought our timeline forward. Possessions were sold, and the dogs were trained to use the Pillion Pooch carriers!
The decision to sell the house was not easy, especially after spending the last 20 years building a life and collecting all our worldly possessions. Moving house is hard, but selling items with sentimental value was even more difficult. Nevertheless, we had to make some hard decisions and powered through. The house sold very quickly, and our household items found new owners through social media, word of mouth, and yard sales.
Leaving your job behind is scary, especially close to 50. We are still full of “what if’s”. But the jury has finished deliberating on the “work to live or live to work” topic and we have worked for this all our lives, so before life passes by, we are taking our chances.
Preparation for the Journey
In preparation for our new adventure, the first obvious step was to swap our street bikes for touring bikes. Zsófi’s CBR 650 sold immediately (which much to her demise left her without a motorcycle for a couple of months). For some reason Rag’s Suzuki GSXS was harder to sell. Probably because it was a beast of a bike, yet not a sports bike. Rag loved that machine and it was lots of fun to ride. Unfortunately, you need an iron butt to travel long distances on it, so it had to go.
After many months of research and bike comparisons, we finally chose two Triumph Tiger 900s. Zsófi opted for the GT Pro, while Rag went for the Rally Pro—two very capable bikes that can handle almost anything. In addition to the bikes, we also purchased upper crash bars for the Rally Pro and a full set of crash bars and a belly pan for the GT Pro. We also bought side panniers, crash bar bags, and tank bags for our luggage. We hope this will provide enough space for the four of us.
We are no strangers to traveling long distances by motorcycles and are fully aware of the problems you can face on a journey. Our preparation was aimed at getting used to the heavy load and the potential challenge that the dogs represent on the bikes.
This situation however was completely new to the dogs. We were prepared for a lot of practice getting them used to the dog carriers and the motorbikes, but they took to it very easily. Ricky, our deaf Collie, just gets in his box and goes to sleep. Molly, on the other hand, is hyper and barks every time we stop and start again. Let’s just say we will not be sneaking out of town ever!
The real challenge was packing the right amount of essentials, balanced with minimal luxury items—Rag’s travel coffee maker, for example. Our luggage consists of camping gear, technical equipment, dog supplies, and clothes for both winter and summer.
We decided early on that the first year will be spent in Europe. Even though it is not the cheapest part of the world, this is our home terrain. So as beginner RTW (round the world) travellers with dogs, we wanted to make sure that we know what to expect, we know that we are safe and the dogs can receive good care should it be needed.
Goals and Aspirations
Why the blog? For many reasons! First to keep our family and friends up-to-date with our travel. Second to share our experiences with anybody who is interested in travelling by motorcycle or with their dog (or both). We want to take readers on our journey and do our best to describe what we discover in the hope that people will be inspired. Note that we didn’t say inspired to travel, buy a bike, or start a blog. We just want to inspire people to do something they’ve always wanted to do and maybe thought it was too difficult to chase a dream.
Our plan is not to have too much of a plan but just enough to get by. We want as few limitations as possible, not because we don’t like rules, but to ensure we have the flexibility to wander off and see whatever we want or simply follow our noses for a while. Neither of us has been big users of social media in the past, but we will do our best to document what we are up to.
Expectations
This isn’t about a dream vacation—it’s about a new way of life. The road ahead is unpredictable, but that’s what makes it exciting. We hope to achieve a kind of freedom and calmness that puts our souls at rest and gather some fantastic stories to share along the way. That said, we also understand the reality of taking on an adventure like this, including vehicle issues, getting lost, health issues, and finding a way to remain sustainable. It won’t be lying on beaches sipping cocktails surrounded by unbelievably friendly people while the dogs frolic in the water. This will be a hard adventure, but we hope that the freedom and good things we discover will outweigh the bad ones we try to avoid.
If our plans change somewhere down the road, this life will hopefully give us the mindset of being able to take a breath, think about what we want to do next, and then just go out and do it!
