Aug 17, 2026 · 53 min · 22 segments
*Overland Journal Podcast* host Ashley Giordano welcomes Bettina “Bea” Höbenreich and Helmut Koch to discuss the impacts of returning to ADV basics, answering the question “How minimalist can you go…
Helmut KochGuest
Bettina HöbenreichGuest
Ashley GiordanoHost
How do you think that this experience on two bikes has changed you as people, if at all?
Mainly, I would say the first trip, you know, like traveling around the world, selling everything, living out of a couple of panniers, seeing actually, well, let's say it this way, like back then I watched a lot of motorcycling movies.
Of course, we watched Long Way Round and so on, which is like a must if you travel probably overland with a motorcycle.
And for me was always like the biggest freedom- That gets sold to you, especially from Hollywood as well, is like riding a motorcycle down the road, the endless highway towards the horizon, towards sunset.
But when we left Germany and started traveling on those motorcycles, I recognized that the biggest freedom actually came with just having so less things.
You know? Like, because I, I do not have to worry about so much stuff anymore, and that gave me the time to ride down on the road towards the horizon and the sunset, and that was actually a big learning.
And of course, seeing... well, meeting a lot of people like, you know, you have...
We got invited, just picked up from the road somewhere in Russia, wherever in the world-
And then the next morning the mother is crying because you're leaving again, you know? Like, they gave us, like, food and, and, and med- medica- medicine just in case something happens and so on, and that touches you.
You realize that actually people all around the world, they want the same.
They want to have enough food, and it's not about the religion or the culture.
Um, and I think we live in a very secure bubble, and it was a real eye-opener for us to look beyond this bubble and see how life actually is in a lot of areas in this world, and it, it looks very different to what we're used to in, like-
How do you think that this experience on two bikes has changed you as people, if at all?
Mainly, I would say the first trip, you know, like traveling around the world, selling everything, living out of a couple of panniers, seeing actually, well, let's say it this way, like back then I watched a lot of motorcycling movies.
Of course, we watched Long Way Round and so on, which is like a must if you travel probably overland with a motorcycle.
And for me was always like the biggest freedom- That gets sold to you, especially from Hollywood as well, is like riding a motorcycle down the road, the endless highway towards the horizon, towards sunset.
But when we left Germany and started traveling on those motorcycles, I recognized that the biggest freedom actually came with just having so less things.
You know? Like, because I, I do not have to worry about so much stuff anymore, and that gave me the time to ride down on the road towards the horizon and the sunset, and that was actually a big learning.
And of course, seeing... well, meeting a lot of people like, you know, you have...
We got invited, just picked up from the road somewhere in Russia, wherever in the world-
And then the next morning the mother is crying because you're leaving again, you know? Like, they gave us, like, food and, and, and med- medica- medicine just in case something happens and so on, and that touches you.
You realize that actually people all around the world, they want the same.
They want to have enough food, and it's not about the religion or the culture.
Um, and I think we live in a very secure bubble, and it was a real eye-opener for us to look beyond this bubble and see how life actually is in a lot of areas in this world, and it, it looks very different to what we're used to in, like-
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