European Motorcycle Trip 1962

In my Sophmore year at U of Wisconsin I enrolled in a low cost trip to Europe.  We flew from New York to Paris in an unpressurized plane. I took a boat from Calais to Folkstone — no chunnel at this time.  I took a train to the Triumph Motorcycle works in Coventry where I picked up my brand new Triumph 500 cc Speedtwin.

Back on the boat to Calais and then across Belgium to Aachen, Germany.  I spent ten weeks motorcycling through Germany and Austria.  I stayed overnight at youth hostels — Juegendherbergen – that cost 1 Mark (25 cents) a night.  The hostels were like hotels!

On the way back our plane stopped at Gander, Newfoundland, for fuel.  We students bought so much liquor in the duty-free shop that our captain was concerned that the plane was grossly over weight.  Nonetheless, we took off and had  a safe flight home.

I traveled 8000 miles through Europe, and it was the most awesome motorcycle trip of my lifetime.

This is our unpressurized plane

 

 

 

To the Youth Hostel

 

Here is a typical men’s dorm.  I carried a light-weight sleeping bag.  The beds were very comfortable.

 

My Triumph Speedtwin  It was British except for the American style handlebars.  British bars were narrow racing-style

 

Wine was cheaper than Coke along the Rhine. My lunches consisted of Roggenbrot and cheese.

 

View along the Rhine River   Note that these pictures were digitized from slides, so not of the quality of my DSLR images