Welcome to Don’t Believe The Hype. I’m Dan, a nomadic New Zealander who loves riding the path less ridden.
Welcome
Equestrian encounters in the Gobi desert.
Translation apps ease communication between myself and my younger if not older hosts, and I catch up on the news from back home.
In September 2015 I said goodbye to family and friends and set off on a long overdue cycle trip. My plan was to ride across Asia, from Russia, to Hong Kong and beyond..
In total, I was away for just over nine months. It was an amazing journey, but, more than that, it was the day when I stopped looking to others for liberation and took my life into my own hands.
I returned to New Zealand in June 2016, sick and broke, but empowered. It was a reluctant retreat and a hard transition, but I felt like the journey had only just begun.
Don’t Believe The Hype was conceived as an alternate travel blog, a place to explore and expose trendy travel concepts as marketing buzzwords. But the realities of independent travel are the realities of life in your own skin – wherever you go, there you are.
I hope that, by being honest, I can dispel some of the myths around adventure travel and encourage you to live out your own dreams.
The Tour Diaries contain my daily thoughts and observations from the road.
Reading each of the Tour Diaries from start to finish is the best way to relive my experiences, with all of their highs and lows.
However if you're looking for a specific Diary entry, then the Sitemap will help you get there more quickly.
And finally, if you're looking for information about a specific place or activity, the Search function will allow you to search the entire website for this.
Happy hunting!