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.
A choir of canines force me to re-evaluate the co-working choices around town.
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I’m lovin’ it.
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.
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Free as a bird.
The Tour Diaries contain daily entries from my 2015-16 tour of East Asia. Alternatively, head offsite to TrackMyTour to read an as-it-happened micro blog of my 2019 tour through India and Nepal.