Photos by Marcus Engel
‘I was never an activist. I was never out to save the world. I just thought it would be a really cool thing to do.’ Life has been pretty interesting for 35-year-old Marcus Engel of late, as he charts a course across the globe on his trusty steed, EVE. After the pandemic hit, Marc knew he had to figure out something else to do because, as a musician, having all his shows and tours cancelled was not exactly part of the plan. He decided to sell everything he owned, buy a motorcycle, an electric one at that, and start travelling and creating videos! Talk about diving headfirst into the unknown!
Motoring World: What made you want to take on this journey? Has this been something you have always wanted to do?
Marcus Engel: My life as I knew it in Berlin came to a grinding halt when the pandemic hit. It was at that point that I realised that I had to make a choice, and I sold everything I had to start travelling full-time. It was around December 2022 when I started this big journey to New Zealand, and it has been over one and a half years, and yes, so far so good. Now, the reason I wanted to do this on an electric motorcycle is that I was inspired by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and their show Long Way Up where they rode Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles, and I thought that it was so cool. So, when I had to decide on a motorcycle for my trip, it just had to be electric, which led to me buying the Zero SR/F. It is a challenge, but that’s part of the reason that I wanted it. Anyone can do it on a regular motorcycle; it has been done by so many. As for me, I wanted a challenge. I did not want to make it easy on myself at all, and as it turns out, I actually quite enjoy it. I do not think I am going to ever go back to a regular motorcycle.
MW: If you had the choice of doing this whole trip on an ICE motorcycle, would you still do it?
ME: I could do it, for sure; I mean, it has been done by so many others, and it would be fun as well, I am sure. But the thing is that I have gotten so used to the electric motorcycle now, knowing that it has its negative as well as positive sides, the negative being the charging, while the positive is that there is not much to do on the motorcycle — no vibrations, plenty of power, minimal maintenance. There are no gears, no constant shifting up and down, and for what I do, as a vlogger, which helps a lot. It is all just a matter of convenience. You have to get used to it and make sure to plan your routes so that you can always charge up, which is fairly easy when you travel in Europe, and actually up till Turkey, which was way more advanced than I imagined. That was the best experience I had in terms of the charging infrastructure. Things changed when I was in Iran and Pakistan because the infrastructure was not quite there, and many times I had to find a domestic power socket to charge the bike. That changed again when I was riding through India because there is a lot of progress with electric vehicles here.
me and the motorcycle, and of course, the journey
MW: About travel, has all this travelling ever changed your perception of people and cultures over the years?
ME: I wouldn’t necessarily say changed, but I have realised more and more that we are all the same; no matter where we may go, we all have to deal with a lot of the same problems, and the one thing that strikes me the most is that everyone has their own experience with travelling, but for me, luckily, I have only met nice people along the way. I cannot think of even one unpleasant experience because everyone has always tried to be super helpful and accommodate me, and maybe that has something to do with how people see me and the motorcycle, and of course, the journey.
Especially in India, because what we get to see from Western media is not actually how it is on the ground, so I was really positively surprised. I really enjoyed the landscape, I really liked the people, and when I was in Bangalore, I thought that I could probably see myself living there. In every new country, I just take it all in the way it is and surprise myself every day! One of the reasons that I share everything that I do is because I meet so many people, and if everybody in the world were able to see the world with their own eyes, like I do, we would live in a different world. There would not be so much hate and misunderstandings; people would be able to see that we are all in the same boat and everybody is the same. I am lucky enough that travelling allows me to understand that.
MW: What has your most memorable moment been on this journey so far?
ME: That’s a tough question because there are so many different things going on all the time in every country, but there was this one time in Albania when I went to a national park in the mountains with the bike and I didn’t know where I would end up. Once I got to the top, it started snowing, and it was just surreal, so when things like that happen, they are always memorable. There have been similar moments in Nepal and Ladakh where I have met locals and heard their stories, and the whole India experience has also had a deep impact on me. I have never been in any other country as long as I have been here; there is just so much to explore, and it is such a massive country, and with every state, it changes so drastically — the culture, the infrastructure, everything. That is what makes it so interesting, I guess.
MW: Travel brings experience, and experience, wisdom. What is a pearl of wisdom that you could give your younger self if you had the opportunity to?
ME: If I could start over at like twenty, with all the knowledge and experience I have now, it would be so great, but answering your question, I would tell myself to really put myself out there. What I have learnt is that the more you talk about the things you want to do and the more you put them out there in the universe, the more likely it is to actually happen, so just a lot of manifestation. Things start to fall into place, and I am starting to achieve my goals. There is no better day than today to do whatever you want to do. There are always going to be people who will question you, but you have to reach for what you want. It will not be easy, but you just have to keep going.
MW: Since you are travelling on an electric motorcycle, is sustainability a major deciding factor on your journey?
ME: This will come as a surprise, but I was never an activist. I was never out to save the world. I just thought it would be a really cool thing to do. When I started, a lot of people were quick to jump to that conclusion, but really, it was just a choice of convenience. I think that in terms of the environment, we may already have pushed it past a point of no return, but there should always be hope. As for sustainability, I do not really think that these EV batteries are truly sustainable because there has to be a better way to power these motors. Alternate sources of power are sometimes dangerous, too, and manufacturers really have to make them idiot-proof. I would not be surprised if in ten years they rip out all of these charging stations and put something else in because there are new developments every day.
MW: It has been quite fun talking to you. What lies ahead for you in the future?
ME: I will not be doing this forever, probably for a few more years though. But I could talk about it for hours on end. So much has happened; I have experienced so much, and that is why I am so happy that I have all these videos. In twenty years or so, I will look back and relive the whole thing once again. It is like my diary, and I am happy to share it with the world.
