Most ruined trips are not ruined on the road. They are ruined in the week before, when you find out the green card expires on day three, or that the tyre you ordered arrives after you have gone.

Preparation has a calendar. Here it is.

Eight weeks out

Fix the dates and the shape of the route. Up to here, everything is just talk.
Check the papers: a valid passport (many countries want six months left on it), licence, registration, insurance.
If you are leaving your usual area, check whether you need an international licence, a green card or a visa.
Look at the bike coldly: tyres, chain, pads, service. Whatever is close to the limit now will be past it by the time you come back.

A month out

Order what is missing. Parts and gear are slow to arrive in season.
Do the big service if it is due — not in the last week, so you still have time to catch anything that shows up afterwards.
Book the first two nights and the last one. Leave the rest open.
Check which tolls and vignettes you need along the way.

Two weeks out

Do a test ride with all the luggage on. One day, 200 kilometres. You find out what rubs, what rattles and how much range you lose.
Get your body ready: if you have not ridden since autumn, the first long days will wreck you. Two short rides fix a lot.
Download the offline maps for the countries on the route, on the Wi-Fi at home.
Make copies of your documents, on the phone and on paper, kept apart from the originals.

A week out

Tell the bank where you are going, if your bank needs to know.
Put aside cash in local currency for the first day.
Send the route to someone at home. Not to be tracked — so that someone knows where you should be.
Check pressures, levels and the brake light. It sounds trivial; it is the thing most often forgotten.

The last evening

Charge everything: phone, intercom, camera, power bank.
Put the luggage on the bike, not next to it. If it does not fit tonight, it will not fit at six tomorrow morning.
Put papers and cards where you can reach them without unpacking everything.
Go to bed early. The first day is usually the longest.

The day before you leave, it is worth going through the checklist point by point — it is here, with a form to download and tick.

And when you get back: the places that saved you on the road — a workshop open on a Saturday, a guesthouse with a garage — put them on the map while they are still fresh.