A long-distance journey demands a solid team. Without one, the entire expedition can quickly fall apart. For the success of Touring Indonesia Harmoni, we therefore formed a small dedicated team drawn from FKPT Aceh, staffed by its members and task-force personnel. This was the team that planned and carried out everything, from drafting the proposal to managing our return from the journey.
The team was chaired by Dr. Mukhlisuddin Ilyas, Head of Research and Assessment at FKPT Aceh. All preparations took place at his headquarters, Bandar Publishing. The technical side of correspondence and paperwork was entrusted to Joko Sutranto, who was always adept at administrative matters. We were also fully supported by the younger colleagues at Bandar Publishing, each working according to their own role and expertise.
Beyond these logistical matters, approval from our extended family was also essential. Naturally, they had their own perspective on riding a motorcycle for such a long period, and they worried about our safety along the way. There was also the question of the children we would leave behind for months. For that reason, we had to reassure the wider family so that Touring Indonesia Harmoni could go ahead. We deliberately chose 28 July 2021 as our departure date, because by then our third child had already entered the Islamic boarding school.
As for our two youngest children, Qyara and Qinar, we entrusted them to their grandmother, along with my wife’s older sister and my younger sibling, who lectures at UIN Ar-Raniry. In addition, Dr. Mukhlisuddin Ilyas would “watch over” our children at the boarding school, since his child and my sister-in-law’s child attended the same pesantren as our three children. We also gave a brief heads-up to the teachers and ustaz at the boarding school. With every family preparation settled, they even came to see us off on our departure day, 28 July 2021.
Why a Support Team Matters More Than the Machine
It is tempting to imagine that a cross-country motorcycle expedition is above all a test of the rider and the machine. In reality, the hardest work often happens far from the road. Long before the first kilometre is ridden, a quiet network of people must align schedules, budgets, permissions and contingencies. For Touring Indonesia Harmoni, that network was the difference between a romantic idea and a journey that actually left Banda Aceh on time. A rider can service a chain or patch a tyre, but no single person can simultaneously chase sponsors, manage correspondence, reassure anxious relatives and keep a household running for months. That is precisely why the team was built first, and the route second.
Roles, Trust, and Division of Labour
What made the preparation team effective was not its size but the clarity of its roles. Dr. Mukhlisuddin Ilyas anchored the effort with institutional credibility and a base of operations at Bandar Publishing, a place already accustomed to coordinating projects and people. Joko Sutranto absorbed the administrative burden, transforming a chaotic stream of letters, proposals and official requests into an orderly process. The younger colleagues filled in the countless small tasks that rarely appear in any itinerary yet determine whether a plan survives contact with reality. This division of labour meant that no single failure could stall the whole expedition, and it freed the riders to concentrate on the physical and mental preparation the road would demand.
The Emotional Logistics of Leaving Home
Perhaps the most underestimated part of any months-long journey is the emotional logistics of leaving a family behind. Securing the blessing of an extended family is not a formality; it is the foundation of peace of mind on the road. A rider distracted by guilt or worry is a rider who makes poor decisions. By carefully arranging care for each child — the two youngest with their grandmother and trusted relatives, the three older ones anchored within a familiar boarding-school community — the family transformed a source of anxiety into a source of strength. The decision to depart only after the third child had settled into the pesantren shows how deliberately the timing was chosen around people, not merely around weather or road conditions.
Turning Approval Into Momentum
There is a subtle but important shift that happens when reluctant approval becomes active support. The extended family did not merely permit the journey; by the departure date they had become participants in it, coming out to see the riders off. That transformation is a small lesson in leadership: people rarely commit to a plan they were simply told about, but they will invest in one they helped make safe. The same principle applied to sponsors, institutions and colleagues. Every conversation that turned a doubter into a supporter added momentum, and momentum is a currency that long expeditions cannot do without.
Lessons for Anyone Planning a Long Expedition
The preparation phase of Touring Indonesia Harmoni offers a template that reaches well beyond motorcycling. First, build the team before the timeline, because capable people make timelines achievable rather than the reverse. Second, name owners for every critical function so that responsibility is never ambiguous. Third, treat family approval as core infrastructure and invest real time in earning it. Finally, choose your departure date around human readiness, not impatience. When these elements come together, the journey itself becomes almost the easy part — the natural result of preparation done well. It was this unglamorous groundwork, more than any single heroic moment on the highway, that allowed the ride from Aceh toward the far east of the archipelago to begin with confidence on 28 July 2021.
Preparing the Riders, Not Just the Route
While the team handled logistics, the riders themselves had to prepare in ways that no proposal could capture. Months on a motorcycle across Sumatra, Java, and the eastern islands would test stamina, patience, and the ability to make sound judgements while tired. Physical conditioning mattered, but so did mental rehearsal: anticipating breakdowns in remote areas, planning for unpredictable weather, and accepting that some days would simply not go as intended. A seasoned team helps here too, because knowing that competent people are managing affairs back home allows the riders to stay present and focused on the immediate stretch of road rather than the hundred worries waiting beyond it.
The Institutional Dimension
Touring Indonesia Harmoni was never purely a personal adventure. Rooted in the work of FKPT Aceh, the journey carried a message about unity and harmony across a vast and diverse nation. That institutional dimension shaped the preparation in meaningful ways. It meant the team had to think about documentation, official letters, and the credibility that would open doors along the route. It also meant the journey answered to a purpose larger than the riders themselves, which is often what sustains people through the hardest stretches. When fatigue set in, the sense of representing something bigger — a vision of an Indonesia connected from its western tip in Aceh to its eastern frontier — provided a reservoir of motivation that a private trip rarely enjoys.
From Preparation to Departure
By the time 28 July 2021 arrived, the expedition had already succeeded in one crucial sense: it existed as a fully formed plan backed by real people. The proposal was written, the sponsors identified, the household arranged, the children cared for, and the family united behind the effort. What remained was to turn the key and ride. In hindsight, the launch day was less a beginning than a milestone — the visible tip of months of invisible work. That is the quiet truth behind nearly every ambitious journey: the road you see is carried by the preparation you do not. Touring Indonesia Harmoni set out strong because it was built strong, long before the first engine roared to life.
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