Should you try your hand at motorcycling again on this trip, I offer this advice for not killing yourself: front brakes are much more powerful than back brakes, and over-application of the front brake is more likely to result in serious injury/death than back brakes. Therefore, should you need to panic stop, stomp on the back brake and don't grab at the front unless you're sure you can be measured about it.

(This advice gets criticized, and rightly so, when offered to people who have been motorcycling for a while. Proper application of both brakes stops you more quickly than just the application of one. But for beginners, it offers the best odds of not dying.)