January 13, 2017

We are packed and ready to go. We are both looking forward to getting away from all the snow. We have had a lot more than this time last year. This is how much is piled up outside our little condo – note the pile on the fence, that is how much fell the night before this photo was taken.

It is that time of the planning and preparing for the trip that the feelings start to get a little confused: excitement, nervous, are we crazy, why are we doing this, is it safe, will we be safe, and on this occasion will the apartment be in one piece when we get home?

Heck you only live once, we are going to have a great time again. I have been reading other cyclists blogs and sometimes that is not a good thing – they may have had scary experiences with traffic, some people may not be friendly, they may not like the hills, the rough roads, the weather etc.

This is going to be an interesting trip, we don’t speak the languages, the writing is different, the culture and customs are different. Did you know that you should not stick your chop-sticks into a bowl of rice as this is done only when you are offering your rice to the dead! It is a good job that Ralf and I can’t eat with chopsticks, that is going to be a learning experience. That is why it is called the Grand Adventure Part Two.

This week both Ralf and I are no longer working which meant we could work together to get the bikes packed, and the bags packed. Of course when it came to getting the bikes packed, I let Ralf do it. He is so good at getting them into the boxes I didn’t want to interfere, I am such a good wife. Our bags we packed ourselves, adding clothes, taking them away. Because we are not taking camping gear and kitchen equipment, I actually have an extra change of clothes – four outfits instead of three.

I laid my clothes out in the living room and Ralf laid his out in the bedroom. This is the kit we are taking.

We bought two extra bags for ease of carrying the panniers on the flights, they can get folded and carried on the back of the bikes. It might look like a lot of stuff, but we are actually about 10 kilos (22 lbs) lighter than last time. We could have been lighter, but we are taking extra sun screen, bug spray and bike cleaning stuff.

The taxi will pick us up at 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we have no delays getting to the airport and checking in. The forecast at the moment is for cold temperatures but no snow.

As most of you know I hate flying and this is going to be a long flight again. Ralf already has the protective sleeve for his arm. I have booked the taxi to get us at the airport four hours before the flight time. This will give us plenty of time to get the over-sized bike boxes loaded and paid for and any other issues that might arise.

I have had a few extra subscribers to this blog, I hope you get notification and you can follow us on the Grand Adventure Part Two.