It's currently Wednesday afternoon. We leave Monday afternoon for Thailand. We have a 15 hour layover (booked intentionally) in Abu Dhabi where we will get to leave the airport and do some exploring of the UAE.
I feel like I should be more nervous/panicked/excited. We've been planning this trip (and by planning I mean intending to go and then booking a one way flight) for months. It has been so far away for so long I do not think I have come to terms with how close it is.
The truth is you can't plan that much for a bike tour when you travel the way we do. You can only take what fits in your panniers so packing itself does not take long. However, I have never taken my bike with me on an international (39 hours travel time total) flight. There is a lot that goes into packing a bike in to a box and hoping it gets to my destination. Lucky for me, I have a brilliant engin-nerd of a travel partner who will do most of this work - disaseembling and reassembling the bikes, fitting them in to their boxes, paying the airline a small fortune to check the boxes, praying to God they come out on the other side. You know, the nitty gritty details most people don't talk about when they post pictures of their beautiful touring bikes all geared up for a trip around the world.
We have packing and sorting to do. As much as I would like to have it all done in advance, this isn't my first rodeo - I know how Joe works. He doesn't believe in having stuff done ahead of time. No matter how much I attempt to have us ready in advance and therefore have a nice leisurely Monday before we leave for the airport I know it ain't happening.
And that's okay. I know we'll get it all done and I know we'll arrive in Bangkok on January 14 fresh as daisies and ready to explore a new and totally different part of the planet. Oh and did I mention that it's currently in the 80s in Thailand? That may be the thing I am currently most excited about.
I'm sure everything will go smoothly and we'll end up having a great adventure. For everything else, we purchased our travel insurance last week. Hey what's the worst thing that could happen? No really, what? What else IS there to do besides explore Thailand on a bike? If you figure it out, let me know.
