Iteris

The New Year has begun and the date of departure draws inevitably closer. Last Friday I received my final injections, which means that I am now fully vaccinated for the trip. I have had my last day at work, which was busier than I had expected, and I left thinking how strange it was that only as I was leaving did I get to know more people in the company, perhaps that is just my experience though. I’ve booked the hotel in San Francisco so we actually have a place to stay once all three of us clamber out of the plane after eleven hours and get through customs. I’ve been told it’s a great city, makes me think we should stay longer than two days perhaps.

Now all that I really have left to do is pack the contents of my wardrobe into a suitcase and make sure it weighs less than twenty eight kilos. I’ve also been tweaking the Blog so now if anyone would like to leave a comment you have to register. I know it’s a little more effort, but it means that I don’t get spam comments which, while I’m not able to get to the Blog, would just sit there advertising for who knows what.

The last post of the year and another day closer to the start of my trip. Most of my time recently has been spent thinking about what I should take and worrying about anything I might have forgotten to consider. Tomorrow or Friday I’m going to look at hotel rooms in San Francisco to avoid staying in a hostel. Father Christmas also brought me some cycle ware and I can assure you it makes me look even sexier than usual. Friday I go for my last injection and on the following Monday my last day at work, something that had almost completely slipped my mind. I’m not very good at long and drawn out goodbyes, which is obviously why I’m going back for one last eight hour one, and no, the irony is not lost on me.

Perhaps now is not the time to make a post though, it is New Years Eve and there are family coming for dinner. After that there will be partying until the early hours and I have various other things on my mind which, despite the point of this Blog, I will not note down here. I shall pick up my posting next year, so all there is left to do is wish you all a happy new year.

As I promised the blog has not been updated regularly. Saying that though, I’ve not had a great deal to write about, the trip has been over-shadowed somewhat by preparations for Christmas, and of course when I say preparations I mean dashing around frantically trying to think what various friends and family would like. I’ve been enjoying being on holiday and not having to get up at some ungodly hour to go to the gym. I’ve also had the second round of vaccinations and only have one more to go before I should be sorted for the trip. I’ve also got my travel insurance done, so I’ve already spent a tidy sum on getting ready. However, thanks to private medical insurance courtesy of the company I’ve just left, I’ve not had to pay for the jabs, which my wallet is grateful for.

However, other than the things I’ve briefly summarised nothing has occurred. I have booked my flights to the UK, so I am officially flying out for the start of the trip on Friday 9th January 2009. I’m worrying about what I need to take, I just can’t think of what it should be and that’s the only thing really that I’m concerned about at the moment. I realise that there are shops abroad that we can buy stuff from, but I just want to know that I’ve got a plan for the cycling gear and I don’t seem to at the moment. I go through two thought processes whenever I think about the cycling gear and what I need. On the one hand I think that it is going with the flow, which is what I wanted and then the other part of me replies that there is going with the flow and being unprepared. However I am sure that things will be sorted and my concerns will be for naught.

I went for the vaccinations on Thursday, or to be more precise, I started the course. It would appear that I have to go back twice more for Hep B, and a blood test to make sure that I am creating anti-bodies. I’m on the accelerated programme, so if random words begin to appear in my posts, you know why. On Saturday I went for a cycle into Spain and it kindly began to pour down, soaking myself and Mike, who was on the front of the tandem. By the time we arrived back I was drenched through, obviously a bit of a taster of what I might experience in New Zealand. Despite the fact that my trainers are still drying beneath the towel rail I was glad of the rain. It is more than a little strength sapping and it is likely something that I am going to experience in New Zealand, so it highlighted a few things that I must think carefully about, such as the importance of dressing correctly. Obviously we are going to be taking what we need with us, so we are going to have to make a few compromises, but it doesn’t mean that we cannot be as well equipped as possible.

I tend not to get homesick when I go away. I went to boarding school at a young age, so I’m used to being separated from my family for long periods, but over the last few days it has struck me that I will be gone for a long time, over a quarter of a year in fact, and I will be on the other side of the world for most of it. It will certainly be the longest period of time I’ll have gone without seeing any of my family, and I’m sure that I’ll come to rely heavily on this blog as well as MSN and Skype to keep in touch. Still there is always the niggling concern in the back of my mind that something might happen while I’m away. It’s not something that will stop me form going, but I know it’s a thought that will be a constant companion.

The trip still seems dreamlike. It is so immense, so huge an expedition for me that I still have to remind myself it is actually going to happen. To me it seems like such a looming task and I am sure that it is the colossally daunting nature of the trip that I find so exciting, something so completely off of the wall for me and I have no doubt it is going to be memorable.

It seems cruel that only after I’ve handed in my resignation I become aware of how much I enjoy and will miss the company of my friends at work. Their presence in my life during the past few years has been a given and it is sad to think that I will not see them as often. The old adage “Change is inevitable” is perhaps pertinent but trite. As cliché as it is however, a chapter of my life is closing and another one is about to begin. I don’t believe that it will necessarily be a better chapter, but it will most certainly be a different one. To all the people that I have worked with, you have helped and supported me and most importantly given me your time and friendship and I am very grateful for that.

With regards to preparations for the trip, I have booked myself in for travel vaccines and I’m sure they will be nothing but a great joy to receive. New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong are okay I believe but Vietnam is where the vaccines will come in handy. Saying that Australia is not in short supply of small and large creatures with enough venom to fell an elephant. What seems curious to me is that the creatures that pack the biggest punch are the ones that eat the smallest prey. Why’s that? Anyway I digress, there are those coming up, and also I have been looking at hotels in San Francisco, seeing as it looks like the travel agents made a mistake and we’re staying there for a couple of days. Also received a cheery thought from a work colleague about how many endurance cyclists go sterile young. I’m sure this is going to be fun!

I handed in my notice on Friday, certainly a hard thing to do. Of course the mere act of announcing a resignation is not difficult, but the significance behind it is what’s had me lying awake at night. I spent eight hours, for five days a week, for three years there and the people I worked with became colleagues and then friends. I have enjoyed working alongside each of them, and their support throughout my time there certainly made it a great place to work. Unfortunately I had to make the choice between work and the trip, I believe that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I feel I made the right decision.

Now that is done, and the flights are booked and paid for, the trip seems to have become a great deal more real. I keep thinking of things that need to be sorted before I leave as well as thinking of the stuff I want to take with me. At the moment though, I’m concentrating on the inoculations that I might need for when we go to some parts of Asia. We have offers of bases in Auckland where we could leave anything we don’t need for the cycle and collect it upon our return. One thing is for sure, for this cycle we are going to need to travel ruthlessly light, as anything we take we are going to have to drag behind us.

I’ve made some changes to the look and feel of the Blog, I’m very pleased with the appearance and pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do. My thanks have to go to Lee for his help with some of the PHP behind the site.

For a long time the idea of a blog has appealed to me, but I have never had anything that I felt warranted writing down and I am not one of those people who enjoys documenting the minutiae of their life. However a few months ago a couple of friends and I casually decided to cycle the length of New Zealand and, apart from gaining a growing awareness of the scale of the undertaking ahead, I realised I finally had something to write about. I’m not claiming that this blog will be entertaining, updated every day or even grammatically correct, but it will be a documentation of my thoughts, feelings and experiences for anyone who wishes to read them and will not least of all, be a written account for myself.

So here we are, the first post on my new blog. It is not the prettiest or the best organised, which hopefully I will remedy somewhat, but it does the job and of course, that is the whole point.