Panic Stations

I have found with every previous adventure that the pace of preparation builds to a peak as the departure date draws closer. There are always a vast number of tasks to be completed in the final few weeks. Packing is only one of the tasks, and in some ways it is the easiest. There are a many more tasks that consume a lot more time.

In particular I have perused our proposed cycling route so many times, that I feel that I am already familiar with many of the roads, hotels and bike trails.

Germany used to be one of the few countries on Earth that did not allow Google to film their roads for its Streetview function. I discovered a couple of months ago that this has changed. That meant that I could now do a lot of preliminary route planning with this very useful visual aid.

I have now prepared a potential GPS track for every day of the ride, all the way from Hamburg to Vienna. Although I have now also been supplied with another set of tracks by the local operators, I am not sure which tracks I will end up using. It certainly will not hurt to have options along the way.

With only two weeks to go until I leave, my house is starting to look like a disaster zone. I have clothing and bike gear in one room and electronic cables, chargers, cameras, etc in another. Over the next few days I will condense all this scattered gear into a single mass and then see how much of my case it will occupy.

What else do I need ? SIM cards for local European mobile use, power adapters, connecting cables, batteries, a few clothes, cycling gear, helmet, glasses and so on. And yes, I will need cash and credit cards, travel documents, photo ID and.....and.... something else that I can't quite put my finger on.

Oh, I just remembered what it was - my passport !Read more