Planning update – Late October 2011

Instead of trying to do posts every now and then, I’ve decided to try and wrap up the information about some of the planning I’ve been doing into larger posts. This should give people an idea of where my preparation is at, and how much more I’ve still got to do.

Gear:
I’ve purchased a fair bit more gear lately, which now means I’ve got almost all the cycling gear I need.

I obtained an Ortlieb rack-pack which goes on my rear rack, and is pretty much a big dry-bag that can hold my tent, sleeping bag, bedroll, wet weather gear and fly. This will mean I can just grab this bag off the bike at the end of the day without digging into panniers to get set up (and risk getting that stuff wet).

Just today I picked up a custom tent fly I had made by a company in Wellington called Dwights Camping. This is a 2m x 3m piece of nylon with eyelets for guys that will make it a lot more comfortable if I’m camping in the rain, in terms of having some shelter to cook under etc. Speaking of cooking, I’m still waiting for my new MSR Whisperlite Internationale to arrive. I already have the normal Whisperlite for tramping in NZ, but it doesn’t burn petrol. Having a new cooker will also make flying over to Europe that little bit easier.

I also got some other minor things, like a nice pump (the Topeak Road Morph with gauge), a map case which clips onto my handlebar bag. I’ve ordered a supply of contact lenses (I’ll pick up more overseas where they’re a lot cheaper!). I’ve also picked up another 1.5tb portable hard-drive that I’ll be taking along.

So the only gear I’m still working on is a Kindle, which I’m wait for the new ones to be released before buying, and some tweaks to my camera setup. I have a Canon 450D at present, but I feel limited by some of the features. I’d really like the 600D for it’s18MP sensor and video capability, but I need to decide if the budget can stretch to it. I’d also like a more rugged video camera- something that’ll let me film while I ride, so considering some of the Kodak cameras, or maybe a Contour or GoPro (although I think the GoPro is really ugly). Oh, and maybe a gorillapod instead of my tripod, but I’m unsure about this. These are all on the want rather than need list. There’s even a “want but not sure if I can really justify” list, with things like a solar panel on it!

Oh, and I got my first bit of sponsored gear- some free socks from Icebreaker, which is pretty cool! For the record, I specifically asked for socks..

:-D

Route:
Making some minor refinements to my route lately, having taken in some advise from people who know the areas I’m going through.
So now from Barcelona I’m looking to head up the coast to Perpignan, then across to Toulouse. From here I’ll make a bee-line towards Lyon and Grenoble.

I’ll see how I feel when I’m there, but I’m thinking more about taking the train through a lot of Italy. This would probably mean I’d ride down through Milan to Pisa and Florence, but then take the train Florence-Rome-Naples and possibly on to Bari. It’s a combination of the reputation of Italian drivers and time constraints- I’d rather spend more time up in Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic.

I’ve also taken into consideration some comments on my route through Austria so that I don’t miss some of the nicest parts.

Logistics:
I’m working on things like dealing with my money while I’m away. I’ll probably just have a NZ account that I get cash out of when needed. I’ll look to get a Euro travel card which cuts down on some fees related to exchange rates when in Europe, and when I’m in Australia I’ll look to set up a bank account there.

There’s a bit of work I need to do around Visas. There are some complicated rules for New Zealanders travelling to Europe. Because of the Schengen Zone, we’re only supposed to stay in this zone for 3 out of any 6 months. Obviously this causes problems for people like me wanting to travel for 6 months through Europe. Apparently NZ has some bilateral agreements with most of the countries that allow for Kiwi’s to stay in that country for up to 3 months regardless of time spent in other Schengen countries. So I just need to follow up with some of these consulates just to make sure. I realise that there aren’t a lot of borders around these days, although I do cross in and out of the Schengen zone once or twice, so I need to be well informed.
There’s some info for Kiwi’s about this stuff here: http://safetravel.govt.nz/destinations/europetips.shtml

Otherwise, I’ve still got a list of stuff I need to do before I leave, like:
– renew passport
– renew drivers licence
– renew bank cards
– sort out student loan repayment holiday
– get final round of immunisations
– sort out medical/first aid kit
– work out what I’m doing with all my possessions while I’m away

I also still need to have another look at how I’ll get from Singapore to Australia without flying. Part of the problem is that this part of the journey is about 20 months away, and things can change a lot in that time. But if anyone has any leads for me, let me know.

Website:
There’s a bit of work I’d like to do on this. I need to work out a proper backup and offline editing process. I feel like I need an offline version that I can play with (in terms of coding tweaks) before making changes live. So that’s an interesting learning process.
I’m still working through how I’m going to present my maps on my route page. Trying to work with Google Maps etc, but a 30,000+km route is going to be a struggle for most web mapping services! It doesn’t help that I’m quite pedantic about this mapping stuff, seeing as it’s my passion and all.

If anyone’s got any suggestions and feedback around the website do let me know! After all- it’s you lot that have to look at it!

Finally, I thought I’d leave you with a link to an awesome blog I’ve been following. It’s about a kiwi couple cycling through SE Asia, and the photos are incredible. They’re the sort of photos I’m aspiring to take. Anyway, check it out here: http://highlux.co.nz/blog/