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PRE-DEPARTURE

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PRE-DEPARTURE JOURNAL ENTRIES:

MENTAL PREPARATION

10/15/04: This really should be titled "A TRIP TO A DIFFERENT HEAD SPACE" but no matter how appropriate of a title it would be, that would be stealing someone else's title so I will stick with the wonderful preppy and catchy title of "Mental Preparation".

A real winner, huh ? :)

The head trip about this round the world trip has been 18 years in the making at this time of writing. Why? Why did it take me so long to come to grips with my dream?

Well, at first I was waiting for Mr. Right (my boyfriend) to come along and then when he did I was waiting for him to lead the way. I used to come home and jump into his lap and say "Would you like to sail around the world with me?" Giggling, no less! He, of course, as any male would say with a lovely, lithe, girl in his arms, was "Well, Sure!" 

I would go off happy in the knowledge that we were on the same page and it would be just a matter of time before we saved up enough as a couple and made it happen. What I really was saying was "Honey, I want to travel the world. Let's just do it. Let's just go. Let's start saving and sacrificing together, you lead, and I will start researching."

What (I think) he meant was "Well sure, if someday, sometime, it happens to fall in our lap and doesn't cause too many interruptions in our normal lifestyle, and cheap to boot, then of course I would like to go!"

Big difference! Hey? Took me a few years to get that one. Yep, I'm sure fast on the uptake! :-) There are people that like the idea of travel and then there are people that like to travel. Two big differences.

I waited and researched, waited and researched, bought a house, waited and researched, got sucked into suburbia, waited and researched, years drifted by seemly invisibly. Finally, one day, I woke up to the fact that I was $20,000 in debt and not going any where soon. How did this happen?

House repairs can be expensive, a little there, a little here, and poof! Welcome to credit card land. He was doing the finances and so I didn't realize just how much I was spending. So much for being on the same page. Time for a second job!

Many years later, debt paid off I took a six week tour to Europe and Florida by myself. You see, I was trying to get it out of my system. To many years have gone by now. I am old and out of shape now. It is time to lay this dream to rest. Take six weeks off, go travel, get it out of your system, be done with this silly dream. If I starve this dream enough it will dwindle, shrivel, and die (dreams do that you know! There is a point of no return for just about everything in life), but first, give it six weeks.

Well, that just wetted my appetite! That six weeks rekindled my shriveling dream just when I thought it would put me out of the misery and internal pressure of constantly being pulled one way by  suburbia and all the comfort zones that can offer, (including a great job, great house, and great boyfriend) and being pulled the other way by my dream to dropping it all and taking off round the world for a year.

Gosh, it's been 18 years. I have too much to give up now to do this. I worked so damn hard to get where I am in the now to give it up for what? A dream, off in the future!

So, the internal tug of war continued ever stronger after I came back. It wasn't pleasant. I can tell you that for sure. For one solid year after that Euro trip I racked my brain about a RTW trip. How, could I have my cake and eat it too?

The pressure was on. Hard and fast from nobody but me, myself and I. As to why I felt so very pressured by my own damn self you will learn in the  "Physical Preparation" chapter.

If I make this decision it will affect more that just me. I am in a committed relationship of 13 years. Making this decision for me will be making it for two.

The changes will affect us both in diverse ways, for he will stay and I will go. How will we handle that? Will his economic lifestyle change, because of my decision? How will he handle that? We will be doing a long distant relationship. How will we make it work to the best possible advantage? How can we minimize the impact of my decision on him?

These questions and more I slowly worked through during that year after my Euro trip. Finally, after long, hard, internal tormenting, mental struggle I thought I found answers that maybe we both could live with.

One day we went out to dinner and I felt this would be the perfect time to broach "The Subject". Poor guy, doesn't know what he's in for does he? :-)

"Honey, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that I love you!" Laughter from him. "I have decided that I love you more than a round the world trip. If I had to choose between you and travel I would willingly, without grudge, choose you. So, no pressure now, but I either need to lay this dream to rest by doing it or putting it down like a dog. So, hear me out all the way, can I go if I do the following..."

Without going into to much detail, I laid out a framework of planning and finances, which I had been cooking up over the last month or so.  I covered all issues, no matter how delicate. Everyone needs to find their own way in this area, this was mine. In short, he said YES!

PHYSICAL PREPARATION

11/01/04: The pressure of time was especially harsh for me due to the fact that every winter I would gain ten pounds. No matter how active I am in the summer, I was becoming more and more overweight each winter.

Dare we say the "O" word? Go on spit it out; overweight. Ah...No, wrong word; Obese. Yes, my name is Darlitia and I am on the threshold of obesity. Oh, the lovely joy those words bring me... yeah, right! Sure. Can we say the word ... bitter!

These last 10 years have not been very kind to me. This is not what I wanted to be when I grew up! It started so subtly, I hardly noticed. When I finally realized I was overweight I immediately started exercising and dieting. Why, I lost 20 pounds right off! And gained back 4o throwing me out of the overweight field into the BIG "O" field. Oh, God! As a matter of fact the more I dieted the more I gained. Strange!

During those long four years of dieting and exercising. I found real pleasure in bicycling. Cycling truly started to grow on me. Not to mention re-educating myself about what constituted healthy foods.

I was to the point that I could do 20 miles a day on my bike while still staying refreshed. That point, alone, took many summers to get to.

My RTW idea began to take a different form based on the needs of today. I could loose weight and travel at the same time. Think about it. Let's bike a portion or as much as possible of this round the world trip. 

I will have to start small and work up to 50 miles a day. In the shape I am in I had best start with something very, very flat. Therefore, Holland will be my country of choice for a starting point. Amsterdam to Budapest down the Rhine and the Danube. I think that is relatively doable for me at this size. They have a great tourist infrastructure if I should have any problems. Mmm... this could very well just work.

I didn't really start gaining till I got a desk job. I spent eight hours a day just sitting there with access to unlimited free soda. A three hour workout isn't going to cut it. Not when your this size. It's time for some REAL lifestyle changes for at least for a year and then when I come back a three hour workout a week will be perfect to MAINTAIN what shape I come back in.

FINANCIAL PREPARATION

12/01/04: My house is a duplex. It is my hope that I can get a home equity loan of some sort. This would lessen the impact on him so that he wouldn't have to move.

My financial plan, was in short to sell the house or get a loan. Apply the money to the RTW trip. And, of course, the usual. Pay off the credit card debt, taxes, etc.

I will come back (hopefully) healthy, educated, and well traveled. What a bargain!

The big question now is "Can it be done?"

Time will tell.

OTHER PREPARATION

01/01/05: Other preparation includes all things that did not fit in the above categories. Like buying guide books (I have found Rick Steves to be the best). Looking for a good touring bike that will work well with my existing injuries. Getting my awful teeth problem fixed. Shots, buying bike gear, writing all the tourist offices for general information packets including biking maps and camping maps. I will have to get a will and buy travel insurance. Planning the first six months of my route, visas, and more, much more.

PRE-DEPARTURE UPDATES

02/01/05: Things are moving along quite nicely. I have finally purchased the tent I had my eye on for the past six months. It went on a 30% off sale. So I saved $120.00 by waiting. I have also purchased a Coleman air mattress. Now, I know that both the tent and the air mattress weigh quite a bit at 10.5 pounds and 5 pounds respectively, any cyclist worth their salt would say I was using car camping gear instead of lightweight biking gear, but this is what I feel most comfortable sleeping in and on. Or so I think currently, whether my knees can take it or not only time will tell.

The plans are changing fast and furious. I have decided to go against previous advice and get a home equity loan on my house instead of selling. This means I will be working two jobs when I come back to pay off the loans, but hey, I do that naturally anyway, since I have no children. It will certainly be nice to come back to my home instead of some generic apartment.

My shots are done, insurance bought, extra eye glasses ordered, and a host of other details attended to. Next week I buy my tickets and everything will be truly finalized. I am not the least bit nervous yet. I am sure that will change as the departure date comes closer and closer.

My only concern so far is: I noticed the other day that I was out of breath walking DOWN the stairs! Now, that's bad, oh so very bad! This is a strong indication that maybe I should start riding my bike indoors on that old dusty trainer I bought last year. I pick up my new touring bike in 11 days. So that will be my next goal. I will be the first to admit that I wont be starting this trip in the best of shape. Far from it, but I better get in a little bit of shape, if nothing else, accustom my sit bones to the bike seat once again. All I can say is it has been a LONG winter. This summer I was fine, but the winter is kicking my butt big time! As usual. My boyfriend was very wonderful and supportive by buying me my very first digital camera for my birthday. Yeah! One less thing I have to worry about!

02/08/05: I am so excited! I just bought my one way ticket to Paris! After a few days visiting Paris, I will then train to Amsterdam. I leave for Paris on May 3rd. Just 12 weeks from today! I love the city of Paris and starting from there gives me a wonderful sense of being joy itself.

I am enjoying the anticipation of this trip so very much that I wonder if the joy of anticipation will far and away exceed the joy of execution.  Any comments on that, oh, gentle readers? :-)

I have been floating on cloud nine all day. In two days I will be in Seattle to pick up my outrageous, incredibly, expensive bike. God, I hope it fits me as well as I remember and above all I hope it is going to be worth all the money I am putting into it. That bike is one major chunk of my budget and caused me to cut my trip down from 12 to 8 months, so it costs me 4 months of my original travel time. This will be the first bike I will ever have that truly fits my 5 foot frame. Hopefully, it will last a lifetime.

02/21/05:  Well, I am back from Seattle. We had quite a wonderful weekend and I enjoyed the seminar on Turkey given by Willie Weir. I have the bike and spent lots of hours putting it together. I am not mechanically inclined whatsoever and this was my first bike to put together. To give you and idea of my challenge, this was my first time using allen wrenches. I am quite embarrassed to admit that this just shows me how ignorant I am of bikes in general. It took me about four to five hours to put the bike together straight out of the case and I still had to bring it in to the bike shop guys to fix the derailleur cables. They said the Seattle bike shop did a piss poor job of cabling my bike, and I had to admit with reluctant chagrin, that, no, it wasn't them it was me! Zane, the bike guy, then proceeded to educate me on the proper way to cable a bike. I am more confident in my ability to handle this bike now just because I put 99% of it together.

02/24/05: Some days are better than others. Today is an awesome day! It really, really helps that I was able to put 99% of that bike together on my own. Quite a confidence builder.  This company is standing behind their product all the way! When I put the bike together (5 hours) I kept looking over the fork, it just seemed too short. The handlebars had nothing hardly to hang onto. So I took it to my local cycle shop and had Zane look at it. He confirmed my suspicions. I called R&E cycles down in Seattle while I was at the local shop and both bike guys had a chat together. R&E mailed an uncut fork the next day. It should arrive any time soon and I just received an email from them saying they are sending me a $30.00 check to pay for the bike guys up here to cut the fork and install it for me. I am rather shocked! The check was unasked for and unexpected, but much appreciated. Quite frankly, I felt kind of bad having to ask about a new fork, but my local bike guy assured me that it was dangerous and unstable and needed to be attended to. The R&E guys seemed happy to oblige, so all is well!

So far everything else is going great. Everyone and their brother has assured me in no uncertain terms that taking a 7 pound twin size Coleman air mattress instead of a 2 pound light weight pad is the wrong thing to do. So I am rethinking that decision. I am very attached to the idea of that air mattress, though.

It's a primo bike and I am very happy with it!  Putting the bike together was not hard in and of itself. Just a lot of little details that add up to one big  picture. I will still have to take the bike into the bike shop when I reach the Netherlands to fine tune a lot of the little stuff, before I take off on "The Ride".  I will probably buy bike lights there as well. So far, I love the S&S couplings.

By the way, people have been emailing me. They have seen my article in Bicycle Touring 101 and then emailed me good wishes and good luck! :-) It is really appreciated and surprising to boot! 9 and a half weeks left before I am on a plane to Paris! :-)

 03/03/05: Pre-tour jitters. That pretty much says it all. If you haven't lived it, you don't know it. Here is an excellent link on the jitters. My co-workers think I will die, literally. :-) Others think there is no way I will bike all the way, that I will give it up after a few days and that, quite frankly, I have wasted all this money for nothing. I reply "Well, maybe so, maybe no. Either way I have a bike that will last me a lifetime and I will continue my travels by train, then." Now, how can that be wasted? I have faith in myself. :-)

03/10/05 To all and sundry: my going away party is Saturday April 30th at 7 pm. Come and enjoy good times, good friends, and good food! When you RSVP by email I will give the location out, then, as it is still to be determined.

03/19/05 Two days ago I took my new touring bike out for it's first spin. Gosh, it rides like a dream! I had quite a few worries at first. I had to practice with the new types of systems I have never used before. The gear shifting, brakes, and pedals were all quite unfamiliar to me. So I practiced with the new systems and had a good ole time. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, I was in a low traffic neighborhood. Life is good!

Two other unforeseen problems:

This is my first "boys bike". I have never owned a bike with a cross bar. I had to figure out how you guys mount the bike with bags on the back. Only one leg can support my weight as the other leg is missing 2 inches of muscle mass. So, if any of you guys have suggestions? I am having to lay the bike on the ground step over it and then bring it up to me. When there are no bags, I just flip my smaller leg over the back and hop on.

The second unforeseen problem was completely mental. I am quite terrified of falling now. This has to do with the fact that the last time I fell off my bike bunny hopping a half buried railroad tie I broke my arm and had a compound fracture. As a matter of fact both my arms were in casts. One arm now has 10 screws and 2 long strips of metal.

This is a new bike. I will have to learn to trust it like I do my old one. So on my first ride I was justifiably cautious. Every little ice slick I got off and walked. Pretty soon though I just enjoyed the sun on my face and the birds chirping. I am still terrified, so much so, that I felt like I was quite the poser, but with every ride it gets easier which is a good thing as I leave in six weeks time. Bad memories, beautiful day, eventful ride.

04/06/05 Ok, I just took my first fully loaded bike ride. I jumped on the bike thinking I won't even be able to get around the block with 75 pounds of gear. That amount of gear is what I have left after a friend from Seattle went through it all and took out 13 pounds of excess gear. Sheesh, this stuff really adds up. So now I have the seal of approval on my gear. As far as riding around the neighborhood with a fully loaded bike, gosh, I had no problems whatsoever! It rode like a dream! So smooth! Of course, it was all on the flat, but, then so is the Netherlands.  I am very happy. While I was riding around the neighborhood one of my neighbors said "Nice rig you got there." It made me feel so proud! I really have tricked out my bike very nicely. Builds up my confidence, you know. As I was riding down the street I couldn't help thinking that I really am in for the adventure of a life time! :-)

04/08/05 Wow, my sister can really kick butt! What a task master. We went riding today and she made me do a lot of things I never even thought of to practice. Mounting and dismounting, riding in circles, stopping and starting, and pulling my feet out repeatedly from the cages. Smart girl. Sure, I have been riding for years and can do all these things on a regular bike, but, gosh, the handling is completely different when there are 75 pounds on the bike. My heart was racing, I worked up a pretty good sweat, and I was out of breath. Boy, am I sore now! Nice ride!

I didn't even realize that I wasn't comfortable with these handling skills until she made me do them. Then it was pretty obvious. Some things are so subtle I don't even pick up on them. Smart girl. I really appreciate her efforts in helping me today. I have so far to go in my handling skills and only 3 weekends before I leave. Now I am getting nervous. I feel like I am learning to walk all over again. Sometimes I am too naive. It is one thing to start out obese and out of shape, it is another to start out so very much lacking in skills. I will have allot going against me when I start this trip and the only thing going for me will be my courage, determination, and love of travel. Jeez, I hope that will even get me through the first six weeks.

04/12/05 Things are going so very well! It is amazing what a few days and a few rides can do for my  confidence level. It is such a nice feeling to finish a bike ride and be totally proud of myself and just overall damn well satisfied!

04/17/05 The other day I spent some time leaning the new shifting system I have on my bike. My boyfriend set up a mirror so that I could ride on my trainer and look and see while shifting. This was instigated by the ride I took over to my parents house. First my sister was an hour and a half late. Then as I was leaving out the door with out her she pulls up in the driveway. I pulled out her bike and we took off. Only to promptly have her run over glass and get a flat tire.  I actually was pretty happy about this as I have never changed a flat.  So, we stored the bike and she followed me in her car. There was a small hill on the way there which I had been wanting to try. I went up that hill in the hardest gear possible, because I just didn't understand the gear system. I still made it up the hill though! My sister drove by me a couple of times waving hello. It was all quite fun, the sun was shining, and the roads were clear. On the way back I tried a different way, with much larger hills and I shifted so badly my chain came off. So my sister gave me a lift home. When I got there my boyfriend had a Filet Mignon dinner ready for me. Life is good! This was a great ride because of all the things that went wrong. I learned a lot. I learned how to shift better, how to change a tire, and how to fix my chain. Changing the tire the next day... now that is a story in and of itself! :)

05/03/05 My gosh, what a wonderful week! First, my going away party on 4/30/05: it was everything I envisioned it would be; laid back and relaxing. Some of my friends even came in from out of town. The only thing I regret is that I was so busy playing hostess I forgot to take any pictures. Next time I will give my camera to one of the teenagers and let them snap away to their hearts content. My former boss, Karen, gave me a prepaid international calling card. Now that is a gift to give! Plenty of room for those! My work gave me two prepaid international calling cards and a good-bye card signed by all and sundry. Friday was my last day at work. It was so busy, I came in an hour early and skipped lunch. I was training a new girl, who will do a fabulous job, I am quite sure. The last few days have been really laid back. I have been luxuriating in my normal routines of my daily life as I know it will change soon. My boyfriend had to work both night and day jobs right up until my departure day of 05/03/05.

On departure day, I woke up about 10 am and thought to myself "Ok, 14 hours till I board the plane, no sweat." I took my bike into the bike shop for a final adjustment. There were wires under the handle bar wrapping that was placed right where my thumb grips. This was hitting a nerve and bruising my hand badly. They moved the wires, but I can't help thinking that for a $3,000.00 dollar ultimate package bicycle, they should have had the handlebars which contains grooves where the wires set into, not these awful protruding kind. I am also bothered by my seat. It has very limited adjustments. It is either to low or to high. The Anchorage cycle shop guys said I could upgrade to a new seat post that offers many more fractions of positions, but wasn't that why I bought the ultimate package anyway?

On some days I have my doubts about some of the components used in this bike, including the way it is wired. My boyfriend rolls his eyes and says the Seattle bike shop guys know what they are doing and there is probably a reason for using those types of seats and handlebars. Needless to say that took much longer at the bike shop than I had allotted time for. Now my handlebars are re-wrapped, but the right side handlebar is a lot larger than the left. I sure hope that turns out to be ok. I just don't know for sure.

Then I went home and packed all my bike bags and sat on the hockey duffle bag to close it. It took two people. Then I raced to Subway to pick up a sandwich and raced home to break down my bike for packing. What a bother! It took four hours! I swear if it wasn't for my boyfriend figuring out how it all fit into the suitcase as I kept having the front wheel left over. I would have carried my front wheel on the plane just out of sheer exasperation! He also had to loosen the pedals and the crank arms. That was hard. Maybe these S&S couplings are more of a bother than I ever expected. We will see. At any rate we were in such a hurry that we forgot to take any video or pictures before I left the house. I told my boyfriend not to worry we will take some at the airport.

The day went by extremely swiftly. Between running to the bank to buy Euros and showering, and a hundred little other items I needed to attend to, the next thing I knew it was time to go to the airport. My boyfriend dropped me off at the curb while he went to park the car. Essentially I had all my bags packed into one large hockey bag and the bicycle suitcase. My laptop, purse, and bike helmet was on my person to be carried on the plane. I went in to the airline queue and, low and behold, I was the only one in line! :-) Now, I ask you, how often does that happen? :) I checked my bags in and the hockey bag weighed in at 66 pounds, the cycle suitcase weighed in at 49 pounds and I was carrying about 15 pounds on my person. A ten pound laptop and a five pound purse (books). Based on the weigh in at the airport I will be carrying about 80 pounds of gear on my bicycle, if you include water in that estimate.

I was done by the time my boyfriend came back from parking the car. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures again. Oh well. We then raced off to Village Inn to eat. It was about 11 pm by that time and the last I had eaten was Subway at 1:30 pm. Busy day. I have a very long layover in Seattle about 6 hours or so. I have that time crammed packed with things I have scheduled to do there, the most important being the dentist. 

A special thanks goes out to my boyfriend who really pulled my ass out of the fire and got me to my plane on time by helping me with my bike and gear. Thanks for all you support and help on this very hectic day and thanks for making my laptop so awesome.

My boyfriend gave me advice from home all the way to the airport. Some of it goes like this:

Remember everyone you meet is not your friend, but don't be rude and snappish, find a balance.

When you are putting the bike back together and get frustrated, after you have finished hitting things, calm down and step away. Come back to it later and start slowly. :)

He said much more, but those two sentences are very indicative of my personality, so much so, he made me laugh. :-)

Well desktop readers, this will be the final entry in my pre-departure section as I am writing this entry from the plane on the way to Seattle. If you wish to follow the rest of my journey please go to the journal section.

Good bye to all my friends and family, I love you and will see you after my trip.

Wish me luck! :)

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