Nothing to do but leave...
So D day is here. My flight is at 9.15pm from Auckland. When booking my flight I yo yo’d between leaving on the 1st vs leaving on the 2nd. I opted for the 2nd as it was one more day at home, one more day with Maisy and Matt, and one more day to get stuff ready...leaving one less day sightseeing, and one less day navigating my way around the Sudanese visa palava. Poor planning - 2nd January and end of the new year holiday means anticipated traffic doom. Also Matt’s response to choosing the more expensive flight so as to have more time with him was ‘It's only one day.’ So much for my romantic notions. As in most households departure time became a slight contentious issue- Matt’s mum suggested 10am, allowing a comfortable 9 hours to cover just over 300km...35km/h for 9 hours sounded v unappealing so we risked it and left just before 1pm. An amazingly smooth trip, time to stop on the way for last minute stationary supplies- and an hour to kill before check in. Obviously all the shops were closed at 5pm on 2/1/2018, apart from The Warehouse and KFC. Nevertheless, both tertiary industries stepped up to the task. The Warehouse was up first, as we spent approximately half an hour of our lives browsing the smorgasbord of extremely necessary, yet ultimately unnecessary items. The excessive nature of first world ‘budget essentials’ felt particularly poignant, given that I was attempting to minimise my possessions (and excess baggage charges!) to cycle and camp my way through a country in which many people have less to their name than I do in my two duffel bags. With half an hour still to go before check in opened, Matt treated me to my first to KFC- a Kiwi staple if the relentless queues outside the Whakatane drive-thru are anything to go by. My conclusion; McDonalds trumps KFC. (I assume ‘Trumps’ can still be used as a term of superiority given the associated political figure?) It definitely delivered what it’s name promised- three pieces of fried chicken, along with a slightly more questionable tub of gravy and mash, handful of chips and bread roll. Most people who know me will be accustomed to my unusual tastes and eating habits but even to be this was an odd combo to serve- gravy and mash with chips? And an empty roll with two chicken wings and a drumstick. I was impressed by the lack of aioli, which seems to be served with everything that should have ketchup in this upside down country, however there hadn't quite been the follow through to then provide tomato-y goodness. Nothing like 17hours on a plane to critique KFC and The Warehouse!
My view for 17hours
Anyhow, check in and baggage weigh in. The last two weeks has seen about three full days of packing, weighing, repacking, reweighing, buying, returning, buying lighter things, repacking said things and so on. It culminated this morning (about 2 hours before we left) in my ringing the airline to enquire if it would be cheaper to buy a bigger luggage allowance or to upgrade to business class where the luggage allowance would be sufficient. Unfortunately, I am sitting in economy, with two teenage boys between me and the toilet, wondering how many times I am really going to need to wee in the 17hours it takes to get from Auckland to Dubai. My bike is riding on the excess luggage ticket - I am assuming they provide food and drink down there, maybe some heating - given its extra 15kg cost $1500! Imagine if human plane tickets were charged per of of body weight! Many tears later I passed through security. A kind man helped with my bike as negotiating the winding maze at the check in desk proved a problematic when the bike box made the trolley so wide. Small acts of kindness make so much difference, even just this man helping made me a little feel better. I had about an hour of duty free shopping - looking at Go Pros and Action cameras before settling for an overpriced sandwich, chocolate bar and some spare headphones. I have had some glorified idea of doing a video diary, like those cool adventure documentaries you seen on YouTube (Look up Ed Pratt Unicycles the World, or Cycling Silk, and you'll see what I'm talking about.). However in reality I can't bring myself to buy a camera when you can't even see what ou are filming, you just have to assume that what you want is in the picture. Abby has pointed out that this is bacuse they were designed with the intention of sitting on a helmet, but still. So begins the journey. Part 2. Really the journey began back in August when I paid the deposit as the last 5 months have been a lot more involved that for your average trip, and I really feel are part of the whole experience. For anyone undertaking Tour d’Afrique in the future, don't underestimate the planning and preparation required to get the the start, and that's not in relation to the fitness aspect of it - which I'm sure will be revealed as lacking by this time next week!
