March 15th, 2011
For the most part of the day, my mind appears distracted due to the overwhelming emotions about the trip. What does it feels like travelling all on my own for days and weeks without the presence of friends and family? What happens if my trike is damaged on arrival? What happens if my trike breaks down in the middle of nowhere? What if I got robbed on the road? Will my body be able to cope with the prolonged physical exertion? So many open-ended questions that goes on in my mind that at some point I just have to comfort myself that I am allowed to discontinue my journey at any time if it exceeds my personal risk/reward threshold.
Grace and I arrived at the airport about 2 hours before departure so that we could have more time to resolve any problems involving luggage weight or content. I took a Virgin Blue flight and it is important to note for my future self and others that they will charge for any excess baggage. I couldn’t afford to leave any items back in Melbourne so I paid for my extra 3kg of check-in luggage weight, fair enough I guess.
Leaving Melbourne wasn’t a very difficult thing to do, but leaving on a bike tour and not having my partner Grace coming along was quite an emotional challenge. The higher risk and the unpredictability of travelling on a bike makes it hard to part with the loved ones. Nonetheless, I reassured Grace that I’ll be extra careful at all times and will be in contact with her on a daily basis.
I took off at 9.15pm. I knew I desperately needed some sleep since my tour will begin from Sydney airport before sunrise, but just couldn’t get one somehow. The journey was also too short to have any productive sleep, it was only 55 minutes. As soon as I touched down, got my trike and other luggage, I started unpacking and assembling my trike. At about 11:00pm, a security officer approached and I was asked to assemble my trike outside the airport as they were about to close the building. I didn’t even know that airport aren’t 24 hours opened!
