and so it's started

6 Feb 15:47

Sitting at Gatwick airport and sipping earl grey. For the very first time in weeks I don’t have to do anything. Literally nothing. No packing, no thinking about my bike, no wondering how to fix a front rack. No real fear either – too late for it now.

Not quite sure how it happened but my bags (panniers and a bag to sit on top of my rack) are heavier than the bike itself.  And I really went for a ‘travel light’ version.

I was sitting on the train and looking at my bike box. Earlier today I wrote on it my flight details and my name. On the train it all looked very surreal – LGW-MAD, MAD-EZE, AEP-USH. This is a proper end of the world! How the hell I came up with this idea?! At least with every turn of my wheels I will be sort of closer to home.

I suppose it’s high time I say what I’m actually planning to achieve.

Number 1 – to reach total enlightment.

Number 2 – to find the one and only true sense of life.

Number 3 – to bring cool wristbands.

Number 4 – to try to cycle from Ushuaia to the border with Bolivia (north-west Argentina, above Salta).

I don’t actually have a real route picked but I know more less how I would like to do it. Especially the first part (Patagonia) is almost planned. I leave Ushuaia and via Rio Grande get to Punta Arenas. Then Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park. From there back to Argentina to El Calafate and hopefully to El Chalten to see Cerro Torre. A bit further north I cross the border again and start my section on Carretera Austral from Villa O’Higgins. At some point, probably just before Chaiten I will cross back to Argentina to reach Ruta 40 and follow it all the way up via Bariloche, Mendoza and Salta. Sounds like a plan, especially when typed from a comfy armchair at the airport.

Blood, sweat and tears for 3 months. Pretty cool, eh?

I’m not in a contemplating mood now so can’t really say anything about how amazing and enriching this trip is going to be. Or won’t be if my bike explodes on day 1! At least I will be able to keep all the cool gear I bought for this trip :)

Am I scared? Yes. Am I happy? Very. Do I see how ridiculous my plan is? Oh yes! Especially considering I’ve never done any proper touring myself (I don't count supported bike trips) and no long solo bike journey either. But then what’s the problem? You cycle, you camp, you find a hostel or some nice people who will allow you to camp in their garden or take you home. If anything fails to work you fix it if you can or wait for a lift, right? Will I be able to fix it? I am sure I will be simply because the very limited amount of spares and tools I have with me allows me to do only very simple repairs. Very clever approach. In the end I’m on holiday so why should I work hard?

I have never been less prepared for such a massive task/expedition (not that I’ve done any before). I never really had any serious packing list, my ‘to take/to buy’ list was pretty limited. My ‘last minute check list' never had any physical existence and only occupied a small part of my brain. Although it sounds like a joke I actually enjoyed this hardly existing preparation. Have I trained cycling? No! Why would I? Have I not cycled almost every day in last few years? I have. So.. :)

Am I being silly? I probably am. Most likely!

I’ve always wanted to have a notebook where I take loads of very important notes,  where I plan something big, which is always with me. That I think would make me a bit more special. When I first decided to do this tour I was really happy as what better opportunity you can have to actually have such a notebook. Did I get one? No… Shit, even a trip like that can’t make me get one. I put a piece of cardboard on the wall in my room, wrote some 10 or 15 points there and that was it. I didn’t even tick them all off in the end as I forgot plus the very last things reached me in last few days. Total record – extra memory for my netbook. Arrived by post this morning! This is called perfect timing.

Time to move my ass and find a gate for Air Europa flight to Madrid.

***

A few words from Buenos Aires airport.

It’s hot and humid. And super expensive! A big sandwich with a coffee – over £10! I hope it’s just the airport.

I’ve already got a ticket to Aeroparque – a local airport for domestic flights. 40 min left. My bike arrived but one bottom corner of the box got damaged. Not good at all. It’s the corner where I had a handlebar and I needed to re-protect the box. £15 and a box is now wrapped with green cling film. If it carries on like that I will soon need to switch to toast bread and ketchup or else I’ll go bankrupt.

I’m sitting now in Departures – it’s pleasant as air-conditioned. Arrivals are crazy!

I so wish to be already in Ushuaia in a hostel.

Strangely enough there was not a slightest problem at the immigration and customs control. No questions asked. I smuggled a bag of nuts, seeds etc. About 1kg! I didn’t know that at least in theory one is not supposed to bring such things into Argentina.

In my present state I don’t actually look forward to the heat outside the building. I’d rather it was 20 not 30 degrees. Ha, on the screen in the café they have some sort of Spanish BBC. Sensacion termica 36.8C. That says everything. Luckily in Ushuaia it’s pleasant 10 degrees :)