India Tomorrow

All being well this is the last pre-India trip post, tomorrow my son and I fly to India. The last couple of weeks have flown by, both with work related activities and getting all the bits and pieces for the cycle trip together. My main concern has been getting my new bicycle there in one piece - or rather getting it there still fit to ride 400 odd miles on. (640Km). In the end rather than rely on the fact that the frame will divide in two I got a slightly larger bike box from DHB via Wiggle. Having gotten the box I then had a bit of a problem with one of the airlines in India being unable to take it. It seems that some wires got crossed and the maximum baggage size quoted was for carry on luggage. I pointed out to the Travel Agents who had booked the flight and were helping me that the size meant we could not take our normal suitcases on let alone the bike. After a bunch of phone calls I spoke to someone in India who was able to quote me a cost for the bike and seemed quite relaxed about it. Anyway I will find out tomorrow when I try to check in at Heathrow.

My son arrived at around 7.30pm having driven down from the Midlands where he lives and works. He has just moved house, spent a week on a business trip in wales (sorting potatoes) and last weekend in Bath and Oxford celebrating a friend's 21st birthday so he was also feeling a little frazzled.

Here is the box with my bike in it. I have used pipe insulation and zip ties to hold it all together - but I can carry it all and it has wheels.

This is what it looks like closed - I am planning on heading off to the airport quite early to maximise the time to sort out any issues that might arise. The flight is at 2pm so not too bad really.

I have also been popping into my local bike shop - Ben haywards, buying grease, for when I re-assemble the bike in India, water bottles and I also got my Brompton serviced just in case . My backup plan was to take my folding bicycle although it would have been quite a challenge cycling up and down mountains with only 6 gears. I also took a quick trip to the local pharmacy for Immodium and antiseptic cream. Now I had better finsih off packing and then double check that I have everything I need.