News Flash - Is this a good idea?

'Are you really going alone? Is that safe? You'll be all alone in a strange country and won't speak the language. What about the traffic?'

'What about your job? Are you giving it up? Do you care?' Maria Zak July, 2013

My mother has decided this is trip is a bad idea for so many reasons.

Either you get it, or you don't.

Look at the fantastic bike below which Bruce Gordon in Petaluma built for me. How can I fail with equipment like this?

(Good news. I've figured out how to import photos to my Nexus 7 on the road. As long as I can find the occasional hot spot, and the rain doesn't soak the electronics I should be able to publish a few.)

And yeah, I care about having a job when I get back! P

90% Packed, 24 days to go.

The bike is broken down and in the box. The bags are packed and all that remains is adding passport, bike computer, 2 months of drugs and money. There is still space in the bags and they aren't all that heavy which is a very good thing. The goal is to have an experience about people and places, not things.

Some months ago I decided that having a small tablet with a German data sim for cellular data service was a good way to stay in touch which is how I met Christian. There are blogs covering every imaginable subject. Cell phone service, which varies from country to country is a complicated subject. Christian knows the German market and had some good suggestions.

Christian was nice enough to offer to purchase a sim and send it to me so I could avoid having to use my little tablet in Berlin to navigate the German cell phone companies German only site. So compensation was arranged and off the to the local supermarket he went, the sim  was in the mail. Soon enough, an e-mail arrived with all the numbers I'd need to set up the account. It was a good thing too, because it was a bit complicated. Thank goodness for Google Translate or I'd still be at it. All that remained was for the actual sim to appear in the mail. Shouldn't take more than a week from Germany, I've had art shipped that came in less than 7 days. How long could first class mail take? It's been 4 and a half weeks and there's no sign of the sim. Christian has filed a claim.

Did you know that US mail has been fluroscoped and envelopes photocopied for years? Neither did I. Turns out Christian has had the Post Office lose sims  to the US before. Did the sim trigger someone's interest when fluroscoped? Who knows. Christian has promised to let me know if the German postal authorities eventually settle the loss claim. Not a big deal in the scope of things, but in light of what's been going on lately you have to wonder what, if anything, this means.

I'll be able to easily pick up another in Berlin when I get there and transferring the new sim to the existing account ought to be easy.

Unfortunately, what this has taught me is that connectivity isn't worth the nuisance. I'll pay closer attention to the passing internet cafes especially after leaving Germany.

Those of you who know me won't be surprised to learn that I'm pretty wound up about the NSA, Snowden, Assange and Manning. I don't think I could have planned a better time to be in Europe to engage the locals. Hopefully they can make a clear distinction between an out of control government and it's people. I'm afraid far too many here are willing to accept the loss of our civil rights. It's all terrorism all the time; the justification for anything and everything.

Preamble - Preparations and initial Itinerary

Only 36 days till I put the bike and bags on the plane and head off to Berlin. The packing list is created, the bags mostly packed and the bike is clean, lubricated, and ready to go. This weekend I break it down and pack it into the bike box for safe transport.

This isn't the first time I've been to Berlin but more on that trip in a later post.

The goal is to only take what I think I'll use, because there is nothing worse than getting to the end of a ride and realizing you've been pushing around stuff you haven't looked at throughout the trip. 

Unlike previous trips where coins were counted, this is going to be credit card travel. Not that I plan on being extravagant, but I don't plan on roughing it unless in the mood. 

There will be camping because it may be more convenient at times, but no cooking. I have no patience for food preparation and I'm going to Europe, as much to eat the local food as anything else. 

The electronics includes a Nexus 7, a Garmin 800 GPS, a Sony RX-100 Camera and a solar charger to keep the Garmin grinding out those directions. I'll have paper maps, but I hope to use the downloaded OCM (Open Cycling Maps) on the Garmin GPS for turn by turn directions. My navigation skills are pretty good, but I'm not opposed to getting lost from time to time.

I'd be naive to think it won't rain a significant part of the time so special attention was paid to rain gear.

The initial plan is to meet John in Berlin on Thursday, August 1st and putter around for 6 days, when I head off, alone, for points west to Wolfsburg...or via a detour to Dessau to see the Bauhaus museum. John is a good friend from London, who is an expert traveler with vast experience but without Berlin on his list, till now.

My plan is to re-visit Wolfsburg where as a 14 year old kid on a Eur-rail pass, I got to see VW Rabbits being assembled. Then on to the Ruhr valley where extensive bike trails take one through Germany's industrial past. Some of the venues have been preserved and turned into parks and music venues. After the Ruhr, then on to Wuppertal where there still exists a monorail which I first became aware of in the film Farenheight 451. Years after first seeing it, I learned that the system built in 1901 was still in use moving commuters around.

From Wuppertal to the Rhine and then to Switzerland (and to the Cern museum in Geneva where they tell me the tours are fully booked, but I'm persistent and I'll be on a bicycle. Maybe luck will be with me.)  Switzerland to France and I drop into Nice to meet Linda on or around September 12.

The route over the Alps is a bit vague at this point. Apparently there are some hills. I'm hoping the ADFC office in Berlin will help me with routing. ADFC is the German bicycling club. They're used to crazy people doing long distance rides and have lists of approved accommodations all along the major bike routes in Germany.

It's clear from this post that I'm also going to need to figure out a wireless keyboard. There is no way I could type this much on the Nexus 7 glass. I will be receiving e-mail along the way; at least this is the plan.