So I begin the story at last! I am sorry that this has taken so long to get going but things have been rather more stressful than anticipated. My good intentions to write something before I left went out the window when I was still packing my bike at 0200 the night before I left!
I had a lovely weekend before I left, driving around the country trying to see everyone before I left. Wales was the first stop to see Tessa before she gets married! I was duly charged the £5.40 to cross the bridge to Newport, however, like the Queen, I do not carry cash so there was a little bit of a panic at the 'border' and then frustration as I now have to pay double by cheque. Then I raced to Sherborn to see Isabella very briefly and then on to London to buy a pile of maps and guide books which are now proving very useful especially with trying to finalise our visa plans which is an administrative nightmare, but more on that later. Lunch with my brother and then onto see Patrick and Mazza looking very smart at Cav Mem and Nick who all reassured me I wasn't crazy.
Although I had a lovely weekend I think this may have been my downfall when it came to packing and last minute preps. Even on Monday day I was pretty relaxed buying the last few bits and bobs, come the evening the pressure was on. Thinking the bike would only take an hour, at nine in the evening, I started taking poor Winifred apart and try to make her as diminutive as possible for her journey to Istanbul. Low and behold she was 6 inches too long. Alex and I stood looking at her not knowing what to do, make the box bigger or, what?? Thankfully Dan came to the rescue and spent the next couple of hours stripping her of her pannier racks and mud guards to make her even smaller. This is while I was running around packing up my room and then packing my travel bags. A rather stressful night to say the least, and didn't end until I went to bed at four in the morning.
An early rise at six, and Dan kindly took me to the airport which saved me an even earlier coach ride. Thank you! I checked in and Whinnie weighed in at 28 kg and my bag was 13kg so I am not as light as I would have liked but I am reading fast to try and get rid of some of the books I have brought with me.
The flight was fine and BA even provided us with a meal which was a real treat and I was very pleased I didn't go with easyjet. But, just as I was dosing off, they said over the tannoy that we were going to have to land at Budapest because of a 'funny smell' on the plane. This turned into a 4 hour stop over and I did not get to Istanbul until nine in the evening.
I had a lovely weekend before I left, driving around the country trying to see everyone before I left. Wales was the first stop to see Tessa before she gets married! I was duly charged the £5.40 to cross the bridge to Newport, however, like the Queen, I do not carry cash so there was a little bit of a panic at the 'border' and then frustration as I now have to pay double by cheque. Then I raced to Sherborn to see Isabella very briefly and then on to London to buy a pile of maps and guide books which are now proving very useful especially with trying to finalise our visa plans which is an administrative nightmare, but more on that later. Lunch with my brother and then onto see Patrick and Mazza looking very smart at Cav Mem and Nick who all reassured me I wasn't crazy.
Although I had a lovely weekend I think this may have been my downfall when it came to packing and last minute preps. Even on Monday day I was pretty relaxed buying the last few bits and bobs, come the evening the pressure was on. Thinking the bike would only take an hour, at nine in the evening, I started taking poor Winifred apart and try to make her as diminutive as possible for her journey to Istanbul. Low and behold she was 6 inches too long. Alex and I stood looking at her not knowing what to do, make the box bigger or, what?? Thankfully Dan came to the rescue and spent the next couple of hours stripping her of her pannier racks and mud guards to make her even smaller. This is while I was running around packing up my room and then packing my travel bags. A rather stressful night to say the least, and didn't end until I went to bed at four in the morning.
An early rise at six, and Dan kindly took me to the airport which saved me an even earlier coach ride. Thank you! I checked in and Whinnie weighed in at 28 kg and my bag was 13kg so I am not as light as I would have liked but I am reading fast to try and get rid of some of the books I have brought with me.
The flight was fine and BA even provided us with a meal which was a real treat and I was very pleased I didn't go with easyjet. But, just as I was dosing off, they said over the tannoy that we were going to have to land at Budapest because of a 'funny smell' on the plane. This turned into a 4 hour stop over and I did not get to Istanbul until nine in the evening.
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