Getting Ready for the Trip

All of our gear has to fit in that 60L yellow bag...
incl. 2 sleeping bags, 2 thermarests, a tent, and all our clothes and food. Good grief!

Long before we got married, Penguin realized that a vacation with me would be unusual at best and more than likely require some feat of endurance that would test us both to the limits with the possibility of death or permanent disability, at worst. In planning our honeymoon, he wisely set out the following rules:

1. There must be the option for some creature comforts on our honeymoon: namely, running water and the potential for a shower at least once while on the trip. And no, swimming in wild body of water or being rain soaked did not count as 'showering'
2. The chance of fatality must be low. In particular, he would like to get up at night to go to the washroom without having to worry about being eaten by a carnivorous animal
3. There must be rest days; minimum 1 per week

I also had some rules...

1. We must go from Point A to Point B on a map using nothing but our own power
2. I get to choose Point A and Point B, if Dave gets to choose the manner in which we convert our energy into motion
3. The trip must be suitably epic to qualify for our honeymoon

And thus, after discussing many options, we settled on a very civilized bike trip from Paris to Amsterdam. Neither of us have ever been to Europe or done a bike trip before, thus fulfilling Saroja Requirement #3 and our current plan is to stay in a mix of hotels, B+Bs, and camp along the way, see Penguin Requirement #1. Fortunately for Penguin, our well populated route through Europe does not (to the best of my knowledge) have any carnivorous animals.

Currently,  there are five days before we leave and the kitchen floor is a heap of spandex, camping gear, and bike parts. We're trying to pack up the bike bag and have come to the realization that you can't fit nearly as much stuff on a bike as you can in a canoe. At this point, we've cut pretty much all of our clothes and I'm worried that we're essentially going to be biking across Europe naked. Which, in May, will likely be rather chilly.

Here's what we've got so far:

Clothing (for each of us)

• Rain jacket
• Fleece jacket
• 1 x long sleeve shirt
• 2 x short sleeve shirts
• 1 x tank top
• 1 x non-padded shorts (for wearing around town)
• 1 x padded bike shorts
• 1 x padded underwear bike shorts (for wearing under shorts / tights)
• 1 x full length tights
• 3 x socks
• 4 x underwear
• 1x sundress (Saroja)
• 1 x city shirt (Penguin)
• toque (1 each)
• cycling gloves
• cycling shoe covers
• cycling shoes
• town shoes

Camping Gear

• Tent (MEC Tarn 3)
• 2 x thermarest
• 2 x sleeping bag
• 2 x camp pillow
• 1 x camp towel

Bike Mechanics

• 2 x spare tubes
• spoke wrench
• multi-tool w/ chain tool
• pedal wrench
• patch kit
• bike pump
• tyre wrenches
• valve adaptor
• chain oil

Bikes

• Stevens Impala (Saroja)
• Opus Scherzo (Penguin)
• BOB trailer + bag
• Handlebar bag for Penguin that doubles as our day pack
• 2 x snack packs (fit to mainstem on each bike)
• 2 x saddle packs (mini) -- one for tools, the other for snacks
• KNOG blinder lights (front + rear) for each bike -- doubles as flashlight for camping
• Kryptonite U-lock + 2 cables
• Bike helmets

Technology

• 2 x headphones for plane
• Garmin Touring Edge w/ Europe Road Map
• Solio (solar cell for recharging)
• Sony point+shoot camera
• Gorillapod
• cell phone with European SIM card
• Samsung Note tablet
• SPOT rescue
• USB European adapter plug for charging gadgets
• (we were very careful to make sure that all our gadgets were USB chargeable)

Hygiene

• 2 x toothbrush
• 1 x toothpaste
• 1 x solid shampoo / conditioner from LUSH
• 1 x moisturizer
• 1 x roll of TP; handful of kleenex
• 1 x hand sanitizer
• 1 x deodorant
• medications: inhalors, immodium, antihistamines, etc

Snacks

• 5 x protein bars for emergency energy
• 4 x Sharkies (jelly snacks)
• Metamucil (Penguin)
• Gu2O (Saroja)
• 4 x water bottles

This list of things is about to change, however, because we simply can't fit it all into the BOB bag. The most non-essential part is the clothing, so we're trying to pare things down to the absolute minimum while also ensuring that we won't be unhappy with what we're leaving behind...

Hopefully, we'll be able to update this blog while we're on the trip. Posts will be labelled as either Saroja or Penguin, so you'll know who wrote them. I'm going to try and get Penguin to agree to write at least 50% of them so that the trip is well represented from both sides. This should maximize your entertainment value. :)

Wish us luck as we continue the packing process! More from Team Gearly Beloved soon!

xo,

Saroja