The Idea

I am planning a cycle trip around the world. The only sure part of it at the moment is that I will start in Hanley in April/May 2014 after flying to Manchester from Johannesburg.
The idea all started one warm evening in January at a farewell function for Shona and Miguel who were about to leave for Egypt. They had committed to ride the Tour d'Afrique from Cairo to Cape Town.
We were sitting on the deck at Dabulamanzi Canoe Club in Emmarentia, discussing their adventure, when, out of the blue, we were asked if we would like to do it. I thought that the cost was prohibitive and enquired about other trips that were available. There were organised excursions on virtually every continent, but, like the African adventure, the costs were prohibitive. A couple of ideas were thrown around about doing something similar on our own.
However, the seed was planted. It now needed to be nurtured and fed, and, maybe, just maybe it would blossom.
I had just borrowed a bicycle magazine from The Bicycle Trader, a bicycle shop that friends of mine, Wayne and Colin, had just opened in Fourways. While reading the mag on the Sunday before going to bed, I read one of the articles about the author training for the Cape Epic while covering the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. He mentioned that he had met a young couple, Tom and Jodie, who had cycled from London to Christchurch to watch the final of the RWC. In the article, they mentioned that they had spent about $10 per day for the whole trip. This piqued my interest – this was now more in my league.
The next day I did some research on the internet and found Tom and Jodies blog. I read with interest about their journey. I also did some research on campsites in Europe and other locations and realised that it was possible to travel through parts of the world on a shoestring.
Where was I going to travel to? The thought of traveling around Europe was appealing; this would take about 6 months or more. Having a sole proprietor business, my business would be ruined if I was going to be away for that length of time. In fact, if I went away for a month or more, I could lose a large sector of my clients. I decided there and then that if I was to embark on such a journey, it would have to be for something major like traveling around the world.
There were many other things that needed to be taken care off before I could even think of setting off. One of the things I decided on almost from the start was; when to start our adventure – at the start of the northern hemisphere summer. What I needed to clarify was which year. I have many things to sort out and therefore my adventure would have to wait at least a year.