Travel prep & 10 things we learned from our Japan trip

Day t-1: packing, prepping and goodbyes

And off we go! But first.. time to do some insane packing. And in my case, obsessive cleaning frenzies that come with going away for more than a few days. Anyway, the packing. First you clean the bike, otherwise you get dirty packing the bike and a clean bike is just a good start, at least that’s what I think. Step 2: take it apart, and 3: wrap it with shitloads of bubble wrap and put it in a box. A race bike box since a race bike is much cooler than our goofy touring bikes. We do really love our touring bikes but if you compare them to flashy Gianwilie (Wilier) and Candace (Canyon) they do look like their awkward big brothers.

So after cleaning the entire house and ductaping our bikes into an airplane proof box we still needed to pack our bags. Kind of insane our whole life for the next eight weeks fits into two bike panniers. Yeah we do have four panniers but the other ones will be filled with food. And maybe some big rocks to chase away wild dogs. It’s not that we’re bringing lots of clothes, mostly spare tools for the bikes and first aid stuff for ourselves and the bikes.

A little goodbye party with some Balthazar wine ‘de Sekte’ brought us (and emptied with us) and a last night of sleep in our own bed. Luckily two bike boxes and all of our crap fit into our newly acquired Peugeot, so now all we needed was a second driver to take the car home for us from Schiphol. Thank god for twin sisters! 

Schiphol is world’s best airport, just saying. Within fifteen minutes we were checked in together with Johny and Victor (the bikes). So much blood, sweet, and tears (Spotify: bloed, zweet en tranen) have been shed at other airports when traveling with bikes. Lots of time left to have lunch with train traveling twin sister Daphne, and the babies: Rosalie & Elise. Apple pie, hugs, kisses and waving and then we took off.

On the plane we wisely repeated the ten lessons learned from our last bike trip in Japan:

1. Do not have surgery two weeks before you leave – luckily no reproductive parts had to be removed this time around ❌🔪
2. Always bring camping gear – so we can camp by the side of the road when Suuz has a mental breakdown 😩, or skip this and go straight to item nr. 9
3. Do not cycle in the aftermath of a typhoon 🌪 – that’s just stupid
4. Do not book an ‘adults only’ hotel, it doesn’t mean they do not allow children – Let’s just say Suuz learned her lesson 🙈
5. Do not bring a bulky DSLR camera – Suuz is still sad about the loss of her favorite portrait lense, so we bought a Sony compact camera 📷 (thanks Lars!)
6. Do not book your accommodation in advance – or you end up becoming Booking.com customer service’s best friend
7. Do not cycle into a ditch, hit your head and pass out – fingers crossed for ditch-less roads🤞🏻
8. Do not start with crazy, steep climbs on day one – we’re starting from the top of a hill this time⛰
9. Stay on the same continent as your daddy (so he can pick you up when things go into the pooper) – better keep your phones on Jan and Willem 🧔🏻👴🏻
10. Go some place where the food is awesome –  ✅ half of the fun of a cycling trip is rewarding yourself with piles of food afterwards and not feeling guilty about it

Upon arriving in Athens our cab driver was already waiting for us and stuffed our precious bikes into his oversized van. There must have been an easier way but what the hell, we are on a holiday! We booked an apartment for the first two nights with an amazing view of the Acropolis. Kind of nice since we don’t have a lot of time for sightseeing, so at least that great pile of old stones is checked off the list.

By the time we sat down for dinner the kitchen was almost closing. We ordered a Greek salad, it probably should just be called a salad since we are in Greece I guess, but at least this way us tourists don’t get confused. The waiter sat us down next to a table of Dutchies ‘so Holland could be all together’… great. So instead of some traditional Greek tunes we listened to flat Amsterdams all evening, oh the joy. It did get interesting when one of the dudes mentioned he bought an AJAX-jersey for his sausage dog and it has 700 canine-loving followers on Instagram.

After a little post-dinner stroll around the Plaka neighbourhood Suuz found us another twelve places to eat the next day so our bikes will not be the only ones rolling. Anyway, bedtime!