So we have one month before we leave for our motorcycle trip. For those who do not know, myself and Patrick are going on a 3 month trip from Germany down to Turkey and back. This is a mini trip for Patrick as he took a year off to travel the world by motorcycle after university. I have taken the time off to travel before, but this will be the first time I am driving my own motorcycle, and despite the date for departure set at July 11th (we have someone moving into our apartment, we have to go!) there is still a million and one things left to do, but I will narrow it down to 13. ;-)

1. Bike inspections!

I love her, I bought her, but in the past month we have put almost 10 000 kilometers on her, which is pushing her very close to her 20 000 km inspection point, which we will surpass on the trip. So that really ought to be done before we go…..

2. Finish getting our shots. We have finally started (to the point where we pushed it to almost the last day possible for the first shot, so that we can finish them the first week of next month).

3. errrrrr, maps. Though not essential, they help, and after working in Turkey and looking for a decent road map while in the country, I know there are none to be had!

4. Buy pants! I have, ahem, gained a couple of, ermmm, kilos cough since discovering the joys of the German bakery. The old pants fit, but they are not quite as comfortable as they once were. sigh

5. And while I am at it I either need a new helmet, or a new visor, as my old one has become scratched up, and since last Fall no longer has a sun visor when the spring popped out. Sigh

6. Pack up and clean up the apartment. The good news is that we have found someone who is moving in and taking over the rent for the three months we are gone. And that means more money for the trip! The bad news is that they kind’ve want our closet space and a place that does not qualify as a biohazard.

7. Get a pack list together. It doesn’t matter if your traveling for one weekend or one year, the amount of stuff you take is pretty much the same. We have become experts and decreasing our stuff, from Emma when we had two large boxes, a roll, a tent and a small rucksack on my back (I really dont recomend traveling with any size rucksack on the back of a bike)

to last Fall when we had 3 small boxes and a tent and nothing more.

but it really was still too much, and with me driving for the first time we are wary of loading down my bike. Me because I want to get comfortable first, Patrick because he does not want me dancing and screaming around the bike in the middle of Albania while I demand to go home while leaving the bike exactly where it lies.

8. Test out the pack list, see how everything fits together before we actually get on the bikes to drive away! Somehow I doubt either of us want either bike to be at this point ever again:

9. Buy a new camera, mine has recently given to putting streaky lines through all my shots, or at least about 50% of the time it does. (This of course just means I keep putting off the purchase because I keep thinking there is a 50% chance it will work anyway).

10. Get my bank details straightened out. As of the moment my card only works in Germany. That aint going to work so well in Croatia, or Greece, or any other of the countries we drive through to get there!

11. Go to a christening in Switzerland for Patrick’s little nephew, one weekend less to do everything!

12. Learn right before left! (Instead of stop signs everywhere they have a little yellow sign to tell you if you are on a main road. If you are not on a yellow road at every intersection you stop to see if someone is coming from your right, and if they are, you let them drive on through).

13. And this one is a big one – Get my license!!!! My paperwork is still somewhere, and I can only do the written test on Mondays. So if I cant do it this weekend, I need to wait a whole week more to write my test! (Thankfully I can do the practical the day after). But the longer we wait, the less time I have should, ahem, I forget right before left and barrel on down the road.