My Round The World ride (inc top blagging at Spa & The Ring)
Discussion
There are hundreds more photos from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia & New Zealand to follow when I get time. In the meantime, this is what's been happening over the last few days....
To keep those of you without Facebook up to date, I did eventually reach Santiago from Auckland via Sydney, Cairns, Tokyo & Atlanta. Not the quickest or most direct route you're probably thinking? You're telling me!
Reason for such a convoluted route was a friend at a US based airline offered me a cheap flight to Santiago providing I got myself back to Sydney as I could only fly their routes so the original plan was Sydney -> Los Angeles -> Atlanta (their main hub) -> Santiago.
This was a bargain price and one I couldn't really overlook but what I didn't know was that they only have one flight per day out of Sydney and this was to Los Angeles, it was the end of spring break in the US and the start of the Australian school holidays. Not an ideal time to be flying when my cheap ticket means I'm flying on standby...
With 50kg of luggage in tow, leaving the airport without a trolley or in a taxi was never realistic option and with the prohibitive cost of taxis, local hotels and left luggage, I had no real option but to sit tight at the airport and wait to hear if my name got called out each morning for the already oversold flight. Due to the priority system the airline used (employee first, then ex-employee / retiree then friend of employee, all then sorted by joining date) I was always absolute last in line for a seat and most days only one person or no-one got on from the standby list.
So after 6 nights in Sydney (5 nights sleeping on the airport floor & 1 at a friend's) it became fairly obvious that it would take about 30 people to miss their flight before I'd be allowed to board so I bit the bullet and bought a one way ticket to Tokyo (via Cairns) with another airline so that I was in with a chance of catching a standby flight straight to Atlanta but had 5 other options available to me if the Atlanta flight was full.
I arrived in Tokyo at about 8pm, after left luggage had closed for the day but did manage to leave my trolley with a couple of other travellers while I went to enquire about the price of a room at a local hotel masquerading as a hostel. As it was a hotel and not a hostel as advertised and they wanted $65 for the room it was back to the airport and my trusty Therm-A-Rest for another night sleeping on the cold, hard tiles. At least I had an armed policeman watching over me this time for my protection!
Once left luggage opened the next morning and I saw I could leave all my stuff there until the afternoon for about a tenner I couldn't resist the opportunity to catch a ten minute train ride and spend the morning exploring Narita, visiting a temple, some botanical gardens and eating sushi. I've never been to Japan before but have wanted to go for ages so this was too good a chance to pass up, and not somewhere I'd expected to be a few days earlier.
Getting out of Tokyo wasn't as simple as just presenting my passport at the check-in counter, they wanted to see my onward or return ticket from Chile. Erm.... "But I'm not flying out, I'm cycling out, that's why I've got a bike. I'm going to ride to Argentina...." "Well I'll need to check this with my supervisor." Two supervisors later and they want to know I've got the funds to buy a ticket and merely showing them a credit card will do.
That was the easy bit! Next, they said it was an extra $150 US to take my bike on the plane (which I knew about) but because my bike counted as a third piece of luggage it would cost an extra $200 on top of the $150 as my luggage limit for the ticket I had was only two pieces. By this point the clock's ticking but there was no way I could afford to stump up another $200 on top of what I'd already paid for the ticket to Tokyo so in a moment of panic, I raced off to find the clingfilm man to get my two cheapo shopping bags with all my panniers in lashed together to form a single piece of luggage, all for the princely sum of Y1000 ($10).
The one good thing to come out of all of this was my final flight from Atlanta to Santiago was a business class seat so I got to indulge a bit on the champagne, red wine, fillet steak and cooked breakfast plus I had a fold flat bed. The other flights I've taken on this trip have all been with the cheapest budget airline possible, even taking an empty water bottle through security and filling it up at a water fountain before boarding so you can imagine how much of a luxury this was!
Finally in Santiago....
....for a much needed beer!
To keep those of you without Facebook up to date, I did eventually reach Santiago from Auckland via Sydney, Cairns, Tokyo & Atlanta. Not the quickest or most direct route you're probably thinking? You're telling me!
Reason for such a convoluted route was a friend at a US based airline offered me a cheap flight to Santiago providing I got myself back to Sydney as I could only fly their routes so the original plan was Sydney -> Los Angeles -> Atlanta (their main hub) -> Santiago.
This was a bargain price and one I couldn't really overlook but what I didn't know was that they only have one flight per day out of Sydney and this was to Los Angeles, it was the end of spring break in the US and the start of the Australian school holidays. Not an ideal time to be flying when my cheap ticket means I'm flying on standby...
With 50kg of luggage in tow, leaving the airport without a trolley or in a taxi was never realistic option and with the prohibitive cost of taxis, local hotels and left luggage, I had no real option but to sit tight at the airport and wait to hear if my name got called out each morning for the already oversold flight. Due to the priority system the airline used (employee first, then ex-employee / retiree then friend of employee, all then sorted by joining date) I was always absolute last in line for a seat and most days only one person or no-one got on from the standby list.
So after 6 nights in Sydney (5 nights sleeping on the airport floor & 1 at a friend's) it became fairly obvious that it would take about 30 people to miss their flight before I'd be allowed to board so I bit the bullet and bought a one way ticket to Tokyo (via Cairns) with another airline so that I was in with a chance of catching a standby flight straight to Atlanta but had 5 other options available to me if the Atlanta flight was full.
I arrived in Tokyo at about 8pm, after left luggage had closed for the day but did manage to leave my trolley with a couple of other travellers while I went to enquire about the price of a room at a local hotel masquerading as a hostel. As it was a hotel and not a hostel as advertised and they wanted $65 for the room it was back to the airport and my trusty Therm-A-Rest for another night sleeping on the cold, hard tiles. At least I had an armed policeman watching over me this time for my protection!
Once left luggage opened the next morning and I saw I could leave all my stuff there until the afternoon for about a tenner I couldn't resist the opportunity to catch a ten minute train ride and spend the morning exploring Narita, visiting a temple, some botanical gardens and eating sushi. I've never been to Japan before but have wanted to go for ages so this was too good a chance to pass up, and not somewhere I'd expected to be a few days earlier.
Getting out of Tokyo wasn't as simple as just presenting my passport at the check-in counter, they wanted to see my onward or return ticket from Chile. Erm.... "But I'm not flying out, I'm cycling out, that's why I've got a bike. I'm going to ride to Argentina...." "Well I'll need to check this with my supervisor." Two supervisors later and they want to know I've got the funds to buy a ticket and merely showing them a credit card will do.
That was the easy bit! Next, they said it was an extra $150 US to take my bike on the plane (which I knew about) but because my bike counted as a third piece of luggage it would cost an extra $200 on top of the $150 as my luggage limit for the ticket I had was only two pieces. By this point the clock's ticking but there was no way I could afford to stump up another $200 on top of what I'd already paid for the ticket to Tokyo so in a moment of panic, I raced off to find the clingfilm man to get my two cheapo shopping bags with all my panniers in lashed together to form a single piece of luggage, all for the princely sum of Y1000 ($10).
The one good thing to come out of all of this was my final flight from Atlanta to Santiago was a business class seat so I got to indulge a bit on the champagne, red wine, fillet steak and cooked breakfast plus I had a fold flat bed. The other flights I've taken on this trip have all been with the cheapest budget airline possible, even taking an empty water bottle through security and filling it up at a water fountain before boarding so you can imagine how much of a luxury this was!
Finally in Santiago....
....for a much needed beer!
Thanks for the kind comments about the photos. I've recently got into instagram and am very slowly (It'll probably take months!) uploading my best photos of the trip. For those who use it, my feed is:
http://instagram.com/neilchurchard
http://instagram.com/neilchurchard
Has anyone here cycled South America?
I'm looking at routes north from Santiago to San Pedro de Atacama and my choices are stick to the main highway which hugs the coast a fair bit and undulates with a general upwards trend until I reach San Pedro.
Or avoid highways altogether which would mean crossing the Andes twice via passes of 3887 & 4755m and an extra 700km.
I'm leaning towards the Andes route at the moment as it would take me through Argentina and 4755m would be the highest point of the trip by far or will I suffer from lack of oxygen all the way up both passes and wish I'd taken the highway with all the trucks passing me at top speed a few centimetres away while simultaneously letting me know their air horn is working (so a bit like the rest of the world then)?
Thoughts?
I'm looking at routes north from Santiago to San Pedro de Atacama and my choices are stick to the main highway which hugs the coast a fair bit and undulates with a general upwards trend until I reach San Pedro.
Or avoid highways altogether which would mean crossing the Andes twice via passes of 3887 & 4755m and an extra 700km.
I'm leaning towards the Andes route at the moment as it would take me through Argentina and 4755m would be the highest point of the trip by far or will I suffer from lack of oxygen all the way up both passes and wish I'd taken the highway with all the trucks passing me at top speed a few centimetres away while simultaneously letting me know their air horn is working (so a bit like the rest of the world then)?
Thoughts?
Andes no question. Did you really need to ask? Or were you showing off to us desk jockeys how exciting your life is and about what tough decisions you have to make … 
Keep up the good work, thanks for living my dream! Donations will be coming your way from me, once you get just a little bit further… although I'll give you a £100 if you promise to cycle all the way through Argentina with a Maggie Thatcher mask on...
Keep up the good work, thanks for living my dream! Donations will be coming your way from me, once you get just a little bit further… although I'll give you a £100 if you promise to cycle all the way through Argentina with a Maggie Thatcher mask on...
This is an ace thread. I really am coming close to taking a year off and this is exactly what I would aspire to do with it.
Watching your Chilean updates with interest, have this October off and planning to go back to South/Central America. I start a Spanish course tonight to save me being such a linguistic muppet next time
Watching your Chilean updates with interest, have this October off and planning to go back to South/Central America. I start a Spanish course tonight to save me being such a linguistic muppet next time
^^^ Any picturesque landscape is improved by a touring bike propped up in the shot, you get the feeling that the shot was earned. A friend of mine rode from Bristol to Japan a few years back and had a brilliant time, the amount of stories and quite frankly weird situations will be talking points for years, like the Birthday he spent in a hut in Tajikistan with a man who upon realising he was a non-muslim, tried to convert him, or the mad Swiss guy travelling the world on a 125cc Suzuki scooter. I might be off myself in a few years, when I have a spare year or two.
Vaud said:
Only just discovered this thread (bad form PH, this should be home page stuff...)
Maybe you should click on the news button on the first post in this thread then. 
Vaud said:
I just love this shot. Beautiful.
Thanks, one of my favourites of the whole trip and has won me a new saddle in an online competition for the best cycling photo and the PH photo of the month comp when the theme was travel.I'm hoping to top it over the next few days when I cross the Andes to Mendoza.
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