We arrived in Tokyo Narita airport at 7am. After being handed pieces of paper informing us we were quarantined (thanks to coming from a filthy swine-flu infected country) we were let loose on the Tokyo subway system with a bike and two stripy bags full of panniers and camping gear. After successfully picking up Alex’s bike, and cramming it into a bike bag, we set off for Haneda airport.

By the time we got to the roof top viewing platform at the airport, I was already sold on Japan. A viewing platform! On the roof! And it was sunny, and there was tasty food everywhere, and a man on a train platform had even given us candy. Tasty candy! (Yes, I accept candy from strangers).

After our JAL flight to Sapporo, we piled out of the baggage claim area and were found by the Boy. And then spent several hours assembling the bikes, and tweaking Alex’s bike to fit him, and all of that fun sort of stuff. We were kept nourished by food from vending machines (which was disturbingly tasty).

It was looking suspiciously wet outside, and as we set off into the dark it started raining on us. Oh well. 22 kilometres we were damp, and quite tired, and after finding the campground we quickly collapsed and fell fast asleep.

Location: Chitose Airport – Hayakita
Distance cycled: 22km

Well, it’s nearly time…

Phase One – Japan
31 May – 17 June 2009

Phase One will be undertaken with myself, Alex, and a mysterious character known only as The Boy (who may or may not be my brother). The advantage to this set-up is that Alex and myself speak no Japanese, whereas The Boy has considerable kanji skills. But on the other hand, The Boy has not left Australia since he was 9, and has not done much camping since then either. Whereas Alex and I have spent lots of time travelling round and living in foreign countries. And camping.

We’ll be cycling around Hokkaido, and then Alex and I will go back to Tokyo to jump on a plane to Europe, while The Boy continues cycling around Japan.

Phase Two – Europe
18 June – 7 Nov 2009

Phase Two has Alex and I arriving in Dublin, meeting up with my mother, then travelling around Ireland for the next 10 days or so, hopefully getting a few days of cycling in. Then we’ll somehow catch the ferry over to Wales. Ride through Wales to London then Dover, take the ferry to France, then who knows what will happen! There are friends to meet up with in Europe, and friends who’ve mentioned interest in riding sections with us… so we shall see.

It’s hard to fit in all the places we’d like to go, and things we’d like to do, especially with the strong Euro smiting our plans left, right and centre. Doing a side trip to Iceland would be excellent. So would going from Finland to Estonia via St Petersburg. And drifting further east into Romania. And a trip down south into Greece! And more of Italy! And Spain! And Portugal! And Scotland! But for the sake of time and money these sections will probably be left out.