So, this is - word-for-word - my journal from my cycling tour of New Zealand and Fiji. In an attempt to make some of my thoughts more clear, I have added some content in

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to help flesh out what I was thinking at the time. I didn't actually ride my bike in Fiji but the ticket price was just about the same to stop there as it was to fly straight home so I said what the heck - that's one place I have never been so I might as well do it.

Some background: I was dating this girl - my first long-term relationship where we lived together - and we had (I thought) planned on going to New Zealand together on bicycles and doing this tour. Well, as sometimes happens with Martin, I couldn't see the forest for the trees and she dumped me just prior to departure. Okay, it was about one month prior to departure but hey; I had my plane ticket and everything!

Man was I blue. But my friends & family came through for me. They all said, "Do it anyway" and am I glad I did. Looking back, I wonder what I was afraid of. It's not like there was going to be a language barrier or anything, and I was a professional bicycle mechanic at the time so I was heading out more prepared than most anyone else would be. The mind is a curious thing.

So I ended up at the airport with my bike in a cardboard box and one big duffel bag. I don't recall what the weather was but let's pretend it was raining shall we?

Up, up and away...