travellingbennetts

The bikes snug and on their way!

The riding gear (Betsy the cat in background)

It is now just 4 weeks until Duncan and I depart to Cairo for our 80 day trip, riding Cairo to Cape Town with 7 other adventurers from Australia, France, Canada and USA.

The last couple of months have sped by in a flurry of preparations including getting the bikes ready to ship, buying spares for the bikes, carnets (passports for the bikes), visas for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan – although we still haven’t got the Sudanese visa, with our passports currently at the Sudanese Embassy in Jakarta. We have had our vaccinations and are now armed with boxes of anti-malarial medication.

Our bikes have already started their adventure, leaving Brisbane on a truck to Melbourne and then a ship to Cairo in late October. We will see them again at the Port in Alexandria, Egypt on the 18^th January.

Compass Expeditions (our tour company) provided us with 2 x 100 litre duffle bags each which is the only luggage we can take along with a backpack.

My riding gear is snuggly fitted into one bag currently, and I am valiantly trying to pare down the “essential” off bike gear in the other bag. Do I really need 5 pairs of shoes? Can dry shampoo be purchased in Africa, or should I take 3 cans of it with me? These are the important questions my friends!

Modern technology is fantastic, but there are so many chargers, adaptors and other essential paraphernalia that all the igadgets just about need their own 100 litre duffle bag.

Our good intentions for this blog will be a weekly update which should align with the 11 countries we are visiting. Below is the official Compass Expeditions trip overview:

Thanks for joining us on the adventure!