Bike Pants Check
Gloves Check
Enthusiasm Double Check

Passports, Bike locks, Panniers, Shoes whew have we got everything - well you know what it doesn't matter if you forget anything - they do have shops in France!!! Bags are a bit heavy with all this stuff. We are buying our bikes in France and have decided on Cross Trail Bikes at this stage, they can be ridden on and off road. The training has gone well and we have done a lot of this on mountain bikes so these bikes should eat up the kilometers on the french trails

Excitement is mounting, the thought of 12:25 hour flight to Tokyo isn't, I find longhaul flights tough, can't really sleep sitting up so its a 5 movie flight glad I'm going on Air New Zealand with their great entertainment system. This trip we are flying Swiss Air and Singapore Airlines too so it will be a great all round comparison of airline service.

So its an early night and up and atom to be at the airport at 6.30am and catch the 8.30am flight to Tokyo - yipeeee. I am clearing emails and with the great new Vodafone roaming it allows you to answer your phone and use data on your existing plan for just $5 in a 24 hour period - perfect. I'm also buying a French Sim card - so two phones for me, this will make sure we are online with heaps of data....... this is how life is now - everything online, information, accommodation and maps.