10 Trip FAQs

Hello....lots of people are asking the us the same questions at the moment. We don't mind at all but I thought I'd write 10 FAQs as my last blog before we leave. (Sorry if you're bored of hearing about it)

1) When are you leaving?
Tomorrow!! by bike from our house. It will be 30th July 2013 exactly 60 years after my grandparents left for their trip. Here they are having a picnic in the desert:

2) Where are you going?
Kuwait (via England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan)

If you're not sure where Kuwait is it's here between Iraq and Saudi.

You may have noticed that 'Turkey-Lebanon-Jordan-Kuwait' isn't really a route. That's the annoying thing about the middle east too many countries that your mum (and the foreign office) won't let you go to. When my grandparents did the same trip in 1953 they happily drove through Iraq and Syria which is sort of the sensible way geographically. We have just picked the countries we wanted to go to and are flying over the bad ones...that's partly why we couldn't go by car like we wanted to originally.

So we're flying over Syria to Lebanon (which is totally not fair because we had this idea before Syria was a mess) and then we're annoying flying to Jordan because Lebanon and Jordan don't quite join up and although I would love to go through Israel and palestine to get there, the Lebanon/ Israel boarder
has been closed since 2006 and you can only go to one of those places on any one passport. The last bit Jordan to Kuwait...I kind of don't mind avoiding Iraq and Saudi. They're not the most welcoming of countries. In fact when we were considering going through Saudi we read on a Saudi website 'Saudi Arabia will remain a great nation as long as it is difficult for foreigners to enter'

That was a long answer sorry.

3) How far will you cycle in a day?
We decided 60 miles should be the maximum per day a  while ago, then I did a test ride that was 60 miles and I thought I was capable of doing it if I had a hour break after 30 miles and a minuets break every 10 miles. Until a few days ago I was thinking we'd have a few 60 mile days but mostly cycling days would be 40 or 50 miles. Last night Dan showed me the GPS computer program with the routes mapped and almost all of them were between 60 and 70 miles.....I'm not quite sure how that happened!

4) How long are you away for?
2 months I think we arrive back in Britain on 29th Sept. We won't really be functioning members of society until October.

5) What are you doing with your house?
2 guys Joe and Adam are living in it.

6) How much luggage will you take?
one pannier bag and one small ruck sack each. I'm not even taking conditioner : (

7) Where are you staying, are you camping?
We can't really camp because then we'd have to take a tent and a mattress and sleeping bags ect so we're staying in a mixture of friends and family's houses, my dad's boat, Couch surfing (staying with strangers from the internet) cheap hostels, and 2 nice hotels (in Venice and Kuwait)

8) What are you doing about work?
I'm self employed so I can kind of take time off, also because I wonk in school there isn't any work in August anyway so I'm only missing a month. Dan has quit his job....he hated it anyway partly because he spent 3 hours a day commuting. On Friday he qualified as a life guard so he'll be looking for work in local swimming pools whilst trying to do more creatively interesting things like writing a book with our friend Ian.

9) What are you most looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to all of it really, but particularly Macedonia, Lebanon and Jordan. But I'm mostly looking forward to the fact that I will be away from everyday life having an adventure with my best friend Dan. awww.

10) What are you most scared of/ worried about?
Day 15 -Lons-le Saunier to Geneva! 70 miles of cycling through the alps with a 7000 foot incline. (in case you didn't know we don't have super amazing bikes we have folding bikes with little wheels and mine doesn't work in gear 1.) At the end of that we have to find a couch surfers house and try and be polite guests in a stranger's home. I also worry about missing planes or not being allowed onto trains with bikes and stuff.

Dan is least looking forward to Day 7- Isle of wight to Le Havre it's 20 hours of wobbling around on a 7 meter long boat...if the winds in the wrong direction it will be longer. Last time we crossed the channel in that boat he was sick about 10 times. He said he's rather cycle for 20 hours than sail for 20 hours. These is our sailing faces:

Thanks for reading. xx

P.s if you want to keep in contact we will be using twitter, email and facebook, maybe skype, I will write a few blogs but mainly we're keeping a paper diary. We will not be using our phones.

The Bet (part 2)

So since writing my last blog about my new bet, it seems that pretty much everyone wants to try and have as many ginger children as possible. Which is a big slap in the face to Katie Hopkins a "celebrity" that Helen Bradley told me to google after my last post. Katie Hopkins is a horrible snobbish woman who once tweeted

'Ginger babies. Like a baby. Just so much harder to love'

If that's the case why do so many people want to take part in the who can have the most ginger babies by 2028 bet?

Here are all the people who after reading my last blog want in:

 In the already parents category there's my mum (Sue) who has 2 of of 3 ginger children, and likes to boast that she is winning already. I guess technically she is but  if me or Jo (pictured below) go grey or die or dye by 2028 then she's not got much of a chance. She has set the bar high though if you're only planning on having two children I wouldn't bother entering into the ginger bet. p.s She's entering with my Dad obviously.

 Next in the parent category is Steph and Nick and Baby Benedict, although neither Steph or Nick are ginger, Ben (our godson) is looking more ginger every time I see him, and they're planning on having 4 children so in with a very good chance.

So in the couples category there's us and Katie and Mike as stated in the previous blog. 

And then in the singles category there is:

 Joe Fred....who has a ginger mum.

 Hazel Jurd who also has a ginger mum.

Helen Bradley...not a ginger but a massive fancier of ginger men.

Lydia Palmer and Danni McGuinness Both gingers in their own right.

The advantage of being single at this stage in the competition is that you can choose a partner who's going to give you most chance of winning. I was thinking after we've finished this bet in 2028 maybe we could go for most ginger grandchildren in 2058 say? Me and Helen already have vague plans to share a grandchild anyway. (we did try to become sisters in law but it would have meant at least one of us marring someone we didn't love) so if she has a couple of ginger kids this would be a double bonus for me. 

The small print:

• To answer Rachel's question only biological children count. 
• The ginger must be natural, however if you are a natural ginger and you dye your hair anther colour you are a traitor to the race and are permanently disqualified as an individual.
• winner is the couple with the most ginger children on 1st January 2028.
• Entrants are all those photographed above plus their future partners and children.
• The competition is now closed no one else can enter but other people can take bets on who will win.
• Losers which are defined as anyone photographed above and their families excluding the one winning family.
• If there are two winners with equal amounts of ginger children a gingerness scale will be drawn (sort of like litmus paper but with shades of ginger)
• All losing families must dye their whole families hair ginger.

A New Bet

I recently made a new bet which will expire in 15 years time. Me and Katie Hunt are having a competition. who can have the most ginger children (with our partners Mike and Dan.) The loser has to dye their hair and all of their families hair ginger.

I think our chances of winning are fairly even as I am the most ginger out of the 4 of us but Dan is the least ginger...as in he's not at all ginger. Katie has light brown/dark blond hair and Mike is a bit ginger especially in the beard. The bet isn't proportional depending on what percentage of our children are ginger, its just who has the most gingers.

Yesterday I was explaining the deal to Joe Fred and he expressed an intrest on getting in on the bet. He has dark hair but his mum is ginger so he's got a bit of recessive ginger going on. Joe has the slight disadvantage that he is currently single but he does have until 2028 to work on that.

So who's your money on? Here are the candidates:

P.s sorry to totally embarrass you all and also steel photos of you. Not the kind of sorry that means I'll never do it again. The 'a bit sorry but I'm still doing it' kind of sorry. If it makes you feel better I did purposefully put an embarrassing picture of me in it too.