2 days to go

July 30th, 2015

We’re almost there. After a hell week of packing, cleaning, paperwork and bureaucracy, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re actually packed (more or less) and after our last day at work tomorrow we’ll be ready to set off on Saturday morning.

All our belongings for the next 18 months

Our first leg will be relatively familiar, down the length of Japan. We have some grasp of the language and feel at home here, so it’ll break us into touring life gently. It’ll allow us to sort out the inevitable niggles and problems before we venture into the less familiar terrain of South Korea and China.

The weather for our departure day is looking like it’ll rain, but there’s nothing we can do about that. First stop is Lake Shikotsu and then Tomakomai. From there we’ll take the ferry down to Hachinohe in Aomori which is on the main Japanese island, Honshu. Our next post will be from the road!

Iran…

Tourism to Iran set to rise sharply after nuclear deal

Currently, we’re not expecting to be able to ride through Iran, even though it’s a place we really want to visit. However in the light of the recent nuclear agreement reached, we might see a change in the visa requirements for Brits. You never know…..

3 weeks to go…

July 12th, 2015

Busy, busy, busy. It seems like we’ve had round after round of festivals, farewell parties and late nights this week. Luckily we’ve got a few quiet days off coming up so we can really get things dialled in before we head off.

Festivals and farewells

We also spent a few days hosting John and Gayle, aka the Sloths on Wheels. They contacted us through Warm Showers for a place to stay after cycling around Hokkaido for a few weeks. They’ve come from the UK and been on the road for 3 years so were full of useful information and great stories about the places we’re looking forward to riding through over the coming months. Their blog is here, check it out. Hopefully our paths will cross again somewhere down the road.

Showing John and Gayle around Iwamizawa

We’re having our first taste of the visa application process too. Although ironically it’s for the country in which we’ve been residing for the last 5 years. On the day our work contracts expire, our Japanese working visas will do the same. So unless we leave the country on the same day, we need to apply to change over to an ordinary tourist visa. It’s nothing compared to some of the visa stresses we’ll have in Central Asia, but it’s still extra paperwork and a bit of a pain in the arse.

Another form we recently filled out has had an unexpectedly positive outcome. After the Sea to Summit race a few weeks ago, we thought we’d get in touch with Mont-Bell, the event’s sponsor, with a cheeky request for some sponsorship for our trip. A couple of weeks later, after applying for their ‘Challenge Support Program’, they came back offering us product support for our clothing. We’re delighted that they want to help us out as we do genuinely think they make great outdoor gear and we already use a lot of their kit. With more and more people undertaking similar adventures to ours, we’re aware how hard it is to get any kind of sponsorship from large companies, so it’s awesome to have such a well respected Japanese company onboard! Obligatory link – Mont-Bell

Mont-Bell quality

Three weeks from today we’ll be on our bikes boarding a ferry to leave Hokkaido.