Preparing to fly

So terns are a migratory bird, no? Actually I have no idea, and I apologise up front for the misleading  title of this blog . It has nothing to do with terns, and not much to do with migration, unless we don't come back. So what's the clever title all about then? Tern is the brand of our folding bikes, and migrating refers to our European adventure. Appropriately, I write this first blog from the Gull bus which is taking us to Melbourne Airport for our flight.

I haven't researched the pre-flight behaviour of migratory birds, but I imagine it would involve a fair bit of eating and quite a lot of flapping practice. I did both, but left my run pretty late, raiding a tempting packet of M and Ms I discovered just before terning [sic] in at 1am last night. The flapping was useless, but I gave it a good crack. It was more like flapping about, and it went for hours. I can't believe how much time I can waste sorting things for travel. This technology is the problem, but I love it so much! 

Ive decided to bring my SLR this time. Heavy, but I hope the better image quality justifies the decision.

So the Terns... They are folding bikes made in Taiwan. We bought them from St Kilda cycles, and I had mine modified so that the gearing is a bit higher, anticipating some fast pushing. An early test ride involving bad calculations and a soon to be departing bus gave me the acquired knowledge that the high gears will only be useful downhill, or in a hurricane tailwind. I nearly had a heart attack trying to use top gear on the flat.

The bikes are excellent. They are really well engineered and they have some clever accessories. For example the seat post doubles as a pump, with the seat functioning as the handle. Allen key is hidden in the handlebar and the built in Biologic lights are really good. We bought the p24h model. The 3 speed hub gear with the 8 gear cluster means you can use all of the 24 gears, and the gear changes are easy. The 20" wheels and sturdy (16kg) frame makes for a nice ride. Folding bikes are not road bikes though: our plans are to use them for exploring around villages rather than long trips.

Anyway they fold up into this..

Photo pending

We rang Singapore airlines to enquire about the oversize baggage charges and we're told that there is no charge as long as we are within weight limits (30kg). It says otherwise on the website, so I'm prepared for either outcome. 

I forgot to take a photo of us and our luggage, so here's our resident artist's impression of us checking in.