Mel & Trinity

Wow, it has finally hit me that in 11 hours I will be on a plane heading to Seattle and in less than 24 hours I will be on U.S. soil.

15 months ago I decided to finally make a 20 year dream come true by riding one of the coastlines of the States on a motorbike. 10 months ago that ambition turned into the 3 month trip I am about to take on. 7 months ago I starting the process of obtaining my motorbike licence. 5 months ago I collected my motorbike, Trinity, from the BMW garage. Today, I am sitting in my flat, everything packed and ready for my flight in the morning. It almost feels unreal!

What I have found interesting is that the thought of the trip itself does not scare me (maybe ignorance is bliss of course), but the thought of forgetting something and potentially railroading all my planning does. I trust that I have put enough measures in place to mitigate the risk of anything going drastically wrong. The project manager in me has been working overtime!

In theory, I’m all set to start my adventure across the Atlantic ocean. Trinity flew with Delta Airlines to Seattle today and I will be flying with British Airways tomorrow.  I will find out on Monday whether I have completed my customs declaration forms in correctly so that I can collect Trinity from the airport. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have been thinking about the things that I suspect I am going to miss while I am away. These include:

• My own bed and shower
• My weekend calls with my family (I will try and stick to those although the time difference will make things tricky)
• Having coffee with Graham (aka Mr G) every morning
• Watching Angela show off her new Zumba moves in the kitchen after her classes (her pure joy always makes me smile)
• Spending time with my friends
• Seeing Scott and his family every weekend when I collect Trinity for a ride
• The general banter around the office and lunches in the staff cafe (the conversations are always incredibly entertaining)
• Running into Carl at least twice a day in the kitchen (yes I’m in there a lot but clearly so is he)
• Going for walks in Wimbledon Common
• My walk along the Southbank going to/from work

What am I looking forward to on this trip:

• Everything (except the admin)! In all honestly I have no idea what to expect and that is what makes it so exciting. The idea of endless opportunities. It is wonderful!

Watch out North America, here I come!