Admin and Indulgence

The planning and preparation for the trip is moving along at a nice relaxed pace, although the last few days have been somewhat expensive.

In terms of what's been done: I've cleared the trip with the insurance company and let them know when I'm going to be away, as I have done with the RAC in case of any breakdowns. I've also checked with T-Mobile and my phone is good to go in Europe, so that's another thing checked off the list.

To err on the side of caution I've decided that the bike should go in for a full service rather than have only the fluid and brake work done so I'm riding Betty over to the garage at lunchtime tomorrow to get her checked over properly.

With any luck I'll have her back by mid-week ready to test out the camera which should hopefully have arrived. There's a strong possibility I won't be able to wait when it does turn up, so I might do some initial tests riding my GSX-R 600 if Betty is still in the shop.

I took a trip into town earlier today in order to pick up some "hard-copy" maps of Europe. By visiting discount bookstores rather than the usual places I picked up a 2011 AA European roadmap for a fiver and got a decent travellers handbook for under 5% of the RRP.

The rest of the day hasn't been quite so bargainous however; I've decided to order a set of 40L (2x20L) panniers as a long-term investment - also means I don't have to worry if anything happens to a set I've borrowed. The panniers and mounting kit should be here in a couple of weeks. I've also ordered a 14hr battery pack for the camera along with a microphone. As European law states I have to travel with a first aid kit somewhere on my bike, I've ordered one of those too.

So, there are a couple of little bits left to check like my bankcard, but once that's sorted I'll be moving on to a packing list and waiting for everything I've ordered to arrive so I can have some fun!

The initial outlay for this trip has become a fair bit more than I budgeted for, but this won't affect my time in Europe in any way. Everything I'm buying will be used on future trips - and besides, this is exactly the sort of thing that money *should* be spent on.