Take a Load Off

I booked my flights to Europe three and a half weeks ago. Up until that moment I honestly didn't believe I was going and with that mindset I didn't do any preparation for the trip beyond imagining a route. It was two days later when I bent down to pick a towel up off the ground in the bathroom and I couldn't get back up that I realized the folly of my lack of prep work. I'm really out of shape!

After I managed to get myself upright again I dried off and got dressed. I dug through my closet to find my motorcycle jacket and lo and behold I'm busting out at the seams? I'm not just out of shape, I'm obese as well!

OK don't panic! I still have time to get it together. I have three weeks before I go. If I drop 5 pounds and get myself down to around 225 pounds I'll be fine for this trip. I can stop drinking beer until I get there and I will lose weight without any effort. Good plan. I better get to weighing myself. I fire up my Nintendo Wii and drag out the balance board. It's been a long time since I've turned this machine on. Alright... go through the menus and start Wii Fit. Pick my profile... OK time to step on the board. What!?! The computer just said ouch when I stepped on the board. Sick sense of humour at Nintendo. Alright. I press 'A' for the last time and the unit starts talking, "Measuring... measuring... measuring... All done!"

My center of balance is way to the right. Makes sense. That's the side I dress on. Now for my weight.

246 Pounds

Hubbawha?

I'm 246 pounds and well into the obese scale. Let's do the math. I'm 246 and I need to be 225 so 246 less 225 equals 21. I need to lose 21 pounds in three weeks. Oh my god! I'm doomed! I really have turned into fat Elvis. I console myself with a bagel and cream cheese with cheddar and Swiss cheese melted over top. This isn't productive.

I need to come up with a plan. OK... done! I have a cunning plan:

"Stop eating and start exercising."

I'm a genius!

I'll start tomorrow.

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A New Adventure

So the story picks up where I left off. It only took me eight months to write all the stories from last year’s trip so I think I can safely say that I can do better this year. I’ve been given a green light to take another trip and my tickets are booked so there is no turning back now. A few months ago I placed a widget on the blog with four destinations for my next trip. I guess it’s about time I reveal the results. If you remember the choices were:

1. Istanbul, Turkey
2. Odessa, Ukraine
3. St. Petersburg, Russia
4. Helsinki, Finland

The results were quite a shock to me. I personally thought that St. Petersburg would have been the runaway winner in this survey. As it turns out it came in third just in front of Helsinki. In second place was Istanbul and the surprising winner turned out to be Odessa by a whopping 6 votes. So I have put together some preliminary plans to travel to Odessa starting on August 8, 2009. I fly into Munich and from there I go to Jadrtovac in Croatia where I left my bike last year. I have gone through many routes on google maps and my favorite mapsite ViaMichelin (by far the best European route maker). My preliminary route has me traveling through:

• Croatia
• Bosnia Herzegovina
• Montenegro
• Serbia
• Albania
• Macedonia
• Greece
• Turkey
• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Moldova
• Ukraine Republic
• Poland
• Czech
• Germany

That basically works out to one country for every day I'm on the road. Of course I don't plan on spending the night in Albania or Macedonia, though that may change along the way. Its a hectic schedule with alot of ground to cover but fortunately I'm riding solo so I can change my route at will.

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