Business class is more comfortable but less fun

I could get all deep and meaningful here as to why I did it, but the truth is the opportunity just presented its self. We emigrated to New Zealand on 23rd April 2007 St George's day and my birthday, what should be the national holiday for England but let's not go there now. I had been working on a project for Fujitsu in Birmingham, I was requested to come back to the UK and do some more work on it. Our house had not sold in the UK so after just 6 short weeks in my new adopted home I was leaving my wife Jane and my 2 teenage sons Nick and Jon for the long haul back to an empty house. It takes quite a woman to be left 12000 miles from all her family and support network.
Many thanks to our new Kiwi friends Rose and Brian, for putting up with the Poms across the way, and treating my boys more like grandsons, explaining a lot of what it takes to be a Kiwi and just being there for Jane.

It's all Jane's fault why I am writing this, and how I ended up cycling home to NZ. When Ade suggested it first I just laughed as I knew Jane would never buy in to such a hair brain idea!!

In the past I have done a few long tours in Canada and the UK, but the longest to date was to Istanbul, so it has always been a passion that has been simmering. To fill my weekends while I was on my own I brought the catalyst that sparked it all. A brand new Hybrid bike from Halfords, the idea was to use it for fitness training, but old habits die hard and before you know it I was riding the C2C, the fire was lit and I was planning the Pennine cycle way.

But the go on do it came from a strange quarter Jane! We were talking on the internet one night when she suggested it, my response was please don't get me started on that! To late the seed was sown. She said if the house sells or your contract gets extend till the end of March 2008 you can ride home, after all it will not cost much more than a posh flight home. I sometimes think that I am a bit slow on the uptake but for Christmas she had given me the "long way round" and just after suggesting the trip home she sent me a great book "A long way for a pie"

So with that in mind, how do you? Where do you? What do you? These were the start of the questions that flooded my brain, and would do for some time to come, after I had calmed my thoughts it became obvious that I first needed to decide which way to go. The Route

Drop me an Email: Richard On Tour

 

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