1. The Depressing Introduction

What would you do if you have nothing left? What would you do when the only possible option, except biting the bullet, is to leave everything and start over? What would you do when the goddamn pills don’t work?

You could turn the question around and ask yourself “If I could do anything, what would I do?". But I am getting ahead of myself as at the time I didn’t know the answer to that question. I didn’t even know the question. And I don’t own any guns, by the way.

I was aimlessly spending my days trying to repair myself when my wonderful friend Madeleine did her best to cheer me up (thank you, love you always), giving me tons of suggestions of what I could possible do. She had recently returned home from a couple of months stay in China and the idea of a longer trip grew in my mind. So far most of my travels had been weekend trips to some European city, a week exploring a paradise island, or driving up and down the coasts of the United States, all with the company of my ex wife. This time I wanted, and desperately needed, to go by myself. But I really don’t like to do stuff by myself and the idea of driving or riding by bus or train all alone didn’t seem like too much fun. I’ve been alone for, what, four days of my life or something. I guess I need to grow up.

I was surfing the nets at work (I LOVE my job) when I stumbled upon this video of Christoph Rehage walking through China. I was really fascinated by his adventure. A five minute video does capture the true ordeal, doesn’t it? I mean, how hard can it be? It’s not like I can’t walk!

But I don’t enjoy walking too much either, the lack of speed makes me frustrated. The idea stuck anyway and I started to look for similar stories when I came across Lars Bengtssons site lostcyclist.com. I couldn’t stop reading his amazing stories; this is what I want to do! I do like to ride my bicycle, and I like it even more without company. Perfect!

I looked further and found more people biking around the world. I found Scott Stoll, who asked the magic question “If I could do anything, what would I do?". I found Malena Stiteler who rides around the world on her own. I found Michelle Van who also rides alone. I found Wayne and Kristina Carpenter, a couple who ride long distances at an age (not old) when I plan to work as little as possible (yes, even less than I work today, don’t comment Karl). If they can do it, why couldn’t I? Not that I am implying anything, I am the least active guy I know and a week of downhill skiing while consuming as much alcohol as a human can survive is my idea of sport, but still.

Two questions remained: Do I dare, and where do I go? I solved the daring part simply by telling enough people to make it impossible to back down. Most of my friends already think I’m batshit insane anyway, which probably is a correct observation. I think I’m the sanest person in the world, but I guess that is what all insane people think. The where part changed a couple of times until I finally decided to start in Singapore and bike north from there. The distances between beds seem to be quite short and the weather is nice. It also appears to be mostly flat. Flat is good.

Things to do:

1. Plan trip.
2. Quit smoking (again).
3. Don’t fall in love (again).

I pretty much failed on all accounts. I am the world’s worst planner, as I can never foresee any kind of problem but rather solve things as they come along. The upside of this is that I don’t have to attend to too many meetings at work. I quit smoking in 2004 but picked it up four years later when my life was going down the drain. The cancer inducing sticks worked a lot better than the lousy pills. I have made an effort to give it up again, but unless you count a mixture of nicotine patches, Catch Eucalyptus and more than an occasional smoke “quitting” I am still working on it. I promised myself not to fall for someone before the trip but she came and swept me off my feet anyway. It solved itself (as always) however, since she dumped me faster than I could say “I’m fooled again” as soon as I showed interest. Then I met Cecilia… hmmm…

So, what now? I have absolutely no idea. Fly to Singapore. Buy bike. Seems like a plan to me.