We’ve made it stateside! A couple of observations about travelling, and possibly also life in general:

• Hair elastics are everywhere until you actually want one. Then there are none. Also I thought there would be a brush or a comb in the pack they gave us on the plane. There wasn’t. It is now 26 hours since I brushed my hair.
• It should be that you lose the day at the start of the trip, not the end. Friday 9 June will have lasted for 39 hours by the time we’re done with it and I just want to get there already… Meanwhile July 13 will be nowhere to be found when I want the days to last forever before I return to real life.
• Airport ‘bargains’ are life’s little joke. Apparently when Tim Tams cost $7 a packet duty free, “4 for $20” is a bargain. We paid $2.50 a packet at Woolies. And surely only Australians are buying 300mL of bottled water for $6? You can get it out of the tap for free you lunatics!
• Calories consumed on an aeroplane shouldn’t count. Related to the aforementioned point, I ate breakfast, morning tea, lunch, a midnight snack, another snack (does it have a name if you eat it at 2am and it’s not a kebab?) breakfast again, afternoon tea and dinner. Pretty sure that’s more than the recommended adult calorie consumption for one day!
• If everyone stood a metre and a half back from the front of the baggage carousel, everyone could get their bags without engaging in WWF! WTF people? Your bags aren’t going to come any faster because you’re getting shin burn from the carousel!
• Nothing in the world feels better than that first hug when you see someone you love after a long trip and a long time between drinks. The second best feeling is a hot shower and clean clothes. You’ve hit the jackpot when the person you love hugs you and then sends you in the direction of the shower.

We’ve ticked off tasks 1 and 2 (bike registration and testing the call-in bonus procedure). We have also sorted out my hydration set up (an on-sale Osprey hydration backpack strapped to the rack on the top box) and *fingers crossed* we have also sorted out my phone set up. I think that deserves its own blog post – it’s been an ordeal.

Tomorrow will be packing the bike and a few last-minute purchases before we leave for Pittsburgh via Milwaukee on Wednesday.