First day in Scotland. Staying in the north part with someone from Warmshowers. Will explore the city tomorrow. Wasn't too cold, but a bit windy. I took a footpath part of the way which turned out to be unpaved and right next to a raging river. It was going fine until I ran into about 50 stairs and had to turn around.

FLL at 8am:

JFK at 2pm:

Currently in Dublin, with about 8 hours until next flight to EDI.

AAA is so terribly wrong about flying here on a one way ticket. My exchange with the immigration officer went like this:

Him: reason for staying?

Me: Recreation. Vacation.

Him: How long will you be here?

Me: In the UK, or Ireland?

Him: Ireland.

Me: A few hours for a connection.

Him: where to?

Me: Edinburgh.

Then he stamped my passport and handed it to me.

Also, it seems I put my adapter plugs in a bag I decided to check at the last minute :(

Rough route

A rough outline of the route I'm hoping to take over the next year, with some of the major cities I plan to visit. If I make it to Singapore it will be a total of 13000+ miles and 21 countries, of which the only ones I've been to before are England, France, Germany, and Kazakhstan.

View planned 2013 cycling in a larger map

The bike

Over the last few months I've built up a surly troll frame with the help of a local bike shop, and I'm very pleased with the result. I was fully expecting this bike to look more hideous than it already does, but surprisingly everything ended up the same color. The 2011 troll frame was available in only bright orange, so I was pleasantly surprised when I placed the order for the 2012 frame and found out it came in black.

Parts list:

Wheels : Sun Rhyno Lite rims, Shimano M756 hubs 36holes, Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 26x2

Frame : Surly Troll 2012

Headset : Chris King no threadset

Fork : Rock Shox Recon Silver TK

Handlebars : Salsa Woodchipper

Shifter Levers : Shimano Dura Ace 7700

Crankset + BB : Shimano Deore M590

Rear Derailleur : Shimano XT M772

Front Derailleur : Shimano XT M771

Cassette : Shimano XT M770 9speed 11-32

Brakes : Avid bb7 road

Saddle : Brooks B17

Front Rack : Old Man Mountain Sherpa

Rear Rack : Tubus Logo Evo