Preparations 2

Just in case.

Unlike me to be ahead of myself but I decided to take advantage of EasyJet's drop your bags off the night before. I had spent a fair bit of the afternoon stuffing my bike box with all of my gear then I taped it up like it was never to be opened.I tried to weigh it on our useless bathroom scales but I had little confidence in the apparent 22kg answer (the bike weighs 14kgs) I usede Ruby's old skateboard to wheel it to the car and to the bus at Ferrytoll. The other passengers' eyes were on stalks but the bus driver didn't miss a beat. He told me to put it in the wheelchair space. 

"This is all going smoothly" I concluded too soon. On arrival at departures at Edinburgh airport I was met by a right old battle axe who demanded that I show her my identification and looked at my box as if it had guns or bombs in. "You can't put that in," she scoffed, "it weighs 40kgs" She promptly turned her back and marched back to her colleagues. There were no other passengers. 

Eventually "good cop" told me that I should take a few things out and try again. Fortunately in a spirit of belt and braces I had taken the roll of tape with me "just in case" Take 2 and it weighed 28kgs (I was allowed up to 32kgs but bike only NO CLOTHES) Good cop told me to put some things back and I kept going till I reached 31.7kgs However that still left me with 9kgs of essentials and a problem for the morning but my trusty steed disappeared doen the oversize luggage conveyor. Step 1 complete. 

It was good to deal with the potential problem and stress the night before but I need not have bothered. This morning arriving at 06.00 for an 08.00 flight I spent longer in the queue for Cafe Nero than bag drop and security together. By 06.30 I was drinking coffee and wishing I had spent another half hour in bed.