Goodbye, my lover

I’d had little sleep, and even less quality time with loved ones, in the weeks leading up to my Friday morning international flight. So the day before, I was determined to finish work early despite the unrealistic todo list I had set myself. Unfortunately by noon, my ambitious plans for a productive work day, quality time, and an early night, were already keeling over.

Mum and Dad (and Eden the dog) came around for lunch as we worked from home in among my unpacked paraphernalia. It was a calming 1-hour interlude. They also brought a bunch of homemade Korean food for us to have for dinner. I was grateful but also a bit put out that they thought we would need it. I suppose it was rather obvious from my generally frazzled demeanour of late that Ferg & my last supper would not be spent at a romantic dinner out, followed by singing Olivia Dean at a coin karaoke, as I had hoped.

After lunch, I gave mum and dad a big hug (and Eden lots of hugs), and said goodbye. Mum looked a bit teary and reasserted her wish for me to message daily. Dad was silent but looked the most stone-faced I’d ever seen him. I resolved to stop being such a teenager (“oh… I don’t think I can message you every day… there’s not much reception in… Europe…”) and message them often during my travels.

Later in the evening after an expectedly scrumptious dinner of My Food Bag Hwajin Sahng edition (but no coin karaoke), I packed my bags and started dismantling my bike. Before putting it into the cardboard bike box I had picked up from a bike shop’s skip, I wanted to practice the assembly.

I quickly realised that I hadn’t actually done this by myself before, and frankly, I was very bad at it. Until this moment, I had been ignoring the fact that my cycling ambitions far outweigh my bike maintenance skills. Now, hours before my flight to a multi-week solo cycle tour, I felt a fool for not having done the homework as the night wore on and the bits refused to go together.

After patient demonstrations from Fergus, a spot of catastrophising, and a nice hug (as nice as a hug can be with no hands involved, which were covered in grease), I managed to fit all the thingies together with no supervision. I also took shaky videos of Fergus demonstrating how to fix a broken chain and a broken wire (basically: if it happens, I’ll be fucked and I’ll walk the bike to the nearest bike shop - there are lots of those in Europe, right?). At 11pm Ferg retired for a bit of sleep, I re-dismantled the bike and stuffed it haphazardly into the bike box, giving up on tetris and heaving it shut with duct tape. And, I’m embarrassed to admit, went back to work to finish (or apologise for not finishing) my todo list 💀

A few hours later at the airport, my lack of care came back to bite as a wheel’s axle punched through the cardboard side. Despite this box’s structural integrity being key to the entirety of my trip, I couldn’t muster the kaha (sleep: 0 hours) to repack the whole thing on the floor of Christchurch airport. Despite Ferg’s skepticism, I yanked out a bit of bubble wrap that was luckily accessible from a handhold hole, stuck it over the offending axle with tape, and yeeted it through oversized luggage. In manu Dei, and all that, goodbye my lover, see you on the other side 👋 and goodbye Fergie, who dropped me off at 3am before heading to work for an early start (😱), reassuring me that I’ll be able to figure things out and that we’ll see each other in Warsaw in a month 🥰

Christchurch to Sydney

3 hour flight, slept uncomfortably, exceptionally bad airplane meal of scrambled eggs and sausage. Didn’t exchange eye contact let alone a word with the person next to me, who seemed to be consumed in work emails the whole time. Felt a weird sense of disconnect, like “whoa I’m usually that person”.

Sydney to Singapore

Sydney airport was a shock to the senses after weeks of shuttling between work and home. Crowds flowed back and forth speaking all kinds of languages, reminding me we’re not in Kansas Christchurch anymore.

Just before boarding, I had a delightful video call with my work team from the boarding lounge as they cheerfully waved me off. As excited as I am about a proper break, there’s so much cool stuff happening in electrification at the moment, I do have a bit of FOMO!

With the plane barely half full (😬 fuel crisis?? High per-passenger emissions, that’s for sure 😬), I lounged across two seats for the 8 hours from Sydney to Singapore. Maybe my brain was still cooling its jets from the past few weeks, but I found myself unwilling to read, listen to audiobooks, listen to music, and certainly not look at a screen. I either slept or just sat there with earplugs and my headband over my eyes, a portable low-stimulation room for my brain.

1 night & day in Singapore

My bike arrived in one piece, just. The hasty bubble-wrap padding over the hole had fallen off, and some of the handholds had ripped. I bought duct tape, repacked the whole thing with better tetris skills (including padding the pokey axle and reinforcing the handholds), and paid for 24 hours of luggage storage. Now with just my carry-on, I got a last minute deal on a random capsule hotel with good reviews near Chinatown, and set off for my 1 night stopover in Singapore.

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT, the tube) was very smooth and intuitive. From Raffles Stop, it was a 10 min walk to the hostel through a bustling waterfront strip called Boat Quay. There were tourists, groups of friends, and young people everywhere, pouring out of bars, restaurants, and late night cafes.

The last time I was in Singapore was maybe 10 years ago, with Ferg. All I remember is being disappointed by the zoo, and being delighted by a $2 char kuey teow. Maybe it was the contrast of not having travelled overseas in a while, or having been missing Auckland, but this time I really noticed feeling immediately relaxed, energised, and alive. The all-English signage juxtaposed against the proud Asian-ness of the whole city, and the hypermodern buildings and infrastructure next to Muslim mosques, temples, and churches, made quite an impression.

The capsule hotel I stayed in, KINN Habitat, was so lovely. I had a women-only dorm, and the capsule was nicely designed. All the other roommates were very quiet and polite. Highly recommend!

The morning brought with it my first (but certainly not last) experience of SE Asian heat. I had gone from 1 C mornings in Ōtautahi to 30+ C in Singapore with a real feel of close to 40 C. My 10 minute walk to the cafe saw me hopping from shade to shade, trying not to walk too fast and get sweaty from exertion, but also not too slow and get sweaty due to sun.

I met the first of my friends in my tour de friends at a funky cafe called Free the Robot. Annabel had been our acting GM for a year at my work, Rewiring Aotearoa, and she has been one of my favourite people to work with in my career so far. She has since moved to Singapore. We talked about her new chapter here, shared travel plans & stories, and delved into discussions about careers in climate/nature, appreciating her guidance and wisdom as usual. I apologised for bringing up work, but she waved it away. In any case, we both agreed that we were talking about Work in a broader sense, whether in or out of the context of paid employment; our unique avenues for meaningfully contributing to the world (“The Work” with a capital W, as my friend Elina calls it). I felt gratified talking about this with a woman who really got it, who is also further along in a diverse and purpose-led career.

After our brunch, Annabel walked me over to a famous street food spot, the Maxwell Hawker Centre, which was also an MRT station where I would hop on the tube back to the airport. On the way, she commented on the experience of living somewhere as a racial minority, acknowledging the privilege of it being a positive, valuable experience for her. I felt similarly being in Singapore after being in Christchurch for the past 6 months, except the other way around; it felt comforting to blend in for a bit, and affirming to be among Asian cultures as the status quo.

Singapore to Malaysia

Back at Changi airport, I met up with friend #2: my sister Laura! She, her husband Will, and Dave (Will’s dad) were on their way back from a long-awaited family visit in Europe. Laura would be joining me for a one week stopover in Penang, Malaysia (where I am currently writing this belated newsletter). We had never travelled together before just the two of us! She said goodbye to Will and Dave as they headed back to NZ, and we hopped on our short flight to George Town, the capital of the state of Penang.

P.S. my friends Shanti and Shreyas are currently cycling from Türkiye up through Europe! They have a blog and it is so exquisitely written, I highly recommend: https://mostlygoodideas.nz/blog/kanyon-to-coast

P.P.S. Bike gear note for gear heads/prospective cycle tourers - I stopped at a Decathlon to pick up some cargo cages (~$20 NZD each) and a pair of photochromatic cycling sunnies (~$80 NZD). This would have all been cheaper if I’d waited until Malaysia, but I was hot and sweaty and sick of thinking about gear, I just wanted it all sussed. We’ll see if they were worth it when I get to Vietnam after Malaysia, for the first of my cycling.