The Journey begins

Now we are all set to leave for New York City as our first stop of this trip post which we would be going to Bogota which is the capital of Colombia where we begin the motorcycle ride. But something or the kept happening which was stopping us from going ahead with the trip. It might be as simple as Sukesh getting some new last minute high paying project or me having some family commitments.

We have told the entire city about us leaving soon but we never left. We had annoying neighbours who used to knock on the door first thing in the morning and we had few jealous friends who used to call every night and mock us about how the trip is never going to happen.

I really got fed up with all of this so I decided to take the next flight which leaves to NewYork and just go not think anything but just go! I called Sukesh up and told him to come to bangalore by sunday morning with all his bags packed from Ooty and we were leaving on Monday afternoon to NewYork all this happened within 48 hours from booking the tickets to boarding the flight.

Sunday evening Sukesh comes home and stays with me and monday afternoon while leaving home he notices me carrying a small shoulder bag he asks me where is my bag for the trip and I look at him in all seriousness and tell him this small shoulder bag which is smaller than a laptop bag is all I need for this trip. He was shocked he almost refused to come on the trip with me until I opened and showed him what all is there in the bag.

Basically I had packed 2 cans of Castrol Power1 oil cans for our bikes, a few clothes, other bike accessories like cable ties, bungee cords etc. Sukesh was shocked first to know that this is all I am going to carry for a 1.5 year long journey while he is only coming with me for 6 months and he is carrying 3 suitcases full of stuff and the most important thing is the time of the year we land in NYC is peak winter the average temperature was -10C and I didn’t even have a jacket with me but that’s the funny part I can withstand cold till -20C without a jacket because I have been practicing and studying how to combat cold from experts around the world.

Finally we boarded the plane and landed in New York where we stayed in our friend, mentor Suresh Radhakrishnan;s home. He sorted out a lot of things for us and was one of the main reasons for this trip to happen.

We left for Bogota the next week after buying some camera equipment in NYC.