{"id":302,"date":"2012-02-05T23:41:51","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T23:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/?p=302"},"modified":"2020-08-23T02:32:30","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T02:32:30","slug":"up-and-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/?p=302","title":{"rendered":"Up and Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:30px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/?p=302\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>While checking out hotels near Bangkok Airport for my layover we came across this website: www.sleepinginairports.com It&#8217;s takes a look at travellers who get stranded in airports, those who opt to sleep there rather than find a hotel and even those who have been bunking down under the airport stairs or elsewhere in the terminal for months &#8211; I kid you not! Curling up on the floor at the check-in desk or trying to get comfortable in an armchair is a bit like riding an old bike across the Himalayas &#8211; you only do it if you&#8217;re desperate to save on the fare or insane!<\/p>\n<p>My Pakistan visa was delivered by courier last week &#8211; I was sweating a bit there, but the man was as good as his word. Got a message to say that I&#8217;ll hear from the Iranian one in a few days time. Fingers crossed it&#8217;s approved.<\/p>\n<p>Had a terrific weekend with a surprise sendoff from friends and family. Thanks guys, it meant a lot. Thanks too to Thai Airways International for wonderful service and support. You really are the best way to fly. No plastic noodles in a styrene cup on this flight &#8211; two lovely meals and the best seat in the house! Talking about seats, mine will probably be a bit sore by the time I reach India so I&#8217;ll be looking to chill out for a few days in Agra.<\/p>\n<p>I think we did a pretty good job of loading the bike &#8211; hard to tell there are three spares tyres under all that gear! I did manage to squeeze in a handful of muesli bars but not much else. My final purchase was a pair of Daniese waterproof boots which I&#8217;m hoping will be up to the job.<\/p>\n<p>The bike was shipped 3 days ago so should be waiting my arrival later today. It&#8217;s 5.30am &#8211; I&#8217;ve had a good night&#8217;s sleep and am enjoying a quick breakfast before the next leg to Kathmandu&#8230;.let&#8217;s get this show on the road!!<\/p>\n<p>Thanks everyone for your interest and good wishes. Tried emailing last night but couldn&#8217;t understand the Thai language for gmail or google &#8211; thank goodness for skype &amp; my backup crew.\u00a0 lol\u00a0 See you later TOB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While checking out hotels near Bangkok Airport for my layover we came across this website: www.sleepinginairports.com It&#8217;s takes a look at travellers who get stranded in airports, those who opt to sleep there rather than find a hotel and even those who have been bunking down under the airport stairs or elsewhere in the terminal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[213],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","tag-map"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/1259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}