Kevin Tiller

I got up at 6am to pack the last few things. Weighed myself 76.6kg. I am predicting that it won’t change much by the time I get back. Left at 7.45am with dawn & charley dog. We walked along thee beach naturally! Met jaz & chel by the ferry as it was the school one. Had said goodbye to ko at home. Ferry then train to the airport, trip spent pondering the sheer enormity of what i was going to do. I checked in then bought some fruit & juice as wanted to start off right – saw my work friend and running mate michael rensford & daughter who were going to phuket. Then I had a coffee and used the free wifi – pretty amazing  technology really. I posted some photos to instagram then did one last check of work emails. On the plan it was a freaking airbus A380 – Hope it’s safe!  I was on the top deck but still in economy. Although I am writing these notes and displaying them in public,  they sre really for me & my kids and maybe even their kids…

I bought a copy of the Guardian Weekly to read and The Smith Journal to read as it always has some different & unusual items. The first one in this issue had these messages that I decided were auspicious for this trip :
– leave it to chance
– know nothing
– obsession is vital
– if you don’t evolve you’re dust
– even shit ideas are worth something
– people don’t care so much
– activism happens
– sometimes you have to go too far
And that was just the first article !

I then listened to the uk charts for 1977 – inflight music options are great these days ! It reminded me if silver jubilee in worthing and our summer holiday in cornwall and elvis dying. Then I listened to the same but for 1979 reminding me of being 13 and driving up the m1 in a commer van to scout camp in the Lake District.

My goals for this trip are – in order:
1) come home safe & in one piece
2) finish the run
3) do fun things in interesting places

Of course I am very grateful for this opportunity to do this trip, huge thanks to dawn who cops the worst of the deal.

The trip to Singapore was 8hrs with only 50mins to change planes. The final leg was 5hrs. Changi airport is like a big U and I am going from one tip to the other. You could catch the train but figured that wss for lazy people snd I needed to stretch my legs so I walked. It wasn’t too far. Went past s lit of shops but didn’t stop as wasn’t sure how much time I had, and can’t buy anything as I hsve no room to carry it. I could have got a coffee but only just made the plane’s last call.

Taking off it seemed like there were lots of golf courses snd ships. Thought the airport would be fancier but it was just ordinary – maybe I have seen too many ?!

At Mumbai, we fly low over the city which was cool. It felt weird coming back so soon after nearly 6 weeks here last year. I got my bags quickly and pre-paid for a taxi to Colaba. The trip took about an hour. Mumbai is MASSIVE! Of course never having been here before (other than a plane refuel about 30 yrs ago literally! ) I had no idea where I was or anything. The cab driver at one point asked me if I wanted to go one the Sea Link – of course I had no idea what he was going on about and I was like “nah just take me to my hotel” and didn’t really realise that it was the quick way (for an extra toll). So of course we went the very slow way thru the traffic. We could barely find the hotel and he had to call ahead on his mobile – I was impressed that he wasn’t going to charge me – they are so widespread here also. The hotel I picked out was full due to the Holi festival across India. So were a few others I tried. In the end I just checked into the closest hotel I could find that had a spare room as it was 1045pm and I’d had enough (Sydney time was 0415 by now!!). It was called the hotel delight and wad very cheap & scungy and cost $8. I decided I would find somewhere better in the morning. The toilets and room were clean so that was something. I bought a bottle of water and really wanted something to eat but couldn’t be bothered.  Bed at 1130pm but didn’t sleep too well. Txted dawn about 2am as she was probably awake as the kids were going to school.  Or maybe she was at work – I hadn’t even checked !!

There are some photos on http://www.instagram.com/kevintiller worth seeing as I am typing this on my phone and I can’t be bothered to link & embed them properly!