This week has been about committing to the soft side of the prep – what is plan B, dealing with the specter of needing professional health care and having a reliable form of communication throughout the journey.
Having a backup plan for getting myself out of sticky situations has taken a bit of time and research but I have – I hope, found a great solution with CAP Travel Assistance. I will be traveling through many places for which I have very little knowledge and experience and this “insurance” gives me the security I need to “have a look” and experience these places with interest and inquisitiveness rather than fear and trepidation. I will not be openly putting myself in harms way but appreciate that I don’t know what I don’t know and will be relying on the goodwill of a great many folk as I meander my way toward Scotland.
Medical insurance is a necessity and 1cover are pretty good value as I don’t want all the adjunct bells and whistles that most of the others I looked at include with the medical policy.
An email to David Tait at TrackMe to get clarity on what the costs were going to be to run the Garmin InReach 66i InReach device as my primary comms unit to check in daily with the CAP crew (so they don’t send out a search party for me unnecessarily) met with a wonderful response – “would I like to be a brand ambassador for TrackMe while on the ride and they would cover the data I would use?” YES was my enthusiastic answer to that one! There will be many places along the journey where cell reception will be spotty or completely absent so relying on this technology was never going to cut it.
Data for being able to add to these Blog posts and keeping in voice contact with family and friends when in reception areas will be accommodated with an E-Sim. I haven’t committed to any company or plan just yet but Airolo seem to have a pretty good offering that I am leaning toward. Unsurprisingly Myanmar and Iran don’t appear to be well supported ;( so will be relying on the InReach while cycling through these places unless I take a northern route and include Laos, China and the northern ‘stans perhaps. I am still completely open to the exact route I take and will assess all my options as I travel along.
