Most of you reading this blog use airlines as the preferred mode of transportation when taking long trips. Some also use trains, cars and cruise ships – but air travel is king.

But in this thread on the Horizons Unlimited forum, they are talking about embarking on long trips using bicycles.

BICYCLES!

What’s more, they are discussing how to prepare for such trips. When you travel by air, you pack. When you travel by bicycle, you PREPARE. And of course you would have to prepare for a long trip taken on a bicycle – because you’re going to be ON A FRICKIN’ BICYCLE!

Interestingly though, some of the preparation work for a long bicycle trip might also be of interest to those who are taking long trips using other, more convenient, modes of transportation. For example:

[I] Stare at the area I will be travelling in google earth wishing I was already there. Drink lots of stuff I wont get for a while, like expensive whiskeys and cocktails. Have lots of braais and fancy home cooked meals as restaurant food gets tiring. ~Kradmelder

On the other hand, air travelers will likely never need fret about some of the other prep work that an over-the-road cyclist might employ:

you have to learn how to be ok in your own head, how to cope with having that one song that you dont know all the words to stuck in your head for 500k
you need to learn to enjoy cold food, every day…
ooh, and learn to put on wet socks. and enjoy it! ~rymm

Certainly a different perspective on travel from the posters on this thread. And while reading it I was strangely reminded of this classic bit from Louis CK – particularly beginning at about the 2:00 mark: