For the first flight, Michael drove us across Italian peninsular and through the mountains that run down the centre of Italy and we got the flight from Rome. We met Will in Dubai, where his flight from Birmingham landed an hour late and got the same flight to Delhi.
Michael and I live very close to each other in central Italy. I am 5 miles from the coast and he is a further 5 miles inland, in a small town called Petritoli. This is his fourth bike trip to India, my third, all with him. Will and Michael have been friends for almost five decades, since getting each other into trouble at school and through scrapes together in various cities and bars across the world. Will is a proper bike rider, he flies planes and was a rally driver, so he understands motorised transport.
We are off to the north east of this massive country, seven states in 14 days. The part of India between Bangladesh, Bhutan and Burma. Separated from the rest of India by a strip that narrows to 23km wide. The chicken's neck.
And these states have only been open to visitors in the last few years. We need special permits for Restricted Areas, as do our Indian guides. Well, when we say Indian we include Alex of Nomadic Knights who arranges these adventures. We have only been biking in India with him. South India, the Himalayas, 3 Miles High, and now here, The Lost World. Alex is strange. I know this because his gorgeous wife Vidyha said so!
He is also someone I have complete faith in to go on an adventure with. No promises, just an ability to dig most of us out of troube, most of the time.
Getting here was not simple. Not just the travel, but the preparation.
For me it was navigating the treacherous waters of Italian and Indian bureaucracy. The Lost World also borders China, a chunk was taken by China in a short war in 1962 and parts are still disputed territory. So one of the new e-tourist visas is not enough, we need a full visa and everyone needs special passes. But few Indians and fewer foreigners come to this part of the country, it is still Lost.
To get the full tourist visa I filled in the application online, took a couple of days to assemble the accompanying. documentation and got the bus across Italy, through the mountains, to Rome. The mountains are big and not well known. They divide east and west Italy, going down the centre like a spine. I can see three peaks of 10,000 feet from my house, often with snow on in May. So they are tall, formed by Africa crashing into Europe.
The bus journey to the Eternal City of Rome which takes about four hours, but the Eternal City is more like an eternal nightmare when you need something done.
And this Brit living in Italy needed a full tourist visa. Nervously handing over the full documentation, treble checked with the website, it was rejected. I needed lots more documentation that was not on the website. Proof of travel and accomodation, bank statements and a letter of introduction. Dejectedly I went up the road to Namaskar, an agency specialising in helping visa victims. They had helped Michael and I back in 2014 when we had a nightmare with our applications for the Great Big South Indian Adventure that Will was also on. That trip is part of a separate blog.
Back in Rome, we could not assemble everything within the one hour before the visa section closed for the day, but I went back with what I had and at least the lady on the desk took pity and I was allowed to talk to the consular head. He highly recommended the e-visa, but since that type of visa is only confirmed when you enter the country it is not enough to get the special permits. A week later I managed to get another spare day and returned to Rome with all the new bits of paper. The visa came through only three weeks after that, which made me only a week late for the visa deadline. Luckily that was an Indian deadline, so like an Italian one, flexible. At least this time the consulate had given permission for Namaskar to pick up the visa and they couriers do it to me. Total cost, including the buses and the courier service, €320 plus two full days travel. You have to be dedicated.
With the visa out of the way the excitement could slowly build, and it was a good excuse for Michael and I to ride out occasionally. He was either on his Triumph Thunderbird, a big beautiful machine, or his Royal Enfield Bullet, the type of bike we had ridden on the last two trips with Alex and Nomadic Knights in India. He gets lots of admiration for the Thunderbird and lots of questions about the 1950s designed Bullet. I was on my Triumph Tiger, which so many Italians know about because it has three cylinders. I have no idea what difference that makes, but the Italians do. So many learnt to drive on mopeds and many graduated to bikes before cars. Mopeds and motorbikes are integral to Italian culture, Vespa and Lambretta, Ducatti and Moto Guzzi, lots of names ending in vowels.
But our excitement about the trip only really took off in the week before we travelled. We talked about what to bring and since we have too much 'stuff' it was more about what not to bring. It became a competition about how little to take. Checking the weather it would be from 13 to 30 centigrade, so we would need a variety of clothing, plus hydration packs and body armour. From the foothills of the Himalayas to the jungles near Burma. 16 days travelling.
We will only know if we made the right choices at the end, but I ended up with two bags totalling 28kgs, including 3 litres of duty free whisky and one of the bags was carry on with the bike helmet.
Michael drove us across and through the mountains to Fiumicino airport. We were still buzzed with the inevitable adrenaline rush from getting through as much of the mountain that always arrives before a big trip. There is always the expectation, normally from other people, that you can do just one more job before you go.
So the few unfinished jobs were left unfinished and we left.
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