After boarding in Brisbane and taking off on time, my Tile luggage trackers alerted me that my bike was onboard but couldn’t confirm if my bags had made it. I was quietly confident since I was flying Emirates, until I heard Qantas handles the luggage services!

Dinner was served shortly after take-off, but they ran out of meal choices by the time they reached me, and I was only in the 10th row from the front in Economy. So, beef and something it was - courtesy of Qantas catering. I thought, "I’m royally screwed!"

My luck started to improve when I found myself seated next to a family from the Netherlands, who mentioned they lived close to the Rhine. When I told them about my upcoming ride, they seemed extremely impressed. I waited for an invitation to stay with them on my way through ... and waited ... and waited - for the entire 13-hour flight. As we were disembarking, the woman of the house stopped me. "Here it comes," I thought, but instead, she said, “We’ll wave to you as you ride past!” (Cue her laugh here.) I realise it was a bit much to ask a stranger to stay with them, but in some cultures, sharing a potluck beef dinner means something!

The good news during my stopover in Dubai was that my Tile tracker located both of my bags! This could be a turning point for the trip. Sleep didn’t come easily, so by this point, I was almost comatose. Proof of this came when we boarded for Zurich. My new seatmate was a young Indian guy who spoke perfect English. When I greeted him and asked how his trip was going, he looked at me, apologised, and said he didn’t speak German. Cue my headphones and some relaxing music.

Our flight was then delayed because two first-class passengers didn’t show up, and the ground staff had to find and offload their luggage. Too bad they didn’t have Tile trackers! Finally, I arrived in Zurich. Both my bags and my bike appeared at the baggage carousel just as I got there. I breezed through immigration and customs, and within 25 minutes of landing, I was ready to assemble my bike. Two hours later, task complete, I took one train stop and a two-block walk to the Walhalla Hotel for some much-needed sleep. I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. to catch my 7:00 a.m. train ... getting ever closer to the start of my ride.