It is Wednesday and so there is just one week to go before I fly out to Zurich to meet up with Markus for the WAVE 2014. So I thought I would have a revision of my state of readiness.

This is a long post so please only read if interested in Paul Churchley’s personal preparations 🙂 Thank You.

I am traveling out to Zurich a couple of days prior to the start of the WAVE to meet up properly with Markus and so that we have time to set up the car as we want it. I have been in a Tesla Roadster before and I know there isn’t a lot of space so it will be important to be organised.

It is about 360km (230 miles) from my home to Gatwick Airport and I had the option to drive the Nissan Leaf. I felt it appropriate that I start my journey using electric power and so I was quite keen to use the Leaf. However, the rapid charge network in the UK is not reliable at the moment and combined with me wanting a more relaxed journey I have decided to take the train instead. It is a very easy journey by train and so it is not a bad option. At least I can stay in touch more easily during the trip to Gatwick. It is interesting to compare the price of the 360km trip by train to the airport verses the 885km trip by air to Zurich. The train cost about £100 return… the flight cost about £85!

My flight is with EasyJet at 7am and so it is necessary for me to travel to the airport the day before so I will be traveling on Tuesday for a Wednesday morning flight. For convenience I have decided to stay in one of the hotels inside the airport complex. This will allow me to walk to the bag drop quickly and easily and will allow me extra time asleep. Something I always appreciate when traveling. I am staying at the Bloc Hotel at Gatwick. This is a new, ultra-modern hotel actually connected to the South Terminal. I have always known staying in a hotel connected to the terminals to be expensive but not so with the Bloc Hotel with the one night costing about £65. I hope it is as good as it looks!

Flight is at 7.10am. Early breakfast then.

When I arrive in Zurich I will meet Markus for the first time. You might think that we are taking a risk arranging to do an event like the WAVE with a driver/co-driver that have never met! It does seem a little risky but we have communicated almost daily since we agreed to hook up for the event and for me there is no risk at all. Markus and I get on very well, we have similar attitudes and aims for WAVE and I am 100% happy with the situation. It will be a little wierd meeting up for the first time as I feel I know him well already.

Once in Zurich I am staying at the Park Inn near the airport. This gives me a little independence and takes the pressure off mark who can always drop me at the hotel should he have to work.

So, 2 days of setting up the car and sightseeing. The car set up I don’t expect to take long… perhaps a couple of hours. We have to find a sensible storage space for each of the gadgets we are taking with us not to mention water and snacks. The Tesla Roadster is a fantastic car but spacious inside it is not and I have a few electronic items to stow.

The mobile phone for Glympse must have a GPS lock and that means a view of the sky. It might work in my pocket as the roof on the Roadster is soft but if not we will have to find where the GPS works best. It is likely that my Samsung Galaxy S4 will have enough battery to last all day but if not then I will plug in to the car’s USB socket to charge. I am hoping that I won’t need to do that until the end of each day.

All out internet connectivity on WAVE will be through a Mifi unit and so that must have a place to charge as it only lasts 4 hrs when in use. Again, the car’s USB ports will be handy.

I also have a 10 inch tablet but that has plenty of battery power to last a full day.

As a backup I will have a spare battery for the phone but no spare for the MiFi so I shall use Power Monkey to top up if needed. Power Monkey is a backup battery system for all devices and has a big 2200mAh capacity which can be used to charge any USB device sucha s phone or MiFi. This should be enough. I hope there is enough time to charge everything each evening!

So, there you are. Technically we are ready. Just clothes packing to do and I’ll be ready to catch my train on Tuesday morning to Gatwick Airport for the adventure that is WAVE 2014.