EVZ,

This is one of the best posts I read. I think anyone planning to do a tour should read this first, and then plan accordingly.

What i find on lots of my trips, by bike or otherwise, is that the planning of the trip is sort of the funnest part as its not reality based. I just sit there with a map and think of different routes. As I am at home the whole foreign environment things and loneliness are not problems. Then I fly half way around the world and end up in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, in the rain, and its really a shock to the system. This the reality based part of the tour, and from past experience I've found that it takes a few days or maybe more to get in the swing of things. And when you're alone in a foreign country, like you were and I was, it adds an extra element that you don't think about while at home.

One other thing that I have done different that you is that although I keep journals at CGOAB I sort of wait to the last minute to post them rather than the great big long build up seen on many of the journals. And when I mention it to friends I downplay them and don't tell them about CGOAB. I know this was harder for you as they would be wondering where you were for two years.

Live and learn. And thanks for your OP as its excellent advice.