The Plan

With the decision to travel to Europe out of the way and flights booked and major events registered for, it became a matter of sorting out the rest. About a quarter of the details got sorted out and the rest were put into the 'winging it' pile.

Actually, a good portion of the above is a big lie. The last 'major' detail was still to be worked out. That is, I only discovered later, that by the time I left I would finally be dating the girl of my dreams, who it just so happens, was going to be travelling to JWOC, WUOC, and O-ringen with me. Her name is Alison Campbell, is racing for the American team in JWOC and WUOC, and will be going to the University of Colorado in the fall. Life couldn't get much better. Except that by the time we'd see each other at JWOC it would be about five weeks since we'd last seen each other. Which made it very hard to focus on anything and my productivity consequently went downhill. But I wouldn't trade Alison in for my productivity any day!

With that said, it truly was time to put together a detailed - or more detailed - plan. The planning involved lots of back and forth with travel plans and other orienteers, more negotiating and debating, and plenty of research. The end result is as follows:

I am to catch a redeye flight from Ottawa that arrives in London Heathrow at 10:30 AM on the 22nd of June. From there I'll catch a bus to Oxford where I'll be meeting my cousin Caroline and her husband Andy with whom I'll be staying until Saturday night. The purpose of this portion of the trip was twofold. First I wanted to see Caroline and Andy obviously. Secondly though I've had it in my head for quite a while that I would like to apply to the Rhodes Scholarship to take a post graduate degree at Oxford University. Not knowing how crazy this Rhodes idea is my only plan for this first stage of my trip is a vague notion that I would like to meet up with someone from Rhodes House or perhaps some Rhodes Scholars to see how these things work.

On Sunday (the 27th)I need to catch a bus in Oxford at 1:00 AM to get myself to Stansted Airport for a 7:00 AM EasyJet flight to Copenhagen where I will meet Alison and another American orienteer, Holly. Finally! We then tour Copenhagen for the afternoon and take an evening train up to Aalborg, JWOC's host city. Accommodation plans on the 27th are uncertain but come Monday accommodation is provided by JWOC. From Monday to Saturday both the Canadian and American teams have organized training camps to prep their respective athletes for the Danish terrain. Half the Canadian team is only arriving on Wednesday however - hopefully this is enough time. For Emily Kemp - the All-Canadian superstar - it will be but the others will need to make use of what valuable training time they get.

JWOC itself starts with the sprint distance on Monday the 5th of July and ends with the relay on Friday the 10th. As a team leader for all of this I've signed myself up for the 'JWOC TOUR' which provides spectators and team officials a chance to run their own races. I'll be racing six races from the 4th to the 10th with a rest day on Wednesday the 7th.

Once Sunday the 11th roles around I have a week off of orienteering where I will more or less be travelling on my own. I plan on seeing more of what Copenhagen has to offer until the Tuesday or Wednesday then take a train up to Stockholm where I hope to meet a friend of mine from school before catching up with Eric Kemp and Robbie Anderson - both orienteers from Ottawa on the afternoon of the 16th (aka Friday). The 17th is my birthday so hopefully good times will be had by all and then on the 18th Alison flies into Stockholms nearest Airport, Arlanda, at 16:00 so I will meet her there and we will take the train up to Borlange for WUOC.

WUOC starts with the opening ceremonies on Monday the 19th has races in the sprint, middle, long, and relay disciplines during the week, and ends with the closing ceremonies on Friday the 23rd. On Saturday we all take a roughly three hour train ride from Borlange to Orebro to race the legendary O-ringen. Put simply O-ringen is the largest orienteering race in the world usually attracting between fifteen and twenty thousand competitors each year. It will be more than a little intimidating, a lot of fun, and a great way to end of a spectacular European adventure. Unfortunately for me my flight home is due to leave from Arlanda on the morning of the 30th and the last race of O-ringen is during the day on the 30th. Oops... Hopefully I can contact the company through which I booked my flight and get it pushed back by a day.