by Russ Cox

There is a fine line between experience and over-confidence -- one I crossed traveling to my early season training camp in Lanzarote last month. I've traveled to a lot of training camps and races, I know the routine, I could pack, check-in and board in my sleep, waking on arrival at my destination; two hours is more than enough time to prepare. That is unless -- in a damning indictment of my winter maintenance -- my bike decides to break.

It was nothing serious - the bike’s ancient seat post clamp seized up, then snapped. Had I packed the night before, a trip to the local bike store would have solved the problem. At 5:00 p.m., with everything to pack and a train to catch, it wasn't going to happen. Luckily my over-geared race bike was at hand and disaster was averted.

Though I'm an experienced triathlon traveler, I'm still prone to the occasional slip up; audaciously relying on experience to get me through. I'm not going to lie -- travel is a pain -- but through basic preparation we can make it a lot easier on ourselves. This is something we should be good at; triathletes love planning -- we have training plans, nutrition plans, race plans, transition plans -- I've planned my entire race week right down to the meals I'll eat. But plans go wrong and I thought I'd consider a couple of the close calls I had during my time travelling the training playgrounds of the world.

Normally I like to arrive at the airport early. While they're boring places, allowing plenty of time makes the experience less stressful. Usually I'll be one of the first in the check-in queue, but the tail end of a hurricane had me running, bike bag in tow, to make check-in before closing. In fairness, it's hard to predict the impact of nature, but with hindsight the Queensland weather had put warnings in place for potential disruptions and I could have traveled to Brisbane the day before. Aussie check in staff are pretty friendly though and despite my lateness I got myself on board the plane. Nature took a more successful shot the following year when Icelandic volcanoes shut down European airspace; I lost two weeks of sunny weather to that one and no amount of preparation could have saved me. Barring the most extreme conditions, it's worth checking all your travel details and ensuring you've allowed for difficulties.

Once you arrive at the airport it's good to have the appropriate travel documents to hand. It seems old fashioned -- especially now British Airways have an app for checking in -- but normally I print all my documentation. When I don't, I end up spending an extra 10 minutes checking in while the attendant lectures me on how important it is to have your travel documents in hand. I can handle sarcasm, but I was almost refused entry to New Zealand for not carrying proof that I also intended to leave the country. I had to persuade the operator to let me plug in my ancient laptop, boot it up and search for an email with details of my return flight several months in the future. Not having all my documentation in basic paper form may not have stopped me traveling, but it's certainly made life more difficult.

There have been many other minor incidents along the way. I've learned:

• Immigration officials like to know the address of where you're going to stay (and it helps if you do too)
• You should keep a note of that address because suburban Spanish apartments look remarkably similar at the end of a long ride
• It’s a good idea to prepare for security early, put everything in your bag and into the correct trays; that way you don't have to be frisked every time.

Most of the time though, if you plan for travel as well as you plan for every other aspect of triathlon it doesn't have to be that painful. When I've prepared I've had remarkably pleasant journeys, breezed through the whole process, had a coffee before boarding and if I'm lucky a nap on the flight. I arrive at my destination feeling fresh and ready to train.