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This wasn't the original idea. The original was to ride across Europe, a shorter trip but more than one country: from the French Atlantic to the Black Sea of Romania. From there, there was the option of continuing by road through Bulgaria to the gates of Asia in Istanbul, or to make the same trip by ferry from Romania and ride back to Bucarest for the train to Paris.

It was a ride I'd planned for more than a year, since meeting a Romanian girl at evening classes in England. Before then, I'd known little of the country and couldn't have found it on a map. But as time got nearer, it became obvious Steph perhaps wouldn't be fit enough to do it.

So why America instead? Because by chance I heard that the magazine of the American organisation, Adventure Cycling, was a good read. I joined for the magazine. When it arrived it came with a brochure of organised tours. I looked, I dreamed... and I said nothing.

A day later, Steph asked which ride I wanted to do.

"Right across America doesn't appeal, I suppose?" I said pathetically. And it didn't. But that wasn't going to stop her enthusiasm and I was ordered to enrol straight away.

So far, so easy.

The problems came with the visa. Going to the USA for fewer than 90 days doesn't need one. More than 90 days does. And while this ride could be accomplished in fewer, the timetable was 93 days. With time at either end, that would be 120.

In the Good Old Days, a visa meant little more than a form and a cheque. No more. Now it means an interview at an embassy, finger-printing and a five-day wait. Worse, because the US now insists people need visas even for fewer than 90 days if they have passports that can't be read by machine - and a lot of people in France have those - the Paris embassy's first date was mid-May. That was in February and the trip started at the end of April. A couple of weeks later, the delay had jumped to mid-June. It is probably now Christmas 2007.

London, fortunately, was less chaotic and, writing this on March 3, it's where I plan to fly on Sunday for an interview the next morning.

And it's not about terrorism, by the way. It's about illegal immigration. All interviews will be on the assumption that you will become an illegal immigrant, the embassy warns.

But... if you wanted to stay in America against the law, would you:

1. Say you were going for less than 90 days and save the expense of a visa and an interview?

or:

2. Offer to pay £62, travel 2,000km for an interview and have your picture and fingerprints put on file?