Turkmen visa and Bike shipping

For the Turkmen visa, we are sending our passports to their embassy in Vienna. They agreed to give us the transit visa we requested. Romain will then get the visa and come to Mondsee the weekend before we leave.
For the bike shipping, my wife is the best! Whilst I was so stressed yesterday of not getting anything sorted, she told me to call BMW in Munich and ask them for help. Not only did they provide with help (i.e. shipping by air is mucho difficile), they also provided me with a great used bike and guaranteed me that I will have the bike with all docs etc... in time for next wednesday. So the deal is, I sell my bike here (I got already a quote from BMW in HK which is higher than expected), buy a used one in Munich (and better bike) for less, get the taxes back and actually make money in the transaction...I love arbitrage!
I am crazy and going for this deal. Let's hope it all works out but the guys being Germans from Munich, I fully trust them.
See ya soon!

Final Details

We are finalising the last details and there is a lot more than expected... It looks like Nicco found a solution to our Turkem visa problem using the Austrian connection. Thanks so much Romano! The tires in Istanbul are almost sorted out, all the paper work is coming along nicely, the Transalp rides perfectly, getting my motorbike trousers tomorrow and the off-road training next week. What are we missing?. Niccolo is still working hard on the shipping of his bike; this could be a problem! It was snowing in Istanbul last week-end... F***ing Chopator - why can't get married in August just like everybody?

As the departure date approaches, it gets harder to realise that all of this is going to come true in only a few days. Constantly thinking that we forgot something or a bad piece of news will hit us - a good sign that we are well prepared some would say ! Probably this will look as a very foolish statement once we will hit our first off-road difficulties in the "Stans".

D-15 bis

Why D-15 bis?! because the start date has been set for the 4 March. Good, we have a few more days to breathe. We will probably have to leave without Turkmen visa, which is not ideal...but what is on such a trip.

Preparations are still ongoing. Yesterday my bike was crated at the BMW dealer in HK. I know need to find that friendly shipper that will let the bike on a plane and get it to Munich. I am pushing hard to get this done today or tomorrow to make sure I have a bit of legroom if anything goes wrong. Once this is done, I will be able to sleep tight again.

Preparations with work are not moving as fast as expected. I don't exactly know when to resign and what will happen from then onwards.

See ya soon good old Europe.

Preparations D-15

Hi all,

quite an exciting moment. The bike is nearly ready, most stuff has been bought, the route is pretty much set BUT now come the major last minute problems...get the bike air-shipped from Hong Kong to Munich for the start of the journey and the Turkmen don't want to give Cyril and I a transit visa!

I am still preparing the boxes and the getting used to the GPS and the equipment I am taking with me...anybody knows how to use a stove? How do you transfer the tracks from your GPS to a computer?

Anyhow small things compared to the last two big hurdles, leaving the bank and leaving my wonderful wife.

Leaving the bank doesn't sound as easy as it is...a lot of complications, negotiations etc. You think you solved an issue, the next one comes up.

Leaving the wife for this trip is clearly the one which will be the hardest. She is so lovely, so kind and I feel so bad to leave her in Hong Kong, but when one has a dream the other doesn't share....what to do? She understands I want to do this trip and has been great in the preparation by giving me courage to continue the preparation, but the leaving part isn't something we planned in depth.

Wish me luck in the last few days.

See ya in Europe soon.