2 Week Countdown!

This time in 2 weeks we are homeless! We pass our keys over to the guy who is renting our apartment, our bikes will have our worldly possessions for the next year strapped to the back, I will teach my class and then Patrick will meet me and we ride to Switzerland!  (Our first 2 nights of homelessness will be spent at his parents place, where we plan a family exodus to Italy. Not such a terrible situation.  ;-) ) 

So with the 2 week countdown bearing down upon us, what do we still have to do?

Visas

Apparently being Canadian comes with more trouble and pain than just having Harper as our Prime Minister. It means that unlike the Germans who need to shell out 200 Euro for a multiple entry visa, I need to shell out 200 for the invitation alone. Then another 200 for the visa.  And another 35 for regular processing fees. PLUS another 40 for processing outside the country.  We found this out after the agency already had my passport.  A quick online check to see if sending it to Canada would have made more sense proved futile. In Canada it would cost me about 400 dollars, but toss in there express posting both ways and time, the 100 Euros is no longer worth it.

The good news is that my bike is fixed! And for significantly less than quoted.  BMW quoted 1200 for the whole process. But the guy told us if we bought the handle bar and did that part ourselves it would be significantly cheaper. By we I mean Patrick, as my only contribution was to pay for the handle bar and pick it up.  The German did the elbow sweat part.  But with parts and then dropping it off for BMW to do everything else, the total cost came in at 800.  So that at least covers my Visa......

Patrick's bike is something else. The BMW dealer is saying that ABS should be fixed, but the ABS light keeps glowing that it has not been.  Word to the wise: don't drop your bike in a river.  It short circuits shit.

 

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

2 Week Countdown!

This time in 2 weeks we are homeless! We pass our keys over to the guy who is renting our apartment, our bikes will have our worldly possessions for the next year strapped to the back, I will teach my class and then Patrick will meet me and we ride to Switzerland!  (Our first 2 nights of homelessness will be spent at his parents place, where we plan a family exodus to Italy. Not such a terrible situation.  ;-) ) 

So with the 2 week countdown bearing down upon us, what do we still have to do?

Visas

Apparently being Canadian comes with more trouble and pain than just having Harper as our Prime Minister. It means that unlike the Germans who need to shell out 200 Euro for a multiple entry visa, I need to shell out 200 for the invitation alone. Then another 200 for the visa.  And another 35 for regular processing fees. PLUS another 40 for processing outside the country.  We found this out after the agency already had my passport.  A quick online check to see if sending it to Canada would have made more sense proved futile. In Canada it would cost me about 400 dollars, but toss in there express posting both ways and time, the 100 Euros is no longer worth it.

The good news is that my bike is fixed! And for significantly less than quoted.  BMW quoted 1200 for the whole process. But the guy told us if we bought the handle bar and did that part ourselves it would be significantly cheaper. By we I mean Patrick, as my only contribution was to pay for the handle bar and pick it up.  The German did the elbow sweat part.  But with parts and then dropping it off for BMW to do everything else, the total cost came in at 800.  So that at least covers my Visa......

Patrick's bike is something else. The BMW dealer is saying that ABS should be fixed, but the ABS light keeps glowing that it has not been.  Word to the wise: don't drop your bike in a river.  It short circuits shit.

 

Posted via email from Unleash Your Adventure

Trip Planning: Tip #1: Set A Date

Your dream is to go on a trip. Not on a one week vacation, but on a big trip.

One day you will go since this has always been your dream. Not now but one day, maybe when this project is finished or after the car is paid off, then one day...

Sorry to disillusion you but I guess you will never go. There is always the new project, the car, stuff to do with the house, grandma's birthday, the dog and 1000 other things that get in the way. And you know why?

Because you do not have a set date. When the next project starts you have to deal with it. No matter how inconvenient it may be, you can not fight it however as that date is set, when you hit the date the project starts and you have to deal with it.  And the most amazing part is that you will.

But what about your big trip? It has no date. One day is no date, its merely a nicer word for never. So it will always be pushed further and further back by all these other things that may not be important but they have a date. Dates rule our lives.

So if you want to get serious about a big trip (or anything else you want to achive):

Set a date and...