Toronto and shipping to Portugal
Canada, eh
Needless to say, it was snowing when I finally reached Toronto at 6pm...and a brisk 24-degrees F. The heated vest came in handy, and I had to bust out hand warmers and winter gloves, despite having heated grips. Luckily, it was so cold and windy that the snow just blew off the road. Precipitation would have been disastrous so close to the finish line.
The shipping drop-off was amazingly smooth. Hand over the paperwork, disconnect the battery, and voilà, all done. Well...despite a seemingly painless handover, there was uncertainty, as always. They'd not asked for a key or kept the title, as in every other shipment. Also, they couldn't confirm whether I could leave gear in the bags. "It just depends on who inspects it...if they don't like what's in the cases, it won't ship." Sweet. Thanks for that. Guess I'll take all the gear I'd planned to not lug to the airport and lug it to the airport. (However, after being forced to take EVERYTHING from the bike, I was pleased to know it would all fit in my two waterproof expedition bags).
Off to Hertz, grab a car, drive two hours to Buffalo, sleep 4 hours to wake at 4am for a flight to Dallas. Remember the lost driver's license? Yeah, I had to deal with that. Land at 10, Hertz again, to the DMV to get my picture taken, quick workout at CrossFit 214, then back to the airport by 2. Land at 10pm, drive back to Toronto. Lovely day...all thanks to a slippery wallet. Won't make that mistake again...ever. Fortunately, I acquired an AMEX in Dallas, which I'd left at a bar at a firm recruiting event the weekend prior. Funny how things work out. I now had funds...but limited...it's AMEX.
A few close friends and I rallied in Toronto for some great meals and a proper sendoff. Was quite impressed by the culinary and bar scene in Toronto. The Canucks at least have that figured. Imagine how much boom they'll experience in the next few years when border towns double in size... Anyway, it was a fairly tame weekend, but good for rest.
Friday and Sunday saw crippling blizzards, but Saturday was beautiful...so, of course, we had to take in Niagara Falls...from the sky. The Mavic drone performed like a champ, diving right into the 300-foot plume of mist. It may not be legal to fly a craft across international borders...so, we were discrete. Five minutes in the air, and the Mavic returned to home to land effortlessly in the exact same location. Having visited the falls four times before, it still is a magnificent sight. However, we were quite intrigued by the way family-oriented tourism has completely morphed the town of Niagara Falls into almost a nightmarish carnival. I've never seen so many Ripley's Believe-or-Nots, Haunted Houses, and Rainforest Cafes situated densely together...blocking out the sun, and nearly sucking the oxygen from the main drag. Not impressed.
Receiving Green in Lisbon
(I'm about to rant about shipping motorcycles...For those who haven't done this before, let me tell you, shipping a bike is typically the most painful part of any trip like this...I was dreading it).
I arrived at the cargo terminal soon after landing in Lisbon. Flights were smooth...aside from accidentally packing a massive knife in my carry on...and forgetting to snag some money from a friend in Canada, since I didn't have any source of funds. But hey, I was about to get my motorcycle back...I hoped.
Wow. Smoothest shipment to date! All-in-all, coordinating with shippers and passing customs could have taken as little as 30 minutes. We had some delays, of course, for fork-lift drivers on lunch break (so I had a nice meal in the workers' cafeteria). Also, the woman at customs seemed new, and according to her, the regulations had just changed, so she had to make sure she had everything right. She busted out binder after binder and referenced hand-written notes until her desk was completely covered in material. She'd look up from a stack of files, ask me to wait a bit longer, and then go back to reading. It's like she was trying to make a potion from ingredients she'd never heard of before. Scary. In the end, she stamped a bunch of documents and gave me some guidance on how to handle customs when leaving or re-entering the EU. "I'm not really sure if taxes matter, so we'll just skip that part...and I'm not sure if people will check you when you leave the EU...but you should probably forfeit your temporary importation paperwork...just call me." Riiiiiiight. There's one open-ended set of customs advice that will surely bite me in the ass down the road. All part of the adventure.
So, after 95-Euros and 90 minutes of waiting, Mean Green hatched from a giant metal crate and was ready to eat some Portuguese pavement.
But...let me explain what's so amazing about this. I've shipped motorcycles internationally three times:
Part 1 - NYC to Buenos Aires: "World Class Shipping," my US freight forwarder, jacked up the paperwork, causing a two-week delay. My riding buddy's bike never even made it to Argentina. And the agent increased the price by 30% once he had the bikes in possession and me over a barrel. "We didn't realize it was that big," he claimed, despite having accurate measurements for the estimate and confirming during the drop-off. Wouldn't be the last time I'd hear that phrase. On the receiving end, it took three days of haggling with agents and filling out paperwork and paying nearly $2k in bribes to recover Silver"...Welcome to Argentina.
Part 2 - Bogotá to Dallas: Very cheap...like $1,000 or so. Great service, but during crating, I was a little nervous when the shippers grabbed random people off the street to all help lift the crated 600-lb bike overhead to place it in the back of a truck nearly 4-feet tall. High pucker factor. Receiving end was smooth. $25 fee, and Silver was back with me. Unfortunately, that company doesn't exist anymore.
Part 3 - Panama to Dallas: Complete fiasco. Had ridden down through Central American with my father and brother. Shipping back was smooth for drop off. On the receiving end, the American-based shipper, "Express Air Freight" increased the rate by 43%, forcing me to pay before I could reclaim our property. "We didn't realize it was that big," he claimed, despite having accurate measurements for the estimate. Told ya I get that a lot. Storage fees are horrendous, so there were few options. An attempt to enlist support from the Better Business Bureau, Texas Attorney General, and other consumer rights groups fell flat, but a fellow veteran-turned-lawyer took my case pro bono. Fourteen months later, I reclaimed half of the excess cost. Thanks, Todd, for not leaving a comrade behind.
Any shipment that occurs remotely close to the estimated cost and within a few days of plan is a miracle. Motorcycle Express nailed it...for only $1,200 to go from Canada to Europe. Others will charge $3-4k for shipment half the distance. Truly impressed. The Portuguese receiving agents were very friendly and helpful, even offering fist-bumps on the way out the door.
Back in the saddle. It's on now...
