Paperwork is the curse of travellers especially for those taking their own vehicle overseas. It’s not just airline tickets, visas, insurance & international licenses but there’s the carnet (vehicle permit) to contend with. A carnet de passage records when a vehicle enters and leaves each country. It requires a bond be arranged beforehand to ensure the...
Paperwork aside, exporting the bike required crating and transporting it to the cargo handlers. Nothing is as it seems in Bali, especially when came to having the bike go through an x-ray machine. I received a call to say there were four “cannisters” that were suspect. By the time I got to the airport the crate had been broken open to reveal these were...
2011 has flown by with preparations well underway for an adventure set to begin in February 2012. The bike has covered more than 1600 kms, this time on beautiful roads, with smoothly flowing traffic and no rabid dogs racing out to bite one’s ankles. I have joined other vintage enthusiasts on rallies or taken short runs in the different regions we’ve spent...
Pot holed roads, chickens, mad dogs & suicidal motorcyclists were just some of the challenges I faced when trying to road test the bike in Bali. But the toughest battle came trying to get the FN registered in Indonesia. The original plan had been to ride the FN from Bali to Belgium to celebrate its centenary but this was thwarted by the Indonesian government who...