WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN
IT WOULD TAKE A FEW WEEKS TO REGISTER MY BIKE
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
I WASTED 2 MONTHS OF MY LIFE
I’m still sitting around in Budapest
just waiting to get through all of this bureaucratic crap. Urgh. It’s been over two months now since I landed and started the process of importing my bike. I thought that if I did it properly this time, in my name, things would be easier. Turns out it’s not the case.
I hired an agent to import the bike for me, take care of customs and everything. All in all customs fees cost a whopping $350, plus the agents fee’s which racked up to about $750. Devastated by the cost to my budget, along with the 2 months of living costs here I expected to finally have my bike on yesterday and ride away from all of this mess.
Turns out Hungary has other plans for me and I need “special permission” to import such a ‘special type of bike’. I need to write a letter to some Hungarian dude to confirm that actually yes BMW 650S actually exist and they aren’t so uncommon. His response can take up to 15 days.
It’s an agonising wait and I’m disappointed that all my hard earned cash is draining away every day I wait. Not only that, but the season is short in Europe and I’m wasting precious time waiting around. It seems as though I won’t be able to get through all my plans again this year before winter and I’m disappointed that I won’t finish what I intended yet again.
It’s especially heartbreaking when you tell all your friends and family what you’re doing. Publicly failing always feels worse.
But if there is anything that I’ve learned from last year, it’s that mistakes happen and the only way is forward. So I’m determined to figure out a way to continue on the ride – no matter where it is.
It’s too hot by now to ride the Med, so I will ride through the Alps and jet up the east of France to reach the UK. It’s sad that I’ll have less time to explore the east of France, but after exploring the UK I can allocate more time to visit west France and Spain. There I will ride the tails of summer, hoping to make it to the warmer weather of Africa.
Then we’ll see what happens hey.
What I learned today
1. Nothing is ever as easy as it seems
2. Just. Keep. Going.
you will enjoy the Uk…some fab rides and also top roads in Scotland like the NC500……. im off to Morocco in Sept / Oct…. you are welcome to ride down with me… room available in Yorkshire (Sheffield ) if required…also garage to work in…..
Stay cool
John