Mel & Trinity

The day has finally arrived – Trinity and I are heading to Miami, Florida. She’s flying with Virgin and I’m flying with British Airways. Thanks Angie for sorting out my ticket and Moto Freight for taking care of Trinity!

It’s been a stormy start to the trip – literally! I’m currently on the runway in the Bahamas. Miami airport is closed due to a storm so they had to divert the plane. I REALLY want to get off the plane and see the island. The sun is shining and I can see the trees but it’s just outside of my reach. It’s torture, torture I tell you! 😂

The last few days have been a little nuts but as I sit here on the plane I know it has been so worth it!

With the best will in the world, sometimes things just don’t go to plan. That was definitely the case this week!

I have had the basics of my tour finalised since Christmas but the devil really is always in the detail.

The one thing that I knew would be tricky was the motorcycle insurance. The arrival of GDPR resulted in the disappearance of most motorcycle insurance options for foreign motorcycles from Europe in the USA.

The shipping company for Trinity, Moto Freight, provided me with the best two options. The first was Motorcycle Express, a US company, and the second Securo Gringo, a Mexican company (although the underwriter is in the USA). I was warned that the policy wording on the latter was a little dodgy and also that they only offered third party insurance, so I was keen to use Motorcycle Express. There was only one problem – they don’t currently cover Canada.

I was checking the website weekly to see if there was any update – it just said, ‘we are working on it please check website for details’. Finally, I dropped them a line and they told me it would be sorted out by Thursday. Thursday came and there was no change. ‘It may be Friday’, they said. I couldn’t wait any longer.

On Thursday night, following my ‘bon voyage’ drinks with my colleagues, I went back to the office to buy insurance through Securo Gringo. Phew, I thought! Now I just had work things to tie up on the Friday. I was already unsure how I was going to finalise everything on Friday and then I got the news.

I had been speaking to my friend, Joa, about my insurance concern and she said she’d ask her cousin, Jaco, to check the details as he works in insurance. Jaco checked the wording of the policy and pointed out that I wouldn’t be covered as it was only valid for Mexican residents and for 28 consecutive days. 😱 Apparently the Gringo’s are not so secure after all!

This was a potential disaster – no insurance equals no trip! I can’t clear Trinity through customs without insurance. Even if they allowed me to with the policy, I was likely not to be covered in the event that I actually needed it. Neither option was acceptable.

Friday was a right off. Instead of tying up all my work things I was desperately trying to selvage my trip (or at least the start of it)!

To cut a long story short, I got there in the end but it was stress I could do without. Thank you Joa and Jaco for saving the day!

Unfortunately, the events of the day then had a huge knock on effect. I had dinner plans with my friends that night that I did not want to miss but I was now horribly behind schedule and would need to work on the weekend.

I went into work in the morning and in my tired (and slightly hungover state), miscalculated what time I needed to leave the office for my flight to Glasgow for Grant and Christina’s wedding reception.

I was so chuffed with myself thinking everything was going to plan until I reached Victoria station to catch the Gatwick Express and as I looked at the time on the departure board I had the sickening realisation that I was going to miss my flight – I was an hour off schedule. My heart sank!

I had especially delayed my departure to Miami until Monday to join the celebrations and I was going to miss it! I sat on a bench trying to see if I could make another flight but it was just not feasible.

I was so gutted calling Grant to tell him I wasn’t going to make it. The only consolation was that I will be seeing them in Vancouver at the end of my trip – we will definitely celebrate then! This also meant that I could now get my work things tied up. That finally happened on the way to the airport this morning.

As I sit here on the runway in the Bahamas all I have to ‘worry’ about is the torture of sitting on the plane instead of being outside playing. I’ll take that problem! 😂

I cannot wait to see what the rest of the day has in store!