Waiting for my bike.

I got unlucky. My bike hasn't been released from customs just yet. The container where my bike was consolidated got X-rayed and US Customs decided to examine it further. Hopefully I will get my bike early next week. Fingers crossed.

Well, if I would do it all over again I think the airfreight option is a better one. More transparent, no shared responsibilities, much less exposure to delays and strikes.
Looking on the bright side I have more time to explore LA. It has been more then 13 years since my last visit to LA. 

View from Corona Del Mar south of LA towards San Diego not visible though. 

Some local action.

More action.

Venice Beach - mixing with locals.

More Venice Beach.

Selling 'local' produce - Venice Beach

Ted, Bozena and I enjoying Mexican food - good practice for me, more ahead.

Even me a fussy eater could manage this.

Newport Beach late afternoon.

Farewell to Australia.

All packed and ready to go.  The ‘Last Supper’ with my family. Farewell to my friends, last barbecue and a few beers. The next day I am catching plane to China.

Well, with my planned destination Los Angeles this doesn’t sound right but is hard to argue if the price is right.

Next stop LAX where I will meet my friend Ted and spend some time in his factory re-assembling my bike. I bought a lot of gear in the US over the Internet. You just can’t beat their prices. In some instances I saved up to 50%. I am more than happy to pay a little bit extra and buy locally but not that much.  It makes you wonder when Australian retailers will wake up and learn the world is just a global village.....
Before the trip I have to fit all these gear to my bike.  Big worry, giving me nightmares but this in my next post.

'The Last Supper'     

My son Rob, daughter Sylvia and her husband Brendan            

My good friend Ziggy and Grazyna

'The Last Supper #2' Arcos Katlyn & Rob

 The three Amigos Me, Arcos & Csaba

Sending my bike

OK all happening. My bike was sent on the 22nd of May 2011. It is scheduled to arrive in LA via Sydney and New Zealand on the 17th of June 2011 - fingers crossed. There are a lot of factors which may cause a delay. If I would do it all over again I would give myself a bit more time.

I decided to send it by sea despite hearing a few bad stories, mainly due to delays. The economics won in the end. I already had some drama before my bike left Australia. The shipment was nearly caught up in maritime dispute in Sydney, Fortunately the crate was loaded the day before.

As far as I know it is not possible to deal directly with shipping company. I had to find a shipping agent. My agents's choice was Freight Care. So far Grant and Hery done pretty good job.
I was never left out of the circle. A lot of paperwork back and forward.

My bike had to be put in a crate first. My agent could do it but it would cost me around $400 extra. Instead I went to Kawasaki dealer where I bought my bike from and got an original metal crate for free - good start. 

This crate is very compact. I had to take front wheel, handlebars and the windscreen off to be able to fit my bike in . I did it with help of my Hungarian friends Csaba and Arkos, Later on we put it on Csaba's Ute and took it Port of Brisbane. Thanks guys for help.

Unfortunately in all this excitement I forgot to take any pictures.

The total cost was $1450. The crate with the bike weighs 250Kg and it is only 1.6 cubic meters. Pretty compact. I had to work hard to be able to put all my gear together with the bike.

It is very important when negotiating the price, to make sure that the payment is for both agents shipping and the receiving. It is quite common they just appoint the receiving agent and you will be hit with large bill on arrival.