Sterlin finally made it home.

Monday, December 22nd.

Thanks to gps tracking we spotted Sterlin's cruise ship, 'Hapag-Lloyd Seoul Express' in the Bay just across from Pier 32. Sterlin was in one of the smaller containers at the front of the ship.

Thursday, January 8th.

When we dropped Sterlin off in Rotterdam to be shipped to Oakland, CA, the scheduled arrival date was November 29th. Due to a labor dispute between operators of the 29 West Coast port terminals and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union which has brought a worker slowdown, Sterlin didn't arrive till this day.
*At the time of writing (Feb 10), the dispute entered its 14th week and ships and cargo containers from San Diego to Seattle were stacking up leaving produce to wilt and frustrating customers worldwide.

Once back home, where he now has his own spot in the garage, Stephen waisted no time converting Sterlin back to a 'normal' car: shelving unit and water tank got taken out, tent and roof rack came off and back seats were put back in... et voilá: no one would ever know that he just came back from an amazing around the world overland adventure!

For the week following we made several appointments with the DMV to get Sterlin re-registered and roadworthy - ready for a quick jaunt up to Vancouver, Canada.

Tuesday, February 10th.

This day we - finally - got around to paying Philippe at Euroland 4x4 Center a visit. Philippe checked over and tuned up Sterlin before we left on our adventure and we believe that mainly thanks to him we had no major issues en route.

With Philippe at Euroland 4x4.

Waiting for Sterlin.

Saturday, December 13th.


We are still waiting for Sterlin to arrive back home. Not only has his ship been delayed with a few weeks (tell me something new); there also seems to be some 'actions' from the stevedores (really tell me something new). All we can do is wait.
Some official also decide that the container will need to be x-rayed on arrival... what are they expecting to find? Guess who gets to pay for this special treatment...

Meanwhile we are slowly settling back into San Francisco life. Most of the boxes have been unpacked, most of our furniture is back (we are still missing our bed), computers and internet are up and running, 21st Amendment is still there....

Homeward Bound. November 29-30, 2014.

It had arrived: the last day of our 'Around The World Trip'.
That evening we boarded a plane in Ho Chi Minh / Saigon that took us back home to San Francisco.
Bittersweet really. On the one hand we felt sad that the adventure had come to its close; on the other hand we felt good about going back home again after 18 months.
The re-adjusting to San Francisco life could begin.

San Francisco. November 2-6, 2014.

Stephen flew back to San Francisco to organize a few things. Uneventful trip, which is the best kind. Caroline stayed back in Europe.

San Francisco. July 2-8, 2013.

July 2

Arrived back in San Francisco officially bringing Leg 1 of our trip to an end.  It is good to back, even if it is only for 5 days. And the weather gods are being good to us and turning on the sunshine. We are staying with our ex-neighbor and good friend Anjou about 30 feet from where we use to live. So everything is very familiar.

We ended the day with a quick drink in 21st Amendment and planned the start of Leg 2 to Australia.

Our wonderful car "Sterlin" is still in Los Angeles waiting for a sail date. We were really hoping by now Sterlin would be on the way to Australia and we would be flying arriving just in time to receive her. But this plan is obviously not going to work and we need to start Leg 2.  So the revised plan has us traveling to Australia on Saturday (July 6) and launching ourselves directly into the Tasmanian portion of the Australian leg.  Sterlin will be temporarily replaced with a rental car and we will fly instead of taking the Roll On Roll Off ferry from Melbourne. The new plan has us spending about 25 days in Tasmania during which time it is hoped that Sterlin will make it. The original plan had Sterlin arriving around July 9th, so while we are on schedule, Sterlin is about a month delayed and still slipping.

July 3

Organization morning this morning. Dentist, haircut, contact the banks and credit companies, cancel the internet which I should have done a month ago, book flights to Australia, book flight to Tasmania, reserve a rental car, reserve a hotel in Launceston etc. Good news, since it is July 4th weekend here in the states, nobody is flying internationally and we were able to get first class tickets to Sydney on points, woo hoo.

In the evening we had a little going away party hosted at 21st Amendment. It was a good time with Claudia serving drinks and our friends drinking them. We will miss San Francisco and everyone here.

July 4

Happy Birthday America.  Spent a lazy morning just relaxing after the party. Wonderful fire works in the evening.

July 5

Today the serious packing for the rest of the trip began. We had to decide what to take and what to leave behind. Never easy. We finally got everything consolidated down to 3 Pelican Cases, 1 Duffle Bag and a Suitcase.

Our Luggage for the next 12 months.

Spent a wonderful evening and BBQ dinner with Marc, Inge, Dirk and Marina. Good friends and good food is a great way to leave San Francisco.

Marc, Dirk and Stephen.

July 6

Today was the day we were scheduled to fly to Australia. Unfortunately due an air crash at San Francisco and closure of the airport our flight was delayed 24 hours. Everything was rebooked and now we fly on the 7th.

July 7

Not everything is working to plan. Another cancelled flight and another 24 hour delay and another day in San Francisco. I think the catch-phrase for this trip with be "flexibility is the key". So fingers crossed, we fly on the night of the 8th.

July 8

Spent the day being a tourist in our own town, and visited Angel Island. Rented bikes and enjoyed the good weather. The weather in Tasmania is going to be a little cooler. And good news, we are still confirmed for a departure tonight.

On San Francisco Bay.

Los Angeles, May 26-29, 2013

May 28

Today Sterlin got dropped off at Schumacher Cargo and Logistics for shipping to Australia. The process was extremely easy and very reasonably priced at $1,850.

In preparation of arrival into Sydney, Sterlin underwent a serious cleaning to remove any trace of bugs and oil leaks. Apparently the Australian bio-security folks are very serious when it comes to imported cars and bugs. And the local Department of Motor Vehicles does not like oil leaks.

We do not yet have an arrival date into Australia. Ideally Sterlin does not arrive until after July 10th, so we can be there to greet it.

It now feels like the big adventure is underway.  Tomorrow I fly to Norway.

Sterlin parked and ready to be loaded into a container.
Good news, the roof top tent does not need to be removed.

Sterlin loaded with Fridge, Pelican cases, Jerry Cans, pillows,
Sleeping mats and many other things.

 

Sunset over Santa Monica beach.

 

Caroline Leaves for Europe. April 30, 2013.

The adventure starts with Caroline heading out from San Francisco airport to London.  Only 4 bags!

We Are Still At Home in Beautiful San Francisco.

We are sorting out and organizing as much of the logistics and paperwork that we can do in advance: visas, carnet de passage for the car, getting our place ready to be rented out, and lots of assorted paper work.
While traveling we will rent out our place and to that avail we have started packing away some stuff already. The first objective is to de-clutter the place before the photographer comes over to take photos for the marketing page.
I have never liked packing, I still don't, but it is necessary. After the photo shoot the packing can start in earnest. I want to have just about everything packed away before leaving for Europe on April 29th; Stephen has assured me he will be able to survive with a minimum of things and that way he won't be left with too much to do anymore.
On my beloved 'MINIKE' we keep changing our minds: to store it or to sell it?

Friday, March 22

The first 28 boxes left for storage tonight! We are using Eagle Moving & Storage, run by our good friend and neighbor Joey. Really nice to work with him as it totally removes the stress out of the packing and storing process.

Wednesday, March 27

Apartment photo shoot (for our rental agency).

Friday, April 5

Marketing listing for our condo-for-rent went live.

Monday, April 8

Booked passage for Sterlin from Los Angeles to Sydney.

Wednesday, April 17

We signed tenants for our loft/condo from June 1st, for a year (with a possibility to extend).

Sunday, April 21

Our Buddha panel is moving to its temporary home in Bamboo Asia; which is our friend and neighbor Anjou's restaurant.

Here's our Buddha at Bamboo Asia! Couldn't think of a better place for it!

Thursday, April 17

Drinks with the Neighbors. Thank you all for coming, it was a fun evening. Special thanks to Anjana and Anjou for the delicious food.

Photo 2 courtesy of Paul Homchick.

Friday, April 26

We had a lovely time, over drinks and appetizers, getting to know our tenants. We got on very well! Very excited to have them look after our place while we're gone.

Saturday, April 27

We dropped off Minike at its boarding home while away.

Saturday, May 18

The Big Move. Eagle Moving and Storage and Skycraper Crane and Rigging turned up in the morning to pack up all furniture and items left for storage.

 Joey from Eagle Moving and Storage.

Our chaise longue is just a tad to big to 

make it down the stairs, so Jason from 

Skycraper is the man to ring.

Stephen trying to raise some sympathy

later that evening.

Health and Vaccinations.

We both went to Downtown Medical to get the necessary inoculations and prescriptions. their website doesn't look like much, but service is prompt and good. They take walk-ins but make an appointment if you can, it reduces the wait time and makes things a bit smoother.

• Typhoid: Valid for 2 years. Injection. USD 85.

• Hepatitis A: New-ish vaccine. 2 injections: first now (USD 90), 2nd with 6-12 months so will follow up somewhere in SE Asia. 

• Polio: Booster injection. USD 60.

• Hepatitis B - Havrix: 3 injections: first 2 about a month apart, 3rd after about 6 months. 1: USD 90 - 2: USD 264 - 3: USD 129.

• Tetanus: Tdap combined Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine. Injection. USD 70.

• Malaria: Prescription. Cambodia.

• MMR: Injection.

These are our handy Health Passports. We got our first one from the 'British Airways Travel Clinics' in 1992 in the London Days, prior to backpacking through Africa. Caroline obtained her 'extension' in 2011 from Downtown Medical in San Francisco.

Documents.

Friday, March 1

We applied for, and today got issued, 2nd US passports. It turns out it is not that difficult to get these, as long as you can give a good reason why you need it. I explained about the trip we are about to embark on and that a 2nd passport would help enormously with the visa applications en route. When applying at various Consulates you always have to leave your passport for a 'number' of days, which might also make it tricky to check-in to hotels, take out or change money, and what have you. I didn't even need to supply booked tickets; the officer looked at our planned itinerary and wished us good luck on our trip. The whole process took .... 2 days only! The 2nd passports are valid for 2 years only.

Tuesday, April 9

Picked up International Driving Permits from AAA. Very easy to get: 2 passport photos, US drivers licence (or copy of front and back when applying for someone else as well), filled in application form and US$15 each.  The IDP is issued on the spot.

Monday, April 15

We got our Russian Visas today. We applied for and got granted 3-year multiple entry visas. Not only do we now have the White Sea covered (Leg 1: Europe) but also Leg 4: Russia. This means we shouldn't have too many issues getting back into Russia after Mongolia, and possibly after Kazakhstan. We used Go To Russia who made the application process very easy and painless. It helped that we had all the documents (voucher, invitation letter, detailed itinerary) for our first entry on June 3rd, 2013. Cost: USD 319 each.

Saturday, May 4

Today the Carnet de Passages en Douane for Sterlin arrived.  This is equivalent to a passport for the car and allows us to temporarily import Sterlin into countries without having to pay import duty.

Survival Kit.

Our very thoughtful friends Nadine and Tim provided us with an essential food survival kit:

Looks like the mimosa and smoked trout have Caroline's name on them; the chocolates and shortbread seem to be earmarked for Stephen. We're happy to share the rest :-)