Rolls Around the World 2007: 33 Hong Kong & home

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

On October 22 the trip from Hong Kong to Victoria went smoothly.

We both did a lot of running around seeing family and friends as we waited for the car. On Wednesday, Oct 31, the day the car arrived in Vancouver, we met with Robin & Bruce from CHEK TV in Beacon Hill Park for a summary interview of the trip, as Bruce was off on holidays the next day. They did a fantastic job, working the interview in with a series of Marilynn's photos to produce a great summary of the trip. Marilynn caught our scheduled flight back to Costa Rica on Saturday morning, but I had to wait for Canada Customs to do a soil sample before processing the car, so had to stay another week. There were no seats on morning flights out of Victoria, so it was necessary to change my departure to Vancouver.

Yesterday I took the rental car to Vancouver on the ferry. The soil sample test had been approved, clearing the way for an appointment the next morning with Canada Customs. The 9:20 appointment was quite painless - likely the quickest part of the whole procedure. Rob Wilson of Agility had emailed me a stack of required documents, the customs people were pleasant and helpful and within fifteen minutes all paperwork was done and the approval to release the car faxed to the shipping terminal.

This allowed Basil at Agility Logistics to embark upon the next step in the process - getting a time when a truck can go to the terminal to pick up the container that coincides with a time when the terminal can receive the truck. It is not possible to unload the car at the terminal - it must be trucked to another warehouse, which also had to be booked. By afternoon he reported that the earliest the car could be picked up was 5 PM tomorrow. I returned the rental car to the airport and got a ride back with the hotel shuttle.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

In the morning I took the shuttle to the airport to pick up a key I left on the rental car key chain, which they had for me at the Thrifty counter, and which I promptly lost between their desk and the shuttle back to the hotel! The Sheraton allowed a 4 PM checkout, after which I taxied to Legacy Transport Logistics to contact the manager, Jas. He had gone home and no one knew anything about my car arriving. The office closed at 5 PM, so I was taken into the warehouse where I phoned Basil and he explained what was supposed to happen to one of the staff. This person introduced me to the evening shift foreman before going home. I settled into the staff coffee room to read and wait.

By 7 PM I was getting pretty antsy, as my whole plan hinged on getting the car back to Victoria tonight, so the foreman suggested I get a number for the transport company. A call to Basil's mobile phone confirmed that he had no way to contact them once offices were closed, even though they work around the clock. After another couple of hours I knew I was in trouble, having missed the last ferry. I walked the freight yard to check all containers (I had a photograph of my container thoughtfully emailed to me by Sandy Ma in China), and the foreman sent one of the employees to another yard to see if the container went there by mistake. Brian Martin called from Victoria to see when I might arrive, and told me there was a 10:45 PM ferry to Nanaimo, so that gave another short lived ray of hope.

The warehouse guys were great - they kept a loading bay open so if my container arrived there would be no delay in unloading it. By 10 PM the foreman told me he was sure the car would not be delivered. At 10:30 PM I called Basil again, who was in the midst of sorting out another problem - he seems to work around the clock at home or the office - and he tried everything he could think of to try to find out if the container had been picked up, or even if a truck had been dispatched to receive it. No luck! He suggested I get a hotel room and have the warehouse people phone him if the car arrives. It was 11:30 PM before I gave up and took a taxi to the hotel.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Miles for the day - 40 (64 km) Final mileage: 12,901 (20,762 km)

Sleep did not come easily, so by 3:30 AM I was on the computer checking flights from and ferries to Victoria later in the day. It is a long weekend, so if I don't get the car today it will be three full days before offices open again. All Victoria to Vancouver flights were full, and only the first sailings by ferry were available for reservations. A sinking feeling came over me that it could be the better part of another week before I get home.

Another $20 taxi ride took me back to Legacy at 4:30 AM, where the warehouse crew greeted me warmly, but with the sad news that the car had not arrived. When dispatchers arrived in the front office, one tried to track the container number but didn't have the access passwords - these belong to the elusive Jas, who arrived at 7:45 AM. I talked to Basil again at 7 AM, waking him up, and he said Jas really has nothing to do with moving the container, only receiving it, but Basil was furious that the trucking company did not perform as promised.

Jas got on the phone to the trucking company, who said they had an appointment at 10 AM to get the car. He let them know I was not pleased and had been waiting most of the night. I suspect Basil also contacted them to express his disapproval, as when I returned from a sumptuous breakfast at a nearby McDonald's (I'd not eaten since noon yesterday) the car was at the warehouse.

The warehousemen got the restraints off in short order. After a bit of protest the car started and was freed from the container - with the first flat tire since I've owned it. A canister of pressurized leak stopper inflated the tire sufficiently to slowly drive three blocks to a Chevron station where I added air. Surprisingly, the Chinese had not drained the gas tank so I made it to the ferry without filling up, arriving in time to be the last car loaded, avoiding a two hour wait for the next boat.

In Victoria I went straight to the Martin's cottage to pack car items into two suitcases we'd left there. I was late meeting Ron White, the mechanic who looks after the car, and my son Scott, so it was a short meeting with a quick goodbye before Ron & I drove to mile zero for an interview and photo shoot with Pedro from the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper. Ron accompanied me through some other stops I had to make before rushing to board the Vancouver ferry on foot. Ron took the Rolls to store for the winter.

In Vancouver, friend John Foster picked me up at the ferry and drove me to the hotel via a convenient pub, where we celebrated the fact that I was actually going to make it to my morning flight after all!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

The flights from Vancouver to San Jose were comfortable and on time, but there was a one hour ten minute lineup for immigration at the airport. I've never seen anything like it! Fortunately, Marilynn and our caretaker Carlos did not give up, so were there to drive me home.

SUMMARY

There is a small change in the final miles and kilometers, as there was an error in calculation in Europe.

The trip was an unqualified success, and the Rolls a star performer. Gas price per liter varied from a high of $2.08 in Europe to a low of $0.63 in China. We travelled an average of 16.38 miles per imperial gallon. The two most difficult and stressful times of the entire trip involved shipping the car - the very late delivery from Canada to England and getting the car into my hands after it arrived in Vancouver.

A huge thanks to those who contributed to this trip. Without a chain of introductions the trip would not have been possible, and without the expertise and arrangements of our guides and their organizations it would have been far more difficult and less enjoyable. We are also grateful to a 50-year-old Rolls Royce that never let us down.