When preparing for my trip, I had chosen Australia as the final destination. Not as a motorcyclist, because importing a motorcycle into Australia is a costly and difficult affair, but as a backpacker. Little did I know then that my sister's son was getting married in Melbourne on April 16th.
A plane ticket to Melbourne costs a lot less from Bangkok than from the Netherlands, so I don't pass up the opportunity to attend a 3-day Indian wedding and I decide to change the order of my travel destinations and use Australia as a stopover instead of the final destination to plan.
Before I book a ticket I look for a safe parking space for my motorcycle. I write to all BMW dealers in Bangkok with the request to park my motorcycle and luggage there for 2 weeks, but only 1 company, an organizer of BMW motorcycle travel, responds. We agree to meet and if I pay for the dinner, the deal is done. The flight ticket is then quickly booked.
A few days before departure to Australia, however, I can no longer contact the BMW travel organization in any way. During our first meeting the owner mentioned he was recovering from a stroke which I fear something serious has happened to him.
When I check into the hotel where I stayed the day before departure in Bangkok, my first question is whether my motorcycle and luggage can stay there for 2 weeks. Fortunately they agree and for a small fee my motorcycle is safely parked in a kind of parking garage behind the hotel.
When I arrived at the airport I had to have an ETA visa for arrival in Australia. Oops, I thought the visa was on arrival. The airline staff advise me to quickly download the app and make the request via the internet. However, approval can take up to 12 hours and my flight leaves in 1 hour. So I start squeezing him seriously.
Fortunately, I already have the approval within 30 nervous minutes and I can just walk into the waiting plane half an hour later. It was close, but Australia here I come!
