Round The World

3.7.2007 | 14:42

Tokyo, Japan - naestsidasti dagur i heimsalfunni !

Thad er ymislegt buid ad ganga a i dag og i gaer her hja mer og vid braedur bunir ad thvaelast med lestunum her i Tokyo fram og til baka, eins og thad er nu skemmtilegt. I gaermorgun forum vid snemma af stad til ad hitta Hayashi, sem er fulltrui hja fyrirtaeki sem ser um flutninga. Eftir taepa 2 tima i lestinni inn i midbae fundum vid stadinn og var tekid vel a moti okkur. Tharna var sest nidur og byrjad a verkefninu, thad er, ad reyna ad koma hjolunum sem allra fyrst til Alaska. Eftir klukkustundafund var nidurstadan thessi: Thad aetti ad vera haegt ad senda hjolin a midvikudag, (morgun) ef allt gengi upp vardandi pokkun, pappira, tollamal ofl. En til thess ad thetta gangi upp tharf hun ad fa heimilisfang i Anchorage, Alaska, sem ad vid ad sjalfsogdu vorum ekki med, einnig tharf hun ad fa flugnumerid fyrir flugid fyrir okkur sjalfa, sem vid vorum heldur ekki med, thvi vid vorum ekki bunir ad panta flugid. Einnig thurftum vid ad skila af okkur hjolunum a Narita flugvollinn sem er i um 120 km fjarlaegd fra Tokyo og fyrir kl. 17:00 ! Vid semsagt hlupum ut og fundum stad thar sem vid komumst i tolvu og thar vorum vid i 2 tima ad finna flug og boka, og einnig ad finna odyrt hotel i Anchorage og boka eina nott thar, svo ad vid gaetum notad heimilisfangid thar. Ad thessu loknu hlupum vid aftur til hennar og letum hana hafa thessar upplysingar og svo aftur af stad, kofsveittir, ut a brautarstod til ad na lestinni til baka thar sem hjolin voru. Thad tok okkur aftur taepa 2 tima, og a leidinni hringdi eg i Anthony og bad hann ad hitta okkur thar til ad skila lyklinum ad ibudinni og ad kvedja hann. En einnig vonadi eg ad hann myndi bjodast til ad fylgja okkur, thvi ad ef thad aetti ad vera einhver moguleiki ad na ut a flugvoll a rettum tima thyrftum vid helst fylgd thangad af manni sem ratar vel her. En thad var nu ekki svo gott, hann hafdi ekki tima og var ad fa gesti til sin. Thannig ad vid kvoddum hann og heldum af stad med sma leidarlysingu fra honum i farteskinu. Thad var farid ad skyggja og rigna en mikill hiti og vid i ollum gallanum og svitinn lak i stridum straumum um allan kroppinn. Einnig var svolitil spenna og stress i gangi. En semsagt, vid komumst a leidarenda eftir ad hafa verid heppnir og komist i gegnum Tokyo og ut a flugvoll. Vid vorum thar um kl. 18:30. Tha tokum vid til vid ad skrufa af hjolunum eitt og annad til ad minnka thau adeins i rummmali til ad reyna ad spara svolitinn pening. Einnig skiptum vid um fot tharna og settum eins mikid og vid gatum af doti i toskurnar sem fara med hjolunum. Thad er rosalega dyrt ad senda hjolin med flugi thessa leid og mer synist thetta muni kosta um kr. 375.000,- a hvort hjol !!!!!! En vid hofum ekkert val og verdum bara ad kyngja thessu. Thad er smidadur kassi utan um hvort hjol og toskur og annad sett thar inn lika. Thetta er skilgreint sem "dangerous good" og thess vegna thurfum vid lika ad borga allskonar aukagjold,- bensingjald, serstakt haettugjald, pokkunargjald ofl. Otrulegt en satt. I dag kom svo upp vandamal med tollinn, hann samthykkti ekki i fyrstu ad toskurnar vaeru hluti af hjolinu, heldur ad thetta vaeri bara ferdatoskur, en their samthykktu thad ad lokum. Allt thetta thurfti svo ad stadgreida og vorum vid uti um allar trissur ad redda peningum. Thad tekur nokkra daga ad senda peninga a milli landa og thvi gekk thad ekki. Visa kortid leyfir bara akvedid haar upphaedir a dag og einnig er bara haegt ad taka peninga ut a posthusum her, thannig ad vid hlupum a milli stada. Svo vorum vid med dollara sedla sem vid vildum skipta og forum i banka til thess. Tha kemur i ljos ad einhver vel sem sedlarnir eru settir i gegnum, samthykkti bara hluta af sedlunum og tha vandadist malid. Medan eg skipti staerstum hluta sedlanna sem voru i lagi, hljop Einar og adstodarstulka fra flutningafyrirtaekinu a milli banka i midbaenum og i hverjum banka tokst ad skipta nokkrum sedlum og tok thad i allt 5 banka ad skipta ollum sedlunum. Manni var farid ad lida eins og peningafalsara og aumingja stulkan sem hljop um a hahaeludu skonum sinum með Einari skildi hvorki upp ne nidur i thessum skrytnu monnum ! En allt gekk thetta upp ad lokum og nu sit eg her sidasta kvoldid og a ekki fyrir bjor, thvi allir sedlar bunir og get ekki tekid ut meira fyrr en a morgun. Frekar fyndid ! En ad lokum sma til umhugsunar, vid fljugum fra Japan kl. 17:00 midvikudaginn 4. Juli, og lendum i Anchorage, Alaska kl. 17:15 midvikudaginn 4. Juli ! Thad tekur semsagt ekki nema 15 minutur ad fljuga hedan og til Alaska ?????????? Eda hvad ? Heyrumst sidar fra USA !

There has been a lot going on the past couple of days. We’ve been traveling around Tokyo by trains but that’s not the most exciting thing in the world. We woke up early yesterday morning to meet Hayashi, a travel company’s representative. We found the place after about 2 hours in a train. We immediately sat down and tried to solve the problem which was to find a way to get the bikes to Alaska as soon as possible. After discussing things for about an hour we came to this conclusion: It should be possible to send the bikes to Alaska on Wednesday (tomorrow) if everything goes well. But in order for that to happen she needed a couple of things such as an address in Anchorage, Alaska and the flight number for our flight which we didn’t have because we hadn’t even booked our flight yet. But the worst thing was probably that we had to leave our bikes at Narita airport which is about 120 km away from japan, and that needed to be done before 5 pm.! So we ran out of there and found a computer to book a flight and a cheap hotel for one night so we could use that address. That took us about 2 hours but after that we ran back to Hayashi and gave her that information. Then it took us about 2 hours to get back where our bikes were but on the way Anthony called and asked us to meet him so we could return the key to the apartment and say goodbye. We hoped he could also lead the way to the airport because that would save us some time but he was expecting guests so he couldn’t do that. We were getting a little stressed and the heat and the rain didn’t help. But we made it even though not until 6:30 but then we had to take some stuff of the bikes to make them smaller. We also changed clothes there and put as much clothes in the cases which are going the bikes as we could. It’s extremely expensive to send the bikes, around 375,000 kr.- for each bike!! (Over $6000). The bikes and all other baggage is put in a box which is marked “dangerous goods” which means that we had to pay extra. We also had a problem with the customs today. They didn’t agree that the motorcycle cases were a part of the bike but simply regular suitcases. But they accepted it in the end, thank god. But we had to pay for all this with cash so we had to get some cash quick! The visa card only allows a certain amount of withdrawal each day so that was a problem. It also takes days to send money between countries so that was not possible either. So we needed to run between different places to get the money. We also had some dollars we wanted to change but the machine that does that only accepted a part of the bills. Einar, along with an assistant there, ran between banks downtown to get all the bills changed. And it actually took 5 different banks to change all the bills! I felt a little bit like a coiner and the poor assistant had to run around in her high heels and probably though that we were really weird. But it all worked out in the end and now I’m sitting here in front of the computer and don’t even have enough money for a beer. It’s the last night here in Japan! But finally, here is a thought, We’ll be taking off from Japan at 5 pm on the 4th of July and we’ll land in Anchorage, Alaska around 15 minutes past 5 pm on the 4th of July! So is it only 15 minutes from Japan to Alaska??? Doesn’t sound right ;) I’ll ttyl from the USA! - Sverrir

Sverrir Þorsteinsson

Flokkur: Ferðalög | Breytt 6.7.2007 kl. 01:09 | Facebook