The Devil in the Details Can Bite You in the Butt!

Road Trippin’
with
Steve McCarthy

So, followers of my scribblings will note how I’ve covered in minute detail all the necessary 1000 and One things to do with our Grand Tour. Except one. I made the mistake of “assuming.” You know about “assume?” Makes an Ass of U and Me? Yeah. What’s that other phrase, “For want of a nail...” Yeah. 

Yasee, shipping a car abroad requires the actual Title. What we call here a “Pink Slip.” Only, they aren’t pink anymore, and aren’t used to keep one’s kilt from scratching. It proves you actually own the car. It’s important. I knew EXACTLY where it was. Manila folder, marked “Triumph TR3” in my dad’s handwriting. It dates to 1969, when I bought the car (remember that date, it will be important later). Marianne is a GREAT Filer of Things. Really organized. So, of course, instead of checking that I had the title, THE most important document, and one that, if lost, usually takes WEEKS to get from the DMV, was gone. Nowhere to be found. Nada. Zip! 

We turned the house upside down. Searched everything and everywhere. No such luck. Called AAA. No, they couldn’t help, BUT, they told me DMV has an expedited service for a mere $15 extra. OK, found it, 8-10 days. Cool. Down load the form, fill it out, go to post office, overnight it (with a promise of Tues by 3:40). And wait. And Wait. AND WAIT! 

Finally, I check USPS tracking. It was not delivered until Wed. 6/8 (REFUND!). Sigh. So I wait. Some 11 days from receipt I called the DMV. And amazingly, got a very nice lady who took the info, was horrified (esp as I told her it could cost me thousands of $$$ in extra fees!). She at first said, "well, the website isn't actually telling the truth. It can take 8-10 days after they pull it off the pile! I'm not happy (but, surprisingly, in a nice way). "Can I get you my supervisor?" That's never a good sign when THEY offer the supervisor. The supervisor, ALSO a very nice lady tries calling the appropriate department. No one answers. WTF! So, she gets my info and promises a phone call, probably Friday!!! I push a bit saying that might be too late. I DID get a call on Thurs. whew. This lady was also very nice. She gets all the info (by this time I can tell her that a 'J. Freidman' signed for it) and she says she'll call me back. Hour or so later, she does. THEY CAN'T FIND IT!!!! IT'S LOST!!!! My heart is racing and my BP is about to burst a vessel. "So now what?" "Well, send us another form and check". "NO, that's not acceptable. I HAVE to have the title." "Let me talk to my manager...OK, can you fax me a copy?" "Of course (this IS 1990 isn't it? DMV needs to upgrade from their Commodore 64 computers!). "And write up a 'statement of facts' and we will waive the fee." So, off to Staples. I fax the stuff, return and call. Meanwhile the gal I was talking to has left for the day, but she referred me to her coworker. Great. I ask for her. "She's at lunch...oh wait, she just walked in." First thing that's gone my way. She gets the fax, and asks me to fax a shipping label to overnight it. "Can I email you a pdf?" "Oh, ok," So I hunt around the UPS, etc, sites, can't find how to do that, and BINGO! I call Tina at Autobooks!!!! She does one up, emails it to me, I forward it on. Then I call. Desiree has my paper work done, and checks. Hey Presto, the label is there. She sends it out, I got it Saturday! Shipper is happy, he has a Model A and a Harley (yeah I know what Jones will say) ready to go. So, 8:00AM we'll have the TR at the shipper in Gardena. 

And, as the Infomercial says, “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!”. 

Monday we drove down to Gardena, signed papers, showed ‘em how to start it up, all that good stuff. With a bit of a sniff, we bid the Blue Meanie adieu. With great relief we drove back home. To a ringing phone. It’s the shipper. THE VIN ON THE CAR AND THE VIN I’VE HAD ON THE PAPERWORK SINCE (OK, class, what’s the answer?) 1969 DO NOT MATCH. 

If I thought I’d felt a heart attack coming on before, it was nothing like this. Thank GOD for a loving wife! Marianne calmed me down. A bit. Called my buddy Bill. He suggested, “Hey doesn’t Moss Motors sell new VIN plates?” Why, yes they do! “So, go up there, get one and a set of metal stamps and...” I call Moss and of course they’re out of them. 

Chest tightening again, I call my Sacramento Angel Desiree. “Oh, no problem. Take the car to a DMV office, have them do a verification, and send it and the title back to me. I’ll take care of you.” AMAZING! We all use the DMV as the poster child for bureaucratic inefficiency and sloth. All the people I dealt with prove that to be a big fat lie! 

So, in a tight chested adrenaline filled frenzy, we drive BACK to Gardena, get the TR, drive it to a DMV office in Hawthorne, a mere 3 miles away (!!!), get it checked, bring the car back to the shipper, then back home to print out a new form, off to FedEx (not trusting the USPS this time),  and get it overnighted to Desiree. 

It got there Tuesday morning. I called Angel Desiree to alert her. She called back to tell me she’d finished the changes, verified the VIN, and then popped the stuff back in the return overnight mailer. Sure enough, it got here Wednesday morning. BACK to Gardena, and my contact at the shipper was of course out to lunch. So we got to talk to his supervisor. He’s yer man, Damian, and he’s from Dublin! Had a nice chat where he told us to visit McDaid’s Pub, on Harry St., just off of Grafton St. “Tell ‘em to put yer pints on me tab...” 

So, the moral of this long and painful story? GET YOUR DAMN PAPERWORK IN ORDER AS SOON AS YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO UNDERTAKE A MAJOR TRIP. ALL OF IT. ESPECIALLY THE PAPERWORK YOU “KNOW “YOU HAVE AND “KNOW” EXACTLY WHERE IT IS. 

And yes, Desiree's supervisor got a letter extolling her actions. She was a gem and saved our trip! 

The other person I have to laud, is Christian, at Schumacher Cargo Logistics, in Gardena. He's been calm, helpful, supportive, and knowledgeable throughout this entire process. If you need large stuff shipped, HE IS DA MAN! He's getting a bottle of the good stuff, not just a letter! 

So Many Roads!

Road Trippin’ 

with Steve McCarthy

How many roads can a Triumph drive down...In Ireland and the UK, far too many. Google Maps Street View is the Devil! In a good way, I suppose. In an earlier missive, I touted it as a great way to “practice drive” some of the roads we plan to take on our Grand Tour of the Isles. It’s like staring at the case in 31 Flavors on a hot day, not able to make up one’s mind. SO MANY CHOICES!

I have (with some help from friends who have been there, as well as a few guide books) found some real gems, some Gotta Drives. Here’s a partial list, in no particular order, with links to Google so you can see for yourself. 

The Connor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula (https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1957382,-10.1833433,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sENCm_MqMY83Std1OWfD49A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DENCm_MqMY83Std1OWfD49A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D311.78333%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en): For sheer gutsy glory, this is a Gotta Drive. It’s freaking spectacular looking! Oh, and up ahead, the road is painted with “Go Mal”--that means “SLOW”. It also gets a bit narrow at the top, like one lane narrow! And yes, it’s a TWO WAY ROAD! Damn, I’m glad the Blue Meanie is a skinny car (unlike it’s driver). If you use the compass in the lower right, you can swivel the view. And just how many times did the little GoogleMobile drive up and down this road to get the sun to peek out and light up the lakes, uh, loughs? 

Next, is the B852 in Scotland. General Wade’s Military Road (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Loch+Ness/@57.2937601,-4.445036,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbPbnW6I8IERWWjVE_DnBTw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DbPbnW6I8IERWWjVE_DnBTw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D273.78357%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x488f16c34da23729:0xd4d749cbf4fe912f!6m1!1e1?hl=en ). It runs along the south side of Loch Ness, and is free from Tourist Buses. For obvious reasons. It’s maybe a lane and a half wide, twists and turns along the edge of the lake, uh, loch, and it’s more likely that Nessie will appear on this side. The one down side is you miss seeing the ruins of Urquart Castle up close. 

England’s Lake District provides WAY to many choices. Long known as a paradise for those who like tramping o’er the hills on foot, looking for Romantic Inspiration in the haunts of Literary Luminaries like Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, this whole area is amazing. Try the A592 over Kirkstone Pass for example ( https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4476138,-2.9056023,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s62_Q4ma92qgDG8cihlva3w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en) or the wider, more travels A591 out of Kewsick (https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Drunken+Duck+Inn+%26+Restaurant/@54.5501224,-3.0579034,3a,75y,83t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIgnuRsDPAIpCde9jI1ibEQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DIgnuRsDPAIpCde9jI1ibEQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D85.5%26pitch%3D-7!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x487cc00228ae0f9d:0x3d36a8b16af44ee1!6m1!1e1?hl=en ) for some of the most spectacular roads in the Isles. On the latter, B&Bs, Inns, and Pubs serving local brews seem to be abundant, but even Google shows a fleet of Caravans clogging the way, so be warned. 

Wales has an abundance of great drives as well. Out of Tinern Abbey is the A466 (https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7428194,-2.6698877,3a,75y,90h,92.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8RPv8nu8WJgW2jvzY69wjw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en), winding through an “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. Or if coastal views are your thing, there’s the A493 north from Tywyn (the Welsh need to buy some vowels!) up the coast to Harlech https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tywyn,+Gwynedd,+UK/@52.6554492,-4.1026729,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTK-wYzf3M_ZOqxQE55Y7zw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DTK-wYzf3M_ZOqxQE55Y7zw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D311.72974%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x48657d1fba5e9093:0x35448de7e70b218c!6m1!1e1?hl=en). You can go wrong taking any coastal road! 

Cornwall and Devon have their share of great looking drives as well. The Great Dartmoor was the setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles, and looks as bleak and lonely as Dr. Watson described it. The B3212  (https://www.google.com/maps/@50.567817,-3.9447293,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siMxYEg0obZ1IXd_ggtzoqA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en ) runs through the heart of the moorlands and offers an amazing contrast to the lakes and forests of northern England. Again, there are inns and pubs along the way. Devon plays host to the Cheddar Gorge and the B3135 (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cafe+Gorge/@51.2869219,-2.7557019,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-U-Oc0UZLwHE%2FVZwbamjh_sI%2FAAAAAAAABiM%2FaZmLBrC4Z_gw82ZwJJPEJUCrkISxttqRQ!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-U-Oc0UZLwHE%2FVZwbamjh_sI%2FAAAAAAAABiM%2FaZmLBrC4Z_gw82ZwJJPEJUCrkISxttqRQ%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i7168!8i3584!4m2!3m1!1s0x48721e798118e2eb:0x596b2990c4047f25!6m1!1e1?hl=en). All I can say is WOW! 

Now, I’ve left out a bunch. I know. But this is a taste of what we have to look forwards to. Add the coast of Donegal, the Giant’s Causeway, the Cliffs of Moher, and The Burran and all I can say is the 3 months and 19 days (as of this writing) is WAY too long to wait. 

We’d LOVE to hear any suggestions for Gotta Drive roads. With any luck, we’ll be able to try them too! 

Marianne’s Birthday Cruise

Road Trippin’
with Steve McCarthy

We needed a break and it was Marianne’s birthday on April 1st. Go ahead, say it. She freely admits it and is proud of it. Anyway, off to the Central Coast, our Go To, Default Destination. Never get tired of the area and always find something new to try.

This time it was in Morro Bay at Giovanni’s. Daughter Meaghan told us to try the oysters. All I can say is WOW! Fresh, right from the bay, tasting of the sea, and BBQ’d with GARLIC and butter. YUM! Yeah, at lunch time on a Saturday, it was a forty-five minute wait. AND WORTH IT! Because the tables were crowded, we shared with a nice couple from Fresno. Easily one of the top ten lunches we’ve had!

From there, up 101 to Atascadero, room at the Motel 6 (don’t laugh, this is one of the nicer ones!) and, after cruising the area, house hunting (for some day, who knows, but we can see living there) and a light dinner, we sacked out.

Up early, I had the idea that around sun up would be a great time to catch some wild flowers. El Nino has done a decent job of watering the area and MAN are they out. Down 101 to 58, East to one of THE best roads in California, Bitterwater Road. Ran into some traffic, and a reminder to those morons who ruined the old Iron Bottom with their Naziwindsuckers why 120 mph is a VERY BAD IDEA on back roads. Especially when posted as open range.

We had thoughts of San Juan Bautista, but opted instead for Carmel Valley Road to the Coast. As always, another spectacular road. Then down Highway 1. It took patience. It was a Sunday, and it was crowded. Mostly things moved along except for the occasional Prius that HAD to pull out into traffic after meditating on Nature and figured Zen would do the driving.

Headed back over 46 to Paso Robles and back down 101 to home. So, an easy couple of days, Great scenery, great smells, and great food.

The Devil is in the Details

The Devil is in the Details

Road Trippin’
with Steve McCarthy

The devil is indeed in the details. And in spades! Stepping back and looking at it, planning a long range Road Trip is a lesson in Details. Having to be more or less self-sufficient for a month of cruising anywhere is a daunting task. Doing it on foreign shores, even in allegedly civilized countries is, well...

To give you an idea of scale, one of the things I’ve had to do is make a list of all the Stuff we’ll be packing in the TR to be shipped to the Auld Sod. The upside of shipping in a container is having the ability to ship car essentials with the car, not in your carry on baggage. I have a feeling the TSA would take a dim view of a loaded toolbox with all it’s assorted iron mongery in the overhead rack! To say nothing of blowing the airline’s fifty pound weight limit per checked bag!

Anyway, I made a little list. With photos. the list is FOUR PAGES LONG! Every spanner (I’m trying to learn English before we go), screwdriver, set of points, sparking plugs, and nard and skizzy has to be on the list. Damn, I never knew just how much stuff we haul around on a regular basis. Is it all essential? Who the hell knows. I call it the Umbrella Theory of Spares. If you don’t take it, you WILL need it!

Then there’s all the other details of travel that one just doesn’t think about here. Like Insurance. OK, we all have car insurance and medical insurance here. None of it’s worth a Tinker’s Damn over there. None of it. So, off to the good people at Hagerty’s for road insurance for the car. About a ten page application form and several hundred pounds sterling and we’re good to go. I have to say, Hagerty’s people are GREAT! They are Car People first, and Insurance Gnomes second. They clearly get Us. Which is good because no one else will touch the kind of folly Marianne and I are planning to commit. Since they have a UK division, it makes it all a piece of cake.

Then there’s medical insurance. Your US policy, be it Medicare, Obamacare, or Whothehellcares, won’t cover you across the pond, and since you’re not a citizen of the UK or Eurozone, neither will their vaunted National Health. An internet search for travel health insurance will net you mostly travel insurance. There’s a difference. Travel insurance is a good idea if you’re paying for a cruise in advance and have to cancel because poor Aunt Edna kicked the bucket, or you break a leg and can’t go. Travel HEALTH insurance will cover you if you trip over your own big feet and break a leg while on holiday. Given our advancing years and length of stay, the Umbrella (or should I be saying “brolly” or “bumpershoot?”) Theory applies here too. Enter  a company called IMG. For $200 bucks, we’re both covered. They have good reviews on line (the slightly scary bit is, most say “I didn’t need to use it but it was good to have”) and seem to be a reputable company. With one drawback. You know that maybe the Number One Good Thing about Obamacare is the removal of “pre-existing conditions”? Doesn’t seem to apply. If you keel over from a heart attack because your arteries have been clogged for decades, they won’t help you. How they get away with this is a mystery to me (but I smell a lobbyist in the woodpile somewhere).

The last insurance is shipping the car. In case its container falls off the boat, or some such other disaster. Hagerty will cover you, so will your shipper. Both cost the same, but it’s a bit easier to do it through the shipper. There are a lot of details they can cover (like who’s trucking it to and from the port, taking photos--which you should do anyway, etc) that led me to get the coverage from them. It’s a toss up.

  Those are the larger details. Here’s a bunch of others:

Phones: We got Marianne a new iPhone (what a REALLY cool piece of kit THAT is) and the attendant two year plan from Verizon. AT&T works as well and the cost is about the same. What’s important is the Travel Plan. I learned about this from my buddy Bill Morgan. He and his Girl Friend took a jaunt to Spain, France, and Italy last year. The deal is, in Yurp, each country seems to have it’s own cell system and they are naturally incompatible with anyone else’s! Seems silly, what with the Eurozone and all, but there you have it. One option is to get a burner phone cheap and the appropriate sim card for the country. That’s OK if you’re not crossing a border. Then you need a new sim, AND you get a new phone number. So, if you’re in Spain and call for a hotel reservation in France and give them the number in Spain, when you change sims, your old number goes away and the hotel can’t get in touch with you. Did I lose you yet?

With the Verizon travel plan, you can pay monthly (and cancel without penalty when you get home) and you keep your phone number, and can make calls and text and do interwebnetstuff to your heart’s content. BEWARE however, most of the data plans will cost you and it’s easy to eat up the data, so ONLY do web stuff where there’s WiFi, like at your hotel.

The really bitchin’ thing about the iPhone? With its BluTooth, we can play music through the intercom headsets we got! Just be SURE to download the music to the phone and disable the web access so you don’t eat up your data plan!!!

Electricity: Another thing we added was an electrical adaptor. Not only are the plugs in the UK/Ire of funky shape, they use 220v to our 110v. Stuff like hairdryers will fry! Allegedly, Apple stuff doesn’t need a voltage converter, but...Enter the Papeak Travel Power Center. It’s like a power strip on steroids. It’s a surge protector, adaptor to different voltages (and does it automatically, no fiddling with little switches, hoping you got the right amount of juice), AND it has four USB ports. The other advantage is it has a long cord so you don’t have to plug stuff in to the outlet that’s in an inevitably remote spot behind a sofa. It’s about $40 on Amazon.

AAA: Roadside Assistance. No, your Triple A card won’t help you much. I asked. So, enter AA (no, not the booze people). It’s the UK equivalent. And again, the Umbrella Theory is at work. Now, it’s a bit tricky setting things up, and it took several emails and live chat back and forth but here’s the deal. Using the UT, I went for the maximum “cover” (what they call coverage). Not only the UNLIMITED calls of the regular plan (ARE YOU LISTENING AAA?), where they will either fix your car at the roadside (including a couple of litres of petrol!) or tow you to the nearest garage to get it fixed. Add to that the “Trip Forward” option, and you’ll get a hotel room AND a rental car for a day. Then there’s the REAL KICKER! Opt for the cover that gets you PARTS AND LABOUR to fix the Auld Crate! The limit for parts is 500 pounds and they won’t cover normal wear and tear items. This is an amazing option.

So, drawbacks. There have to be drawbacks. It ain’t cheap and you have to buy a year’s worth. Price is based on the age of the car, so for the TR, it came to some $300. The other problem is you have to have a UK address and phone number. The phone isn’t much of a problem, the customer support people gave me a “generic bogus number with a lot of 1s in it. The address is more problematic. Luckily, we have friends across the pond who were willing to let us use theirs. When all the documents arrive, they’ll forward them on to us. You CAN get the coverage once you get there, but there seems to be a delay on when it starts. A little creative contact with a hotel you are planning to use for more than a couple of days might cover this problem.

Money: Ireland uses the Euro, the UK still has their Pound Sterling. You still have to deal with exchange rates. Here’s the hot tip. Get a credit card (you have more protection from fraud than with a debit card!) and use ATMs for cash. That’s where you’ll get the best rates. Try for a card that offers a rebate on ATM fees! Get one from a major bank, one that they’ll recognize over there. And make sure it has the new fancy chip. Most of Yurp uses those, have been for a donkey’s years. Large establishments will take Visa/MC, but if you’re stopping in small towns or B&Bs, they’ll want cash, so have enough on hand (and of course, don’t be an idiot! DO NOT FLASH YOUR WAD IN PUBLIC!) for routine purchases. Remember too, ATM fees are generally uniform. If you use one, get the maximum allowed, that amortizes the fees over the withdrawal.

Now, when you land or cross a border, you’ll also need some cash in fist. AAA here and probably your bank will sell you some Euros and Pounds. AAA has it on hand, your bank may need to order you some. A hundred of each should be more than sufficient to cover whatever costs you may have until you can hit an ATM. DO NOT GET CASH AT THE AIRPORT THEY WILL RAPE YOU ON THE EXCHANGE!!!  Important Tip: notify your banks that you will be traveling and they will see unusual activity on your cards! And nobody but nobody uses travelers’ cheques anymore.

Nards and Skizzies: Extra plug adaptors for when you forget one in a hotel, extra power/adaptor cables for phones/computers/cameras for the same reason. Several data chips for cameras. Spare keys for the car and luggage. Extra batteries for cameras. Extra battery chargers for same. Web addresses/phone numbers for potential hotels/B&Bs. Pack underwear, meds, copies of prescriptions (it’s not a bad idea for OTC meds to have the packages to ID what they are), toothbrush, and toiletries in your carry on luggage in case your real luggage gets lost, or sent to Abyssinia. Extra eyeglasses. A travel clock. Small flashlight. Hard copies of ALL reservations made. Bring a small reusable shopping bag. Markets don't provide them! You look silly coming out of a Spar or Tesco juggling beer, cheese, bread, and bangers! Copies of all documents (registration, insurance, Driver’s license, passport, title). A small knife. Clothing size conversion charts because if you need extra underwear, you’ll NEVER figure it out without help. I know, a lot of this stuff is now part of your smart phone, but what happens if it grows legs? Hmm?

So, that’s a lot of Stuff. It’s amazing how it all adds up. The danger is of course carrying too much Stuff. Understand, most consumables are available in one form or another over there. Ireland and the UK are civilized countries and have most of the usual amenities that we are used to. You may have to use a different shampoo or soap or toothpaste, so DEAL WITH IT! Most importantly, bring a good attitude. Don’t be the Ugly American, When in Rome... And above all, observe what used to be the Golden Rule of Polite Society. Never discuss Religion or Politics. Ever. 

Finding Your Way in Foreign Lands

Road Trippin’
with Steve McCarthy

Technology is a marvelous thing. Sometimes. You have to make it work for you, not the other way around. All this computer jazz is fun, but all the nards and skizzies are just tools. If they don’t do what you need them to do, why have ‘em? That’s why I resisted getting a computer for so long and still don’t have a cell phone. Still, I’m not the Neo-Luddite I make myself out to be. For the Grand Tour of the Isles, technology is going to be our friend. 

The obvious thing is of course GPS. As long as you don’t think it’s the end all and be all, it’s extremely useful ( see: http://roadtrippin-thebook.blogspot.com/2011/11/to-gps-or-not-gps.html) but beware of the limitations. What’s really neat about my Garmin is the add in chip that gives me a full set of UK/Ireland maps. Well worth it. The chief limitation is of course, the GPS’ major failing, it always wants to send you on a freeway (motorway over there) or some other main road. To defeat that, we’ll be programming in the small towns on the back roads to force it to see it our way. You use the “Trip Planning” function and enter in a list of towns along your planned route, forcing the thing to send you on the way YOU want to go. 

That leads us to another necessity. A real live, physical, analog piece of paper called a Map. You remember those, don’t you? Big ol’ fold out thing with squiggly lines all over it that you can never re-fold again? Yeah, those things. Thank God for the late, lamented Thomas Map Company. They came up with the brilliant idea of putting maps in books, each page an easy to read detailed map with arrows and page numbers for where the road went next. I cut my teeth on the LA County one when I drove buses back in the Dark Ages. Well, Michelin, you know, the French tire company? They’ve done the same thing and we got one for Ireland and the UK. Works on the same principle and has all the fine detail you need to explore the “B” roads. This will be a vital tool for nightly route planning and playing “Fool the GPS”. 

So, now I can hear all you Young Whippersnappers saying “What about Google?” What about it? Yes, it is a useful tool, but Google Maps (about the only really reliable set up) isn’t as good as it used to be! The idiots there eliminated the most useful tool for long range planning. It used to be, you could make up to 24 alterations/destinations. Now, it’s only about 10. Makes for a whole lot less flexibility. Yeah, I wrote them. they don’t care. They know best. They are Google. sigh. 

That doesn’t mean we won’t use it. It does make it easy to find places to stay and I’ve found that the Google ratings, along with those on Trip Advisor are the most reliable. They don’t play games like Yelp does, forcing businesses to buy ads to boost ratings. I don’t trust Yelp and won’t use it. This whole internet rating game has changed the business world, and generally for the better. It forces businesses to offer the consumer better service and products. Instead of questionable magazine reviews that may or may not be influenced by those that advertise (except Consumer Reports and Cooks Magazine, who take no ads), you get reviews from actual users/visitors and overall, they are quite useful. Not infallible, mind you. Businesses have caught on and pay people to write good reviews and even bad ones for competitors. The trick is to read between the lines and look at the overall picture. One lousy review because the yabbo couldn’t bring their hyena into the restaurant, or complaints about the WiFi shouldn’t really deter you. Several reports of vermin in the room? Yeah, might want to stay away from that one. Look at the overall impression and weed out the whiners. 

The coolest thing about Google Maps is of course, the street view. Not only can you take a look at the accommodation you have in mind, you can look at the neighborhood. And, most importantly for us, the parking. No, I don’t want to park the TR on the street overnight! In large cities, I want something secure, in small towns, at least something off the street. The other cool thing is checking out possible backroads. Yeah, you drag the little person to the road, click the compass thingy to get you oriented, then, click on the road and away you go! This will help you see if it’s a road you want to bother with or not. Damn, I’ve found some doozies out there! There is an added Bonus as well. Remember, this is the Land of Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road. Back in Aught Six, we flogged around Ireland in a Fiat Panda, learning to not only keep on the wrong side of the road, but shifting with the wrong hand. Now, using the street view, I can practice a bit, acclimating myself to the wrongness of it all, understanding the road signs and seeing what REALLY narrow roads look like. I’m telling ya, some of ‘em look like back alleys, not backroads! So, a Mac AirBook will be accompanying us, as well as an iPhone so we can call ahead for rooms (remember, we’ve only made a couple of advance reservations, we don’t want to get locked into a rigid time frame). 

That brings up another limitation on technology. You’d think, with all the globalization, that cell phone service would be globalized too. No such luck. Each country seems to have it’s own specific system that doesn’t want to talk to your phone. Le Sigh. This requires that you do one of several things. Get a cheap “burner” phone in each country, or a sim card that will connect you to their system. Trouble is, you get a new phone number each time and you STILL can’t ET it and phone home. To exacerbate it, say you are in Ireland and call a place in Scotland for a reservation. You give them your number. Then, when you get to Scotland, you have a new number, now they can’t contact you. Poof, there goes the reservation. My good buddy Bill Morgan solved that for us. He and his main squeeze Danni took a trip to Spain, France, and Italy. He discovered that his provider here (AT&T in this case) offers an international plan for $60/month. It’s not a contract deal, so, just sign up for a month or two, then cancel it when you come home. That allows you to use your phone just like you were at home. BIG WARNING!!! Only use your phone when you have to and ONLY use your hotel WiFi for anything involving the internet! You’ll burn up your data plan REAL fast. Verizon has a plan that’s similar to the AT&T, so pick your poison. The smaller carriers DO NOT SEEM to have such deals, unless you want Mexico or India, so you ARE stuck with one of the biggies. 

The next bit of Techie Legerdemain is for our own communication. The TR is loud. It’s a four wheel motorcycle. Usually, we wear earplugs under our Davida helmets to save what’s left of our hearing. That means, Marianne has a white board to write me messages and route instructions. That’s fine for a day or three. This trip is a WHOLE DAMN MONTH! Now, some guys might think that a whole month of not having their wife be able to talk to them for hours on end is a good thing. Maybe you need to evaluate your relationship. Just sayin’. The complexity of this trip, plus the desire to just be able to converse about what we see means that the white board just isn’t going to cut it. 

Technology and the Motorcycling Community to the rescue. Ever see those couples on their giant Honda Goldwings or Harleys? Ever see the boom mikes that comes out of their helmets? Yeah, they have communications. Used to be, they had to plug into a sound system on the bike. No more. Two words. Blue Tooth. Yeah, you get a unit that clamps onto each helmet. There’s speakers that go inside the ear flaps and a boom mike. They are both synced to the Blue Tooth on your phone and Hey Presto, Robert is your Mother’s Sister’s Husband, you can talk to each other. It’s Freakin’ Amazing! Now here, you can dial your phone into Pandora or Spotify and get music, but over there, you’ll burn through your data too fast. Enter the Blue Tooth MP3 player. That can sync in as well (or replace the phone) and again, Hey Presto, etc., you have tunes. We got the out fit from a company called Sena. It’s the SMH-5 model. It comes with a pair of units, already set up to talk to each other. For a few bucks more, you can get one with an FM radio, but have you heard BBC1? Or RTE? I do have to tell you that when we got the units, I had to call their support people to get it to synch with Marianne’s phone. A human answered on one ring (I know, right?) and were amazingly helpful. I had to download to the units a software update and the tech guy patiently walked be through the entire process. Oh, and because they're Blue Tooth, you can use them for hands off phone calls. Naturally, BE CAREFUL doing this. Even hands free calls ARE distracting. And another interesting concept, if your GPS has Blue Tooth (unfortunately, ours is not), pairing it with it means the directions will come through the headset! The other cool thing about this is that you can pair these units with others in other cars/motorcycles, so an entire group can yak back and forth. Them Motorcycle Folks have got this whole touring thing down! 

So, Tech can be good, but remember, these gizmos are just tools. If they don’t do what you need ‘em to do, why bother? 

What to Pack for an Epic Trek?

Road Trippin’

with Steve McCarthy

This is the big question for any Road Trip. Especially a really long one. We are not planning a really long one. We are planning an Epic Trek. Not so much in miles, heck, we’ve done the 2500 mile to Olympia and back. Twice. In the TR. So, the 2800 miles or so around The Isles shouldn’t be an issue. And since we usually do the Oly Trip in three days, up, three days back and say, a week with the family (and their laundry facilities), that’s just a week’s worth of clothes, or so. The Grand Tour will be a bit more extensive. More than a month on the road. That will require more thought.

One of the things we learned from our friends, Guy and Eunice and their 18,000 jaunt in an Austin 7 (constant reader will remember that column) was that constantly worn clothes wear out. Marianne had to take Eunice shopping to replace a good part of their wardrobe while they were here. Now, we aren’t in their league, but still, it’s a consideration. We’ll need more than a backpack between us (the usual for a three day tour). We’ll need more than the two small suitcases we used for the last trip to Oly. But then, the TR will only hold just so much stuff. There’s the rub. In a normal car, you can pack most of your closet, the requisite 12 pairs of shoes, tuxedo, formal dress, hats, the whole magilla. Not happening.

We settled on five full changes of clothes (all long pants and long sleeve shirts), some extra underwear and socks, two pair of shoes, a light jacket, our heavy jackets, and a sweater. Each. That’s it. Since I’ve built in rest days every three or four days on the road, we should be able to do laundry as we go along. Bigger hotels and many B&Bs offer laundry services, we’ll just have to choose carefully and keep ahead of the game. 

Since we also know that Erin’s Green Isle is green because it rains, A LOT, and because over there, weather in the 70s sends people looking for cooling shelters, we’re planning on clothes that will keep us comfortable and (hopefully) dry. To that end (and I can’t think why we never thought of it before) we sprung for some motorcycle touring jackets. Over the years, we’ve tried all manner of parkas and heavy jackets, all to varying degrees of disappointment. Usually, they just aren’t made with driving in mind. The motorcycle crowd have managed to perfect touring clothes. No surprise there if you think about it! I just wish sports car and motorcycle people talked more. We could learn a lot from each other!

We went to Burt’s Mega Mall in Covina to look around. The other possibility was Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson, but everything there is emblazoned with H-D logos and as a result, costs 50% more. The people at Burts were great. Took the time to talk to us and understand what we wanted. We picked Joe Rocket jackets for a couple of reasons. First, they fit just right. Especially for Marianne. You see, they make WOMEN’S TAILORED JACKETS! Up until now, Marianne has had to put up with heavy snow jackets made more for men. Face it, her figure is a whole lot different (and better looking) than mine. The distribution of bulges on the female anatomy just doesn’t fit into a man’s jacket, if you know what I mean! 

These jackets are also water PROOF, not resistant, have a zip-out liner, and zippered vents if it gets warm. They are also cut in the shoulders and sleeves for a riding/driving position, so you don’t get the binding you do in a normal parka. Hell, they not only have an extended back and shortened front, but you can tie down the back to your belt so it doesn’t ride up on you! One oddity is the extra pads in the shoulders, elbows, and back. We took out the back pad, you can’t sit in a car seat comfortably at all, but the shoulder and elbow guards will add extra wind protection at the joints. We tested them last spring on our tour to Yosemite and they work perfectly. If you do a lot of touring in an open car, you MUST get one of these jackets. Try on several brands and see what fits you the best. The other nice thing about the Joe Rocket jackets, the women’s styles come in more feminine colors, not just black. Made Marianne happy! They aren’t cheap, figure a good $200+ each, but SO worth it!

The other worry was also weather related. The last time we went to Oly, I added a trunk rack for the extra bag. Now, that outside bag would, I knew, be exposed to the weather. Oregon and Washington are comparable to Ireland when it comes to rain. For that trip, I found (of all things) a rain cover for a BBQ grill to wrap the suitcase in. It worked well enough, but by the end of the trip, the wind had torn it. I knew something better would be needed. Something completely water PROOF, not just water RESISTANT. There is a huge difference. Water resistant will get you from the house to the car and stuff won’t get wet inside. Riding on the back of a sports car in any kind of a real rain? FUGGETABOUTIT!

So, where to look? Again, time to look outside the normal box. I got to thinking about what kind of travel involved a lot of water. Of course, travel ON the water! Kayaking, sailing! Naturally, Sport Chalet and REI were the first places I checked. The best I could find were duffle bags that were too small for the amount of clothes we’d need. At REI, I found someone who set me on the right course. What we wanted were called “Dry Pack” bags, and yachting equipment places were what we wanted.

Now, I asked me self, “Self, where would we find that kind of store?” Well, where else, but near local marinas. DUH! We poked around a few and finally, in San Pedro, found someone who knew what we’d need. Sadly, they didn’t carry them. He did search his catalog and found what we needed. They are Kwik-Tek Dry Pak Duffle Bags 

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003818CJO/ref=s9_hps_bw_g200_i2) and are perfect. First, unlike most duffle bags, these open more like a sports bag. This means you have a nice large opening to pack and unpack through, as well as handles to make carrying easier. Second, they are made of water PROOF vinyl/polyester. Third, and maybe most importantly, they don’t have zippers. Zippers cannot, repeat, CANNOT be made water proof. Period. The way the closure works is the edge is velcroed together, then you roll the seam over several times, finally locking the ends down to the base and then doing up a cross strap. Anything short of full immersion for hours will be no problem. What sealed the deal were reviews by several motorcycle riders (them again!) who reported riding through heavy down pours for hours and arriving with dry clothes. SOLD! Again, they ain’t cheap! $150 for the extra large. We got that and the medium (after checking measurements on the TR. The large will fit in the trunk, the extra large on the rack! Add on a heavy duty bicycle locking cable for theft protection and some heavy ratcheting tie down straps and we will be set to go, come hell or high water! 

Next month, we’ll talk about the necessary ancillaries. 

Road Trippin' to the Isles-More Preparations

Road Trippin’

with Steve McCarthy

Road Trippin to the Isles: More Preparation

This is really getting complicated. Finding air fares for six people in this Brave New World of internet everything is a pain in the butt. Remember when, before deregulation, the air fare was the air fare. Because airlines couldn’t really compete on price, they competed on SERVICE! Yeah, not so much anymore. And who knew that Dublin was such an out of the way place to get to? I’ve had a crash course over the past few months on internet air fare and hotel sites. Here’s some of what I learned.

As confusing as the myriad options are, they are actually quite similar. Kayak and Orbitz were the easiest to use. Trip Advisor, Hotels.com, and Travelocity were decent. What’s important is to check them all. Each seems to promote different options, especially for hotels. Check them all, check the reviews, and make sure to check the airline or hotel websites directly. For the most part, the deals offered are similar, but occasionally, one will have a killer deal. It’s worth checking into. 

Beware of promises of “cheap flights.” Check this video on youtube, it’s SO true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAg0lUYHHFc  Kayak in particular will entice you to cheap fares on the likes of Ethiopian Air, Turkish Air, Norwegian Air, and some planes out of Uzbekistan. A quick perusal of the reviews of these carriers should disabuse you of any idea of “saving” money. For some, it seems the only thing that goes with your ticket is the air inside the plane. I kid you not! We got tickets through Aer Lingus, the only one to fly direct from LAX to Dublin. At least they offer one free checked bag/customer (50 pound limit), and a meal. We flew them before and it was a decent trip. 

Now, once you’ve found your flight, BEFORE you choose your seat (most airlines allow that), go to www.seatguru.com and find the airline and plane you’re flying on. This will let you know which are the acceptable seats and which are the crap ones (usually located near the potties-NEVER voluntarily take one of those. Especially on a long flight. Not only is there a passing parade of people, six or so hours into a 12 hour flight, the bogs get a bit ripe. Airlines have also figured out which are the best seats, and by golly, they now charge extra for them! BASTARDS! Well, if you are a large fellow, like me, plunk down the extra $60/person/flight for the leg room. It’s worth it. And, if you’re on a plane that has four across seating in the middle, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PICK ONE OF THESE. They are meant for skinny short people only. 

Now, hotels. It’s amazing the deals the above websites will give you if you package up your hotel with your flight! The hotel is almost free! Almost. To get the swingin’ deal, you have to stay at least a week. This may or may not suit your plans. In a tiny place like Ireland, you can rent a car and drive about from your hotel base and easily see most everything. Hell, the Auld Sod is only 150 miles, coast to coast! Clearly, this was not for us, but we did plan on staying a week with the kids in Dublin and tour with local bus tours. 

Then, things got really interesting. Meaghan, daughter #2 and the family expert of travel, suggested AirBnB (www.airbnb.com) . Yeah, the outfit that is causing a ruckus in Frisco, Anaheim, and Santa Monica. What they do is, for a fee, connect you with people who have either a spare room or an entire house/condo that they will rent you. I’m telling you, this is a great way to go, especially for an extended stay. We snagged what looks like a nice place near public transportation and only a short walk from several of the key sites in Dublin for about a grand. FOR SIX OF US! FOR SEVEN DAYS! A hotel would have needed three rooms and cost considerably more. More than double, on average. The process is interesting. You contact the renter through AirBnB and REQUEST the dates you want. To do this, you set up a profile and tell them a bit about yourself and your proposed trip. Then, it’s up to them to accept you or not. Each renter sets parameters for guests, such as minimum stay, cancellation policy (some are quite strict, no cancellations, no refunds; some will be more flexible), and tell you what they offer. If you strike a deal, AirBnB takes your money and a handling charge (about $100 in our case) and hey, presto, you have digs. 

Now, for other places, we used three different options, and we probably should have stuck with one. For one place, we used Hotels.com, another we used the hotel’s website, and a third, we used Travelocity. If we’d stuck with one provider, we could build up points and discounts. We’ll probably pick one to reserve rooms a day or two ahead as we travel. We did run into an interesting snag in all of this. Most places won’t let you reserve more than 11 months or so in advance. Not quite sure why, but that’s they way of it. So, some patience is required. If you are traveling in the High Tourist Season, if there are “must be at...on...” places, book in advance. 

Now, my biggest piece of advice is to do as little advance booking as you can. We are only locked into four specific places. Dublin for the week with the kids, Portsmouth for the four nights for the Goodwood Revival, Edinburgh, and Portmerion (the resort where The Prisoner TV series was filmed). Dublin is obvious. We needed a large place for a week for six people. A hotel for Goodwood way in advance is essential. Remember when I said they won’t book you more than 11 months in advance? Well, it seems the hotels nearest Goodwood WILL iNDEED do that. It’s like trying for a room in Monterey for Pebble Beach. As people leave, they reserve for the next year. Other large festivals might do the same to you. Edinburg and Portmerion were places I figured might just fill up if we waited, so we’re locked in to them. The rest? We’ll let St. Serendipity guide us. 

Now, that’s not to say we’re going into this without any preparations. In each town we plan on staying in, using both Google and Trip Advisor (don’t use Yelp, they seem to extort ad revenues from businesses!) we could identify decent places in our price range. A day or so before we plan to get there, we’ll call up and book a room. If there’s no room at the inn, we can find an alternate easily enough. Most towns have a local tourist office that can hook you up with a BnB or just look for places that have a “BnB” sign in their window. What this really does is give you a lot of flexibility. You’re not racing from one place to another, you don’t have to cut a stay short in a place you fell in love with, or stay an extra day in a place you didn’t like. 

Next month, I’ll give you some advice on stuff to take and niggly little details that if you do some planing ahead, will make your Massive Road Trip more pleasant.