Las Vegas I certainly had expectations before entering Las Vegas. Most were met. But other experiences I encountered I hadn’t expected at all! I mean the bar was well ‘n truly set exiting the plane “offramp”, walking through the airport doors and being faced with an entire wall of slot machines. Forget airport security, just give us some coin! The start of an underlying theme was beginning to occur. Making our way from our gated “trailer park” community towards the “strip”, the shear scale began to bed in.

Having recently spent 29 days in the good ol U S of A, I wanted to share just some of that experience with you. How better than to list 29 sights, sounds, emotions invoked and/or “things discovered” along the journey. *God knows I wanted and had every expectation to be writing these posts in transit. But to be perfectly honest, I’m actually glad I just let the road get in the way.

So as much as I want to screen a video of the alpine roads that followed the Stelvio climb, I am actually “through” the other side of something completely different. A month free hiatus from sugar, coffee, alcohol and social media! The first week was the worst “mostly”. Changing habits is hard. My normal coffee commute had to be replaced with a “new and improved” habit. Green tea for the win!

After crossing through an Italian border, cruising through beautiful alpine roads and taking in the scenery, there was just one more mountain face to conquer. How happy am I another 48 hairpin turns later! Crazy crazy piece of road! And an epic hot summer day to be riding this pass. I was giggling in my helmet all the way up, and I thanked it all the way down? I have plenty more footage so here are some of the highlights.

Making my way from Austria towards the Stelvio Pass. Plenty of alpine roads and such a glorious day to enjoy them! I could have quite happily done a u-turn and re-discovered all over again! Super glad it’s not winter, check out the poles used to mark the roads.

End of the day. All my money troubles behind me and some long miles complete. Swim time and a good sleep ready for Stelvio tomorrow!

Late in the day, winding through narrow roads in Switzerland. Trying to make Liechtenstein before night fall.

I’m really starting to appreciate firms like PowerShop, Vend and Kiwibank. They “get” that given the opportunity, they always want to do right by the user. Thanks Kiwibank. A mistake was made and you admitted so. You took responsibility. An adult and respectful conclusion was made #winning. Though I would try to change the ability to take control over Visa/Western Union timeframes. Either way, I’m not about to jump ship just yet =] Here is the raw response.

That’s Obersee or Lake Constance in the background.

After making my way through some quaint, narrow, back country German roads, I make my way into Switzerland. Welcomed by a stinking hot day, green lush fields and a mountain range in the background. Looking super forward to passing through those!

Set up the Navie to avoid all highways and toll roads. Took me on some picturesque Germany countryside.

Welcome to Bitche, France. Clearly this wasn’t a destination I “actively” sort out to visit. You can blame Garmin and the Navie for that! But what a pleasant little surprise! And in the centre, a citadel that you can see from the run into town. Something of a sight.

I love these open borders!

My given name is Kyle. It’s origin is to mean a “narrows, channel or strait”, but it’s also has another definition. “The fair one”. I can’t help but wonder about the German soldiers whom stood and fought for their homeland. Much has been said from outside Germanys' borders and the condemnation of the Nazi’s (for countless despicable reasons). But looking at this monument quietly located through rolling farm lands, were these names not from sons, brothers and fathers?

For those who don’t know, I normally reside on an island called Waiheke. Due to a barrier of water between itself and the “mainland”, the island climate & temperature lends itself well to grapes. So I’m clearly not new to vineyards (also have you landed at Blenheim airport?). But winding my way down into a valley that follows the Rhine, you’re greeted with what at first looks like rolling grass fields but turns out to be more vines than I care to imagine.

TLDR: Someone didn’t do their job. Note that this post isn’t aimed at anyone personally. I’m sure all involved were trying to do their best to resolve the situation. But Kiwibank, you can do better. Lets make amends. Current Situation. I have €22 Euros in cash. I have an approx range of 80kms of fuel left in my tank. I am 385kms from home base. Although I have funds, I have no access to them.

As the old adage goes, when you get given lemons, make lemonade. I’ve been “eyeing up” the BMW R1200GS for a little while now. Being that it’s a bike that can tour the globe. And now with Agnes parked up in the garage being reserved for race tracks and autobahns, what better opportunity to check out how this bike performs? First impressions: The sheer size of the thing is daunting to start of with, but for a 1200, she is remarkably light on the bars.

250kms from home, the battery light flashed red on my dash. After locating the blown fuse, we “happened upon” a spare 30amp fuse in our luggage. On restart, we were charging again….until 400mtrs down the road. Out of fuses, we unplugged the main headlamp and decided to see how far we could get on the battery alone. Surprisingly not that far… After making the “AA” call, we had to wait a couple hours.

Someone didn’t get the memo. The open speed limit in Norway is 80kmph**. For those of you who haven’t been playing the home game, the bikes we are riding only get comfortable at 150kmph upwards. So what does this mean? Pain. And plenty of it. For the non bike riders in the audience, pain and discomfort on a motorcycle leads to fatigue. Fatigue leads to bad. It’s a simple equation.

750km down today. Feeling remarkably better off than I was expecting and there is a couple reasons why. Autobahn kilometres are easy kilometres. You can soon clock them up. Both the Ducati and the Agusta are built for speed. They likey likey open speed limits! Without speed restrictions, everything on this bike makes sense. Without speed restrictions my race suit makes sense. At 150kmph, there’s enough air flow to get the bikes temperature down to a respectable level.

Mount your trusty steed and take to the wild blue yonder. In theory we are ready….but we know that in 12 days time, we will be broken men. Both of these bikes are gorgeous. I beg you differ. With either of these, on the track, you are the lord of the domain and in a straight line (we likes curves of course), you will be left wondering where we’ve gone?

I like the train. I like the trains in Germany. They are on time. They are fast. I also liked the helpful staff at the ticketing booth, and their advice on paying for my ticket on the train due to their booking system failure. Making sure I didn’t miss the next train on route. What I didn’t like though was the conductor whom later attempted to process my ticket. Before telling me that my card didn’t work (which has and does), giving me lip for not having cash, taking my passport and “bitching” about NZ and claiming that my destination address didn’t exist.

Note, this is the last beer I’ll be having for some time. Especially with Shoei in hand.

The little cup that could.

A lot of waiting going on. Planes & airports.

My place of work, www.vendhq.com, has a good rule. If you are sick, then respect your fellow workmates. Stay home. Get better for yourself and don’t risk potentially passing on your sickness to your colleagues. If only the passenger whom boarded my last leg of my 25 hours plane ride had done the same… The family of 4 made a fuss from the start, trying to move their seating arrangement. I couldn’t understand what they were saying due to a language barrier, but I was irked by their disposition none the less.

For all those who asked from my first video post, I can say yes, technically I am getting that bike in the video…just not the one you think. The actual bike was shown in the screen of my phone. Furthermore, it’s not one I am getting, it’s the one I now already have! Granted it wasn’t the race limited addition, but a 2007 MV Agusta F4 1000S is not something to sneeze at (in my opinion).

Much excite for June 2015! Off to Germany (and Norway, Italy, Croatia) to go pick up a new toy I’m bringing back to New Zealand.