The Bike Rental Empire Strikes Back

Even though the Blog should be finished (although the internet is abuzz over the possibilities of some long lost VLogs resurfacing...) I couldn't help but share a bit of paranoia with you guys. Or guy, seeing that the rest of you probably stopped reading after the airport post, and only Randy continues to check daily with bated breath. (Shout out #3. What. Up.)

So, I'm out for dinner last night to celebrate the birthday of 2 friends. The food is good, the company even better, and a good time is had by all. The bill comes, and I hand my credit card to the waitress, only to have her come back and inform be that it has been declined - due to an error with the machine, no doubt. Bless her heart. This has never happened to me before, but I don't think much of it, and instead offer up my debit card and go on my merry way.

Then I get home, and spy the blinking light on my phone to indicate that a message awaits me on my voicemail. BMO's security department needs me to phone them back as soon as possible to clear up an urgent matter. Trouble is afoot.

So, this morning I'm downloading some new songs for Rock Band, only to discover that the transactions are being declined. Food might be one thing, but when I'm denied the chance to finally play Don't Stop Believing by Journey, well, that's where I draw the line. So, I phoned.

Turns out someone has been enjoying the good life in Quebec. On my dime. Luckily this registered as suspicious activity and they suspended my account. So, I have to get a new card, blah, blah, blah... More importantly I'm not liable for these charges.

But then they say something that catches my attention:

'We see that you had a bunch of purchases in Europe. It can be somewhat common for people there to record your credit card information and then sell it to people in the same country that the card originates from.'

Now I'm not one to point fingers, but it did make me think to myself: 'hmm, I wonder who would have been motivated to do that?'

Epilogue

Ok, so a lot of people have been saying that I shouldn't end the blog on such a negative note. Which makes sense. And, even though I was going to do this post anyways, I just thought I'd mention it so that you guys can feel like you convinced me to do it. See? It's the blog that just keeps on giving...

A change in colour denotes a new day of riding. In case you were wondering why it's so colourful...

So, here you go, a wrap up of the entire trip:

Days: 37

Days on Motorcycle: 25

Days of Rain: 3

Distance Traveled on Motorcycle: 7938 km

Longest Day: 623 km

Shortest Day: 79.9 km

Highest Altitude: 2423m

Lowest Altitude: -182m (although that's probably a mistake by the GPS)

Countries visited: 13

Airplanes: 3

Ferrys: 2

Trains: 3

Women I took my picture with: 5

Women I took my picture with that I didn't already know before the trip: 2

Mussels Consumed: over 100


p.s. In case you're wondering, I did in fact get my deposit back on Suzy.

The waiting game sucks, let's play Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Well, there's a familar sight...

I don't know what's going on this trip. Seriously. The trip here was fine, but ever since I started winging it on the bike, every time I've come up against scheduled transportation I've had to wait 5, 4.5, and 6 hours respectively. That's right, 6 hours at the airport this morning. An unexplained switch from a 10:25 departure to a delayed 1:25 departure now has me questioning what exactly I did to upset the travel gods. The 3 hour delay, combined with the 3 hour pre-flight recommended arrival time, now has me grudgingly paying for jacked up wi-fi and eating 6 dollar bags of candy while watching the battery drain away on my laptop, and with it any hope of being able to watch the movies that I brought along for the plane. If and when it finally decides to show up. And yes, I'm aware that they play movies on the plane, but you'll forgive me if I'm less than ecstatic about another viewing of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'...

Also of note, had I known about the delay, I could have easily returned Suzy to the rental place this morning, and avoided the pleasant phone call to which I had the pleasure of being part of just a few moments ago. For, as feared, the rental place was indeed closed for the holiday when I went yesterday, so with no other options, I chained the bike to a large metal workbench right outside of their back loading docks, where it would easily be seen when they got in this morning, attached the keys via a combination lock, and emailed them the combination and explanation. Then I called this morning to confirm that it all went down smoothly, expecting a simple confirmation, and maybe even a few accolades in regard to my ingenuity. Unfortunately the gent that I spoke to didn't see eye-to-eye with me on the matter. For, rather than checking his email, he hastily sawed off the lock and berated me for being lucky that the bike wasn't stolen during the night. Because apparently, even secured with a heavy chain to a 400 pound workbench isn't enough to keep a bike from being stolen when your business is in the middle of the fucking ghetto. I may be meek, most of the time, but his tone and accusations combined with my having just seen the 3 hour delay pop up on the screen, created a rather unpleasant Travis who eventually got tired of his shit and told him I'd call back on Thursday, when the gentleman that I had dealt with in booking and picking up the bike was in next. Well, maybe not in so many words. God, I hope I get my deposit back...