On the morning that Willi left, we stood out on his balcony, watching the sun come up over the Mediterranean… The sun’s rays blasted holes through the light cloud cover, making it a sunrise to remember…!!
Shot through with gold...!! The sun blasts its way from behind the clouds, shattering them into smaller fragments...
Willi had spent his last few days in Cyprus buying various pieces of luggage to repack all his gear into, in preparation for his flight to Thailand…
It is hard to believe how much kit we carry on our bikes, and we were both astounded by the sheer volume of gear that Willi had collected over the past few months… He went out to buy bags and suitcases on three or four separate occasions, each time believing that what he had was enough to fit everything into…!!
He bought a very large duffel bag, then went out and found a massive suitcase, before deciding that he needed yet another smaller suitcase as a carry-on bag… And still there was more stuff scattered around his room…!!
I had pretended that I would not be accompanying him to the airport, telling him I was not prepared to risk damaging my injured elbow any further by carrying his mountain of luggage…!!
When I saw the crestfallen look on his face at this piece of news, I relented, telling him that the only reason I would go to the airport with him, was to make sure he got on the plane and left me in peace…!!
“You’ll miss me,†he replied, “Just wait and see…!!â€
“Yeah, just imagine, I’ll have nobody to argue with…!!†I retorted…
"Hey Gypsy...!! How the hell we gonna get all this into the car...??" I still can't believe all this, and more, came off his bike...!!
Bidding Willi goodbye at Larnaca airport...
After lugging his bags down to the car, he put two more kit bags in my room, requesting that I leave one with the hotel owner, and the other containing all the tools he no longer needed, with Panni down in Limassol…
At the airport, we found that his luggage weighed in at a hefty 110 kgs…!! Naturally, there was a small fine to pay…!! The check-in lady advised that the charge would be €250.00, but after some plaintive bleating by Willi, she finally agreed to accept €55.00…
With his boarding pass tucked into his pocket, Will was finally ready to take his connecting flight to Amsterdam, where he would be buying yet another suitcase, as the both handles had broken off his new suitcase while we were getting it into and out of the car…!!
We bid each other a fond farewell, promising to try and hook up somewhere in South-East Asia early next year…
On the way out of the airport, I noticed a few signs that I had not seen when I entered the country from Nicosia the previous week…
Would have been nice to see one of these when I entered Cyprus...!!
I forgot to mention that here in Cyprus, we drive on the correct side of the road...!!
Back at the hotel, I began the laborious process of moving all of the food from Willi’s pantry to my own room…
It took three trips between our rooms to get it all moved across…!! I still can’t believe how much stuff he had in his fridge, and covering the counter of his kitchenette…
Maybe he thought he was going to be here for a few months…!!
I am pretty sure that a good deal of it will be left behind when I too leave Larnaca…!!
I spent the remainder of day sorting through Willi’s two kit-bags, trying to pack his stuff into one single bag, and finally succeeded by filling his boots with the smaller tools, and wrapping the rest into smaller parcels…
I then did my washing, and used one of the many rolls of light rope from Willi’s bag to fashion a washing line on my balcony…
Now, now boys... Play nicely...!!
I rode down to the local post office to buy a large padded envelope to send another batch of maps and other paperwork back home… I do this every few months to rid myself of those that that I no longer need, but want to keep as a reminder of the routes I have ridden and the places I have visited…
I also copy all my videos and photographs, as well as copies of my website posts, onto compact discs which I send home… I have heard too many horror stories from people who have lost all their precious photographic memories of their trips, when their laptops or external hard-drives were either stolen or damaged…!!
To date, I have sent over 50 gigabytes of data home, which include more than 12 000 photographs and 150 video segments I have shot to date…!!
And I haven’t reached the halfway mark yet…!!
©GBWT 2010
So, you are the Lone Ranger again for a while. Stay focused and have fun.
Again, to set the record straight , Willi is not giving up on RTW motorbiking. Quite the contrary, Willi has a second scooter from Vietnam residing in Phnom Penh awaiting his imminent arrival and furthermore a second moto awaiting in Colombia. Three motos seemed a bit superflous at the moment.
The adventure continues anon.
Hey there Ronnie – sounds like Cyprus is the place to visit. You seem to be having a great time there, loving your up-dates. Glad to see that your spirits are still so high. Lol xx
Cheers for now Willi, go well and be safe…..I am sure you and Ronnie will meet again!
Bye Willi, see you soon!!! Thanks for leaving some food for Ronnie, now at least he can eat more than a snicker bar, every second day!!!!
With whom am i going to “fight” with about almost anything? 🙂
William, take care wherever you may be!
See…!! I wasn’t the only one that argued with Willi….!! Even the Secretary of the BMW Club of Cyprus had his moments with Professor Hoover…!!