Last February I took a a decision that it was time to step up and change my 2002 BMW R1150RT to a 2014 BMW R1200RT. Same model, 12 years newer.

The RT above is the 2002. It is a bike that marked my move from the big scooters to the motorcycles, and within that, to the BMW tourer world. I must say that I enjoyed every minute of riding with it, but since last year in the Pyrenees, when I had a rental 2014 RT, I was thinking that it is probably time to move on.

Since you can't find 2014 for sale in Israel (whoever has them hold them tight), I decided for buying it abroad and doing a personal import. More than that, I decided that I would personally go and bring the motorcycle to Greece and put it on a ship to Israel. If not for the price difference, then for the adventure of doing that kind of import experience (and all the expectation that comes with it) once in my life.

So I began looking for the dealers' websites in the internet. It didn't take much, just some conversations with friends on facebook, until someone pointed out a website called http://mobile.de which aggregated the sales of a very big number of german dealers. I began to look there and try to find the bike of my dreams.

Here I must make a stop and comment: Israel is a difficult country for personal imports. First, the motorcycle must be maximum 2-years old, but not from first licensing, from production day, at the moment it comes into the country. Considering that it takes 6-8 months from production to first license, this ruled out most 2013 bikes - specially the 90-Jahre special edition that I wanted much. Besides that, you need to get the import license BEFORE you ship the bike. This means you need to find a dealer who is willing to keep the bike for you for around 3-6 weeks while you have paid a first down-payment and can still withdraw from the deal in case you don't get the license for any reason. Third, you have to prove that the bike complies with all the European standards and some additional local requirements to get the license.

After some months of writing back and forth with some dealers, I came up to this beauty at MCD - Motorrad Center Darmstadt:

June 19th. Two years of waiting since our last motorcycle tour in France and Italy have finally come to an end. Lily and me are again on our way to the Ben Gurion Airport, from where we will take our flight to Barcelona.

At the airport, we meet our friends and partners to the adventure: Shmil and Louiza, who were together with us in our previous trip in France and Italy, Eitan and Anat, who were with me four years ago in a tour in Austria, Arik and Rachel, who are old acquaintances, but with whom I am travelling for the first time.

Our first stop is in Barcelona, where we will spend our first afternoon and night, and to where we will return at the end of the trip. 

The first evening in Barcelona was mainly for arrangements and rest from the flight. We bought local SIM cards, Arik visited the Harley Davidson store in Barcelona to order some parts to take back with him to Israel, we set the schedule for the next day during a dinner at the Rambla, and went to enjoy a good night of sleep, important after waking up at 5AM in the beginning of the day.

In the next morning, at 9:00, we left the hotel with all our things, in order to receive the rental motorcycles: three BMW R1200RT and one BMW R1200GS for Eitan, who is too tall for the RT. It took time until we managed to finish installing all the equipment in the motorcycles and organizing our luggage in the side and top boxes - it is a really obscure science, in which a box which looks completely full now may look empty in two days, so the secret is to bring the "two days" to now and take advantage of every spot in which something can be put.

At the end, at the time of 12:30, we were ready to go. First destination: Blanes, in the Costa Brava.

During my last business trip I’ve had the opportunity to visit Quito for the first time.

Quito is the capital of Ecuador, and located in the North-Center of the country, in the province of Pichincha, of which Quito is also the capital city.

The city height is 2850 meters, and it is located some dozens of Kilometers from the place in which the world is crossed by the Equator line (thus the name of the country Ecuador), dividing Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Quito surprised me for its development and beauty. As most of the Latin American cities that I have visited, it has its beautiful (and rich) parts and its ugly (and usually poor) parts. But in general, it is a beautiful city, a great place to visit, to walk and to travel around.

Below you can find some of the nice experiences I have had there caught on camera. Click on the images to see them at their full size.

Nothing can be better for opening a family blog site than the announcement of a new member in the family:

This is it, this 2002 BMW R1150RT with 75,800 Km is joining the family, substituting my Burgman 650, which is now waiting to be sold.

Welcome!