Hi guys,

my name is Sophie, I'm french. My boyfriend, Massimo, is Italian.
About a month ago we decided to do a lifetime adventure trip. We both quit our job and packed the bike. She is a little GS 650. She does not measure with all the Harley we meet here on the road. She probably feel even smaller here than she really is but she does the job!
We left Italy, went through France and the UK. We airfreighted the bike to New York from London. Got her there and our Cost to Cost trip had started!
Right now we're in Las Vegas. So many highlights in the trip so far but would not know where to start. Your country is MASSIVE…lol All the people we met so far have been amazing. So friendly….
We're mainly using airbnb to sleep at places. Our itinerary is done on a daily basis as per recommendations of people we meet. Awesome.
We aim to cross the death valley tomorrow.
Busy looking for an accommodation after that. Does not look so easy this time…we will see.
I'm writing to you right now from the Harley Davidson bar in Vegas. Just perfect lol

Anyway, just wanted to share that with the forum. I'm new to that.
We plan to go to San Francisco, then go down, cross Mexico (not sure where yet?), then reach south America. Final aim is Patagonia… let's see how far we go.

We're enjoying every moment of the journey. And thank you for being such a friendly country

We have started a blog: We Resigned! - THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE OF SOPH AND MASS

If any of you are around would be a pleasure to meet you for a (or wine?).

If any of you have any advises on the crossing of the border at Mexico would be greatly appreciated as well.

Here you go…

cheers for today!

Hi,

one tip: go to ADV-Rider and look for the tent-space thread. I stayed with a couple of people from there. (I'm in New Mexico right now).

or try couchsurfing.

or ask here in this forum :-)

Both nice ways to meet local people.

Have fun.

Will head to Death Valley in the next weeks.

Cheers
Martin

Hi Sophie and Massimo,

When crossing into Mexico from the US, the most important thing is to get your tourist card.

If you are crossing at Tijuana, there will be no checks at the border. The Mexican side will not stop you to ask for your passport. So it's your responsibility to stop at the border, park and find the migracion offices by yourself. The tourist card is 332 pesos ($20 USD) and will last 180-days before you have to renew it.

You do not need a tourist card to travel within the border zone, which is an area 50 kms south of the US/Mexico border. But once south of there, you will be fined if you have not obtained your tourist card.

But even more importantly, you will need the tourist card to import your vehicle in and out of Mexico. The TVIP (Temporary Vehicle Import Permit) is only issued if you have a tourist card. So many travelers ride down Baja without getting one and when they try to buy a ticket at the ferry terminal to get to the mainland, they find out that they cannot get their TVIP because they do not have a tourist card. And the only place they can get a tourist card is over 1,000 kms back at the border.

So again, do not forget to get your tourist card!!! So important!

Also, get insurance online. We got ours here: Mexican Auto Insurance Online - Baja Bound Mexico Insurance Services

Hope this helps, have a great time in Mexico! It's one of our most favorite countries that we've visited, and we miss it greatly! The food is so good there!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Sophie and Massimo,

Sounds like you're having a great time so far.

We can host you if you make it to San Diego. As well, I can assist with border crossing into Mexico as I travel there often.

PM me for more info if I can help.

Dan

Thanks Maddin! Death Valley was awesome. We saw some Coyote! amazing have fun!

Thanks man, that definitely helps. Did not know yet about the tourist card. Will check it out now. Cool, thanks a lot.

Thanks Dan. We'll have to look at the map to see if we're gonna cross via San Diego. thanks for the hosting offer though, really nice. I'll let you know. I'll probably get in touch via PM anyway to get more advises from you on the crossing. I must say it's the only thing I'm slightly worried about hearing what everybody says around us lol. So advises from you would be awesome. I'm sure it's ok anyway. Just need to be aware I guess.
I'll pm you when we get closer to that time. Thanks again.

Your welcome

I was told not to use the big border crossings like Tujuana. Instead to cross at Tecate a bit east of TJ.

I had the true pleasure of meeting up with Massimo & Sophie in San Diego tonight. What a nice couple!

They're setting out on quite an adventure and I know they'll do well.

Let's wish them every good thing as they cross into Mexico, and Central/South Anerica!

Attached Thumbnails

 

Dan you beat me to it! I wanted to thank YOU. You're such a great person. So nice to meet riders like that around the world. You motivated us to much on our trip, we can't wait to get over to Mexico for the second chapter of our trip!
We can't thank you enough.
We'll keep you posted on the rest of the adventure. And of course on our blog (We Resigned! - THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE OF SOPH AND MASS). I'm quite behind in terms of writing, we've been quite busy fixing few things recently. Adventure!
Anyway, Dan THANK YOU again. Hope to meet many people like you along the trip and it would be just a dream.
Cheers
Soph

Vive l'aventure!

Keep going, don't stop until you run out of roads.

I'm in Milwaukee, WI, and we love to have overlanders stay over. Milwaukee is more the land of , rather than wine, but I'm sure we can work out something.

I can't really recommend coming up here until spring. The weather has been record-setting warm, but it can't last.

__________________
I write books about motorcycle travel. Small, cheap, motorcycle travel. Also superheroes.