Out of Africa...

I'm wondering whether you could continue on your merry / ferry way, and have the Tunis office / department send you a check / cheque via the mail / the post?
Doubtless you would wait half a lifetime (I presume), but there might still be the chance you get the refund.
And when you are old(-er) and gray(-er), you will have forgotten all about it, so when it finally arrives it will be an unexpected bonus / windfall to supplement your retirement / pension.
Don't ask me why this / key continues to appear / in this / post.
 
I hope you have a safe ferry trip and things go more smoothly when you arrive in Europe. I had faith that your ST1100 would start right away. Honda builds great motors, especially back then - Safe travels.
 
Kudos to you, Michael, for your perseverance and forebearance. I hope the rest of your journey is a smooth one. Wishing you all the best, keep us posted!

Patty
 
Once again, an example of the best thing you can pack for a trip is a credit/debit card that works anywhere and has a good limit.
You soon forget the cost of getting out of a jam when you are able to continue on a journey.
 
Great job Michael and Honda reliability.
+1 on the paper documents to fly. My daughter just flew to Ireland for school. Lots of people in the line at Newark having issues with Covid apps. For once she listened to me and printed everything out. Surprisingly when she arrived in Ireland nobody checked anything!.
 
Well, yesterday I wrote "Some days are diamonds, and some days are stones". I don't know how to extend this to describe today, other than to say I guess today must be "molten lava".

I paid the Tunisians 1,700 dinars yesterday as a customs fee for overstaying the maximum 2 month period for a tourist vehicle - even though they announced on the government website last year that exceptions would be made for people who had to leave their vehicles behind when they repatriated home at the start of the pandemic.

This morning, I showed up at the port at 0600, to board the ferry to Italy that departs at 1200 (about 15 minutes from now, if it is on time), and the customs folks advised me that I had to pay them another 2,200 dinars (USD $800) because my 'circulation permit' - the permission to use the roads in the country - had expired. I explained to them that the moto was in storage all the time, but no luck. Off to the ATM again, where I have become quite proficient at making consecutive 500 dinar withdrawals.

I don't know what to think. Once again, all the Customs people were extraordinarily kind and courteous, on a person-to-person level, they were wonderful. But the great frustration to me is that I only had about 100 feet left to ride from the Customs checkpoint to the ramp boarding the ferry... I would have thought that after seeing that I paid 1,700 dinars (well over a month's salary for a skilled worker in this country) yesterday, they would have just said "forget it, go board the boat". But, no, it was either pay 2,200 dinars or Customs would be obliged to seize the motorcycle.

Anyway... in the last 24 hours, I've spent about USD $1,600 to buy my motorcycle back from the Tunisians. At least I'm on board the ferry now. The ferry (picture below) has seen better days... it's operated by the same company that operated the Costa Concordia. Truly reassuring.

Michael

PS: We had a tornado here in Tunisia yesterday, less than 25 miles from Tunis. This is the first time I have ever heard of a tornado taking place in Africa. Normally, things don't move fast enough in Africa to form a tornado.

Ferry doesn't look too well-maintained.
Ferry.jpg
 
Thank goodness that you were able to access funds via the ATM and technology worked in your favour. Would have been costly to miss that boat! Glad you crossing with your stead safely stowed away below. Best wishes for safe arrival.
 
I will do my level best to not opine at the moment, about gov't and bureaucracy...
Truly sorry that Tunis held the ST hostage.
What a disappointment.
 
Your story holds no surprises to us Michael, our own brief experience with North Africa left a lasting distaste. We shall not be returning by any means of transport. I will put it no stronger, but I could.
Look on the bright side me o'd mucka, that corrosion on the bow looks no worse than an EU ST1100 swingarm and they rarely break :eek:.
And you've got the normality of Europe :eek: :nuke1: :well1: :crackup:to look forward to.
Keep smilin.
Upt'North.
 
Uncle Phil said:
I wonder how of much of those 'fines' were quickly pocketed by the 'receivers' never to see the government coffers.
Click to expand...
No, the sad thing is that everyone was very proper about the process - forms filled in on computers, the fines paid at the "Caisse", which is a totally different government department, officially printed receipts out of the computers with holographs, etc. I've worked in Africa long enough to know the difference between corruption and plain old bureaucracy - and this was bureaucracy, no doubt about it. The officials were actually somewhat apologetic about the fact that I got fined a second time - they explained that they fully understood that I thought paying yesterday's fine was sufficient, but that they had no discretion at all to let me go without the further penalty.

What is sad is that Tunisia is in bad financial shape - the President met with folks from the IMF this week in an attempt to get money to buy vaccines - and it appears that the government is perhaps putting some pressure on Customs to generate revenue. This will have very long-term bad effects on the country - once stories like mine start to circulate, visitors will stay away, and I don't blame them. Morocco is not too far away, it offers the same climate, culture, & history, and Morocco is very professionally run and very tourist-oriented. Last time I was there it took 20 minutes to enter the country, and another 20 minutes to leave - no problems of any kind.

Michael
 
My wife has travelled extensively in the middle east, and the bribery and corruption is endemic. It's bribery and corruption no matter how "official" it is. Honestly I would have been tempted to push the bike off the dock, smiled and got on the ferry. Paying more than the value of the bike, might as well just buy another when you get back. One of the reasons I have no desire to visit parts of the world is it has people like that in it. Glad you got out. RT
 
There are times when thumbing your nose at officials can have undesirable consequences, @rwthomas1 and this was likely one of those times.
Particularly being outside one's native land.
"Lead me not into temptation..."
I have some experience with this, in my own native land.
They likely would take Michael's phone while he was in jail, so we would all have to wait for the end of the story.
 
CYYJ said:
No, the sad thing is that everyone was very proper about the process - forms filled in on computers, the fines paid at the "Caisse", which is a totally different government department, officially printed receipts out of the computers with holographs, etc. I've worked in Africa long enough to know the difference between corruption and plain old bureaucracy - and this was bureaucracy, no doubt about it.
Click to expand...
Oh, so it's sort of like 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help you .... to be relieved of your money!' ;)

I learned dealing with government officials is a bit like wrestling with a pig in a mud hole -
after a while you figure out the pig really likes it ... :biggrin:
 
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My daughter spent some time in Morocco in a State Department NSLI-Y program where she lived with a host family for a couple of months. She loved it there. My experience is limited to the Anthony Bourdain segment.
 
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