Hedgehog - 2nd leg of round the world - North & Central Americas

[SteveS]

As a few of you will know the next phase of our RTW tour is to North & Central Americas. Planning is proceeding well and we now have a route, shipping quotes, insurance quotes and the all important US VISAs.

I will post more here as we get things finalised and will post some photos too. Our main focus is our FB group "wandering hedgehog" which all are welcome to join.

No mad rush just yet as we don't leave until early April but there are a LOT of things to organise. If anyone has any questions or are thinking of doing this trip themselves one day then feel free to post here - I'll try to help if I can.

Summary itinerary: Halifax Canada, trans-Canada to Alaska via Yukon/Northern Territories and Great Lakes, Alaska: up to Prudoe then down to Anchorage and southern coast, back into Canadian Rockies via Inside Passage boat, USA Rockies down to Baja, cross to Mexico proper by ferry, Mexico heading south and into Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and then return through Mexico to ship back to UK via US east coast. Just under 30,000 miles.

Thanks to everyone who has helped over the last few years to make this possible

 

[AndyCook]

Should be an amazing trip, to put it lightly!
Looking forward to following the adventure


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[SteveS]

Should be an amazing trip, to put it lightly!
Looking forward to following the adventure


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks Andy. I must admit at times it has seemed that I may not be able to pull it off, but so far a lot of research and a bit of persistence has kept everything moving forward. The keys were to get the right Visas and then to get the truck insured.....not much point in booking all the other stuff if we can't get ourselves or the truck legal and over there

 

[SteveS]

North America Vehicle Insurance - probably the most difficult thing to organise for the North Americas as unlike other countries it seems impossible to get minimal/3rd party cover at the port of arrival. Only a limited number of insurers (say 3 or 4) willing to provide a quote, often complicated with key requirements that can't always be met. Namely - a US address to base the premium on and specific to State requirements; first port is in US not Canada; no coverage of Canada or Mexico; requirement to modify vehicle to US specification; no coverage for a modified vehicle. Having reviewed the options available only 2 companies could meet my requirements - of which Seabridge based in Germany and using Thum Canadian underwriters is what I've selected. Round numbers £2000 for 9 months fully comp (with increased but not excessive limits of liability), unlimited mileage, modifications accepted, with recovery and cover for USA, Canada and Mexico with 0 years NCD. This equivalent to hiring a 4x4 camper for 2 weeks in Alaska.....so not bad value I guess. I can't buy it until 3 months before hand....early Jan

Insurance for the other countries will be bought at the border or on line for some - it will be 3rd party legal minimum only.

 

[SteveS]

A quick update on the planning activities. On top of the car insurance the key activity is planning for shipping the vehicle across and identifying the documentation and permissions necessary. We are shipping to Canada which looks pretty straightforward. To do this I have sought 3 quotes for the container, stuffing, shipping and export documentation. These range from £1200 to £1800 one way for the same service (on the surface at least). That gets the truck onto the dock side in Canada still in its container. On top of that there is receiving customs broker charges to help ease the paperwork on the Canadian side - approx £75. I have arranged this as it will be good to get their input before we ship so that I can put the right paperwork together with their help. Entry into Canada under a temporary import permit looks straight forward. There are other receiving charges such as unstuffing, container movements, potentially short term storage, customs inspection charges etc, environmental cleaning potentially to go on top.

The USA is a different matter - here I will also go with a temporary import permit approach (no Carnet needed on this trip) but before we cross the border to Alaska (1st entry to USA) I will have to have specific approval from a number of US agencies, not just customs. These are under way.

So - summary is that everything is running ahead of schedule and no got-yers (yet).

Apart from pressing the button on car insurance and shipping container/export dates in January the other items outstanding are key travel legs including Alaska Marine Highway Inside Passage (Summer Season times not yet loaded) and flights to Canada (wait to see if prices will drop a bit more).

There are still a few unknowns on whether parts of the roads are open (ice roads will have melted but ferries may not have re-started) or border posts are operational (summer only) and can process international traffic that isn't 'normal'

Changes to the truck need to be finished well ahead of the first week of March (including a bit of "burn-in") when it needs to go to Southampton......the race is on!

 

[SteveS]

Received the USA EPA Exemption letter - this US agency has to approve any non-compliant vehicle entry. Many people have sneaked over the border without this but quite a few have been stopped too.....it can take 4 weeks to arrive so that would mean a loooooooong wait at the border.

 

[SteveS]

Container booked for mid March from Southampton to Halifax Canada. A 20 foot full container load (FCL) so should be a close fit all round. Getting quite real now with only 6 weeks to go until we ship, 9 weeks until we fly out to meet the truck. Also booked the Alaska Marine Highway Inside Passage trip from Skagway to Prince Rupert for late June - 2 days sailing among the islands of the Pacific north-west, glaciers and fjords.

 

[Ben]

Sounds good! Looking forward to the pics/trip report.

 

[SteveS]

Sounds good! Looking forward to the pics/trip report.

Thanks Ben I will be posting photos here but a more detailed commentary will be on my facebook group Wandering Hedgehog which you/others are welcome to join

 

[SteveS]

Container to Halifax now paid for....gulp! Also marine insurance for total and partial loss of vehicle and/or contents. Contents listed and itinerary detailed for the inevitable questions at the borders. Also booked for the truck to have an 'export' clean in Southampton container terminal. We will clean the Cruiser before that but the cleaning company gives a number of 'official' certificates to stick on the windows.....for the customs people to be impressed by hopefully. Booked the hotel in Halifax too for a couple of nights as we expect to take at least 2 days to clear the truck from customs. Just got to pay the car insurance bill in a few days time, our personal long-stay travel insurance with World Nomads and Search and Rescue services with GEOS.....spinning our wheels to a certain extent now

 

[Beau]

Hey steve, why did you opt for container shipping and not just RoRo?

I took my cruiser roro from Southampton to Brunswick Port for 1000 pounds, including marine insurance, paperwork ect

Also if you need any help with customs paperwork for the US, I have a excellent contact.

 

[SteveS]

Hey steve, why did you opt for container shipping and not just RoRo?

I took my cruiser roro from Southampton to Brunswick Port for 1000 pounds, including marine insurance, paperwork ect

Also if you need any help with customs paperwork for the US, I have a excellent contact.

We wanted the security of our own container - we have a car full of gear. RoRo has its cost advantages for sure but it is not recommended if you want to get there with all your stuff intact. Some people are lucky and others less so. However, for the incremental cost of container over RoRo you could buy a whole load of camping gear, clothes, etc new in Canada and probably be quids in. But we don't want to spend the first week shopping and also it means we can travel on the plane with only hand luggage and not a truck-full of stuff in the hold

Thanks for the offer of help with US customs. I think (hope) we have it covered. We're actually landing in Canada first of all and then driving into Alaska/US - so the US land border should be a little easier. It is however a pretty tricky country to get into from what I've read.....lots of forms and applications to be made to various bodies....we'll find out in a couple of months....watch this space!

 

[SteveS]

The truck is now sitting dockside at Southampton in a container waiting to be loaded on the vessel later this week. Pretty tight fit on the height through the doorway with only an inch to spare on a standard height container. Next stop Halifax.....We've done everything we have to now and are in the lap of the gods and will see how good our plans and arrangements are. Truck ultra clean so that we hopefully don't have to pay the Canadians for the car to be cleaned......they're worried about contamination


Ready to close the doors

Surprising amount of room in a 20 Standard container

 

[SteveS]

US, Canadian and Mexican insurance 'binder' now received.....that was a sharp intake of breath. Also received our long term travel insurance, medical repatriation and search and rescue insurance certificates for if we get into a real emergency somewhere. Also just received the sat-phone for peace of mind for us and our ageing relatives and friends. Inmarsat covers the whole planet except for the extreme poles. Our northern-most point will be Deadhorse/Prudoe Bay in Alaska and this is just on the limit for Inmarsat phone coverage.

 

[SteveS]

Container loaded and on the ship in the Solent. ETA Canada 6th April all being well

 

[clivehorridge]

Bon voyage Steve, looking forward to the updates...

 

[GeorgeG]

Bon voyage and good luck! I've done NYC to Montreal...Alaska...Dalton hway ...Deadhorse....You're gonna LOVE IT!!!

 

[SteveS]

Bon voyage and good luck! I've done NYC to Montreal...Alaska...Dalton hway ...Deadhorse....You're gonna LOVE IT!!!

Thanks all for the good wishes - can't wait to get going. Just a few more days in the UK doing a bit of packing and getting the house locked down and then we're off. Keep a watch for some photos here and on Wandering Hedgehog Facebook Group. Bit chilly still in Canada (Halifax -5C two days ago) as spring has still not quite sprung...and Alaska had 8" of snow a couple of days back. Ship currently in Rotterdam and will be leaving in the morning with the next stop Halifax

 

[SteveS]

Well, we're in Canada but the truck hasn't quite made it yet. The ship has been further delayed and is now bobbing about just outside Halifax harbour. Given that the weekend is fast approaching and everything stops for that then it is looking pretty likely that we will have to wait until Monday to get the container open. I shall be giving our Hyundai hire car a merciless flogging for the weekend

 

[SteveS]

The coast around Nova Scotia is beautiful. Lots of small bays and inlets with brightly painted shingled houses dotted around in amongst fir and larch woodland. Couple of photos of Peggy's Bay not far from Halifax. Peggy's Bay is a weather-worn granite outcrop with a fishing village (aka summer honey trap) with 35 year round residents....I got the impression that this place is heaving in the July/August period