The Battle of The Tents

Tents have been a thorn in our side since we started travelling.

We went through Africa with a cheap dome tent that was heavy & we didn’t use it much so I dumped it in Zimbabwe and picked up light throw away ‘made in China’.

Then we went through Europe with a super light 2 man Vaude tent which was too cramped and Sofia especially struggled with this which meant the battle was on to camp – we did camp, but not as much as I would have liked due to the added stress on both of us. I love the tent though. It is easy packing and setting up, and one I (or hopefully Sofia) will use as a solo #traveller.

After that trip I discovered the perfect tent someone was using at the annual Overland Event. An Exped super light tunnel the only problem was that Exped had stopped production 15yrs ago and refused to sell me a spare.

All hope lost I got a cheap 3 man last year that at least gave enough bearable space for Sofia, only it is heavy (7kgs) and fills an entire pannier, so now we have a packing space issue. Otherwise a good tent that didn’t spark any major issues with Sofia so a big thumbs up on that front.

Canada, however, has to be a purely #campingtrip due to costs but now we have a lack of packing space, & at best there is no room for food negating one of the cost benefits of camping.

So today I started looking at tents again not thinking a solution was out there with only a year since last looking, when Vaude popped up with a super light (4.2kg) 3 man tent with standing room porch.

I can’t begin to describe the relief at finally finding a suitable tent. It’s like a weight of stress off my shoulders knowing that Sofia, who has been amazingly good considering her own battles, will finally have a tent that she will like and be #happy enough to stay in night after night or in wet weather hold ups, whilst meeting our packing needs.

The tent is £419 on sale, so we need your help! Please could you sponsor our tent with a donation (every penny helps!) – we would both really appreciate it!

Please donate to help us raise awareness for autism.

Vaude comes up trumps for two up camping! We love this tent.

 

 

The Face of Adventure

This morning I showed Sofia that people really like the pics she is in and not so much the ones she’s not – she was really flattered.

Photos have been difficult over the years as she likes, but doesn’t like having photos and so they are just snap shots when I’m allowed. But today I asked her how she felt about being the official face of Adventure With Autism- she said ok, but that she didn’t really know what that meant and started feeling a bit self conscious.

So we went out for a ride and I started talking about pictures, and she started feeling pressured. So I found a nice spot and told her what to do – and BOOM! A few lovely pics and a beaming Sofia because she realised it was really easy – she didn’t have to know anything or really do anything and still looked great!

Sofia doesn’t really like me telling you this much information because she feels self conscious about it as well, but she says ok to publish as it helps her practise letting people know about her experience with autism.
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#proudparent
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#autism #autismtravel #autismawareness #bikelife #biker #bikerkid#bikersofinstagram #bikers #bikergirl #bmw1200gs #bmwgs #motorcycle#instapic #instamoto #instatravel #instaspring #instamotorcycle#adventurekid #adventureautism

Sofia The Pillion: Europe 2017

Sofia, as with Africa, exceeded expectations with regards to her ability to cope with the travelling, this time on the not so comfortable pillion seat of a solo motorcycle.   I am enormously proud of her ability to accept the challenge and to see it through and she was perhaps even more determined than I was to get to Nordkapp and Gibraltar than I was and it was wonderful to see her sense of accomplishment when both these goals were achieved.

The biggest achievement for me though, was to see her actively involved in the process of travelling and sharing the experience of achieving these goals.   For the first time she was actually aware that there was someone else in her world sharing the same experience as her, and more than that communicated that in a normal way by grabbing me around the shoulders for the picture in Nordkapp which had been a particularly challenging day to get there.

It was also wonderful to reaffirm the value that this type of travel has for her as in the space of 2 months she went from a stressed child overly concerned about her social situation with her peer group, to a confident relaxed child who didn’t need so much social validation and instead was feeling in control of her social environment.

All this said however, it wasn’t the easiest of trips for her either.   The extreme weather conditions aside, she had me to deal with and I don’t take any prisoners!   Sofia is my child, I don’t see her as autistic, I see her in terms of her potential to be independent as an adult and I strive to help her to that end.   After the enormous success of Africa, and a year in high school, these two months were a good opportunity to assess where she was in terms of achieving this and this has led me to the conclusion that school process may not be to her best advantage.

For Sofia the school environment is very intense by virtue of seeing the same people almost every day for most of the year.   Because she is not getting enough down time to process the experiences she is having, she is not learning and developing from them (as I know she can and saw from the Africa trip) she is moving into ‘just cope’ mode and she no longer has the mental or emotional space to do anything else.

Sofia is now at an age where interests are now explored, art, science or sport being the 3 main categories that a child might fit into.  With Sofia it is art and drawing has always featured in her life as one of her strategies to cope with life.  She loves it, and she loves the praise that she receives from it.   However, her skill of drawing hasn’t developed much in the last 3 years.   There was a burst in Africa where she started to develop and use the skill to create Youtube videos, but that soon fell by the way side on our return to the UK and her return to school.

In recognition of this, one of the goals I set for her on this trip was to draw real things she could see (all her drawing is cartoon drawing so it was an opportunity to explore something different).  She really struggled with this though and in the end only did about 3 drawings.  I think if we had travelled for longer, after another month she would have started to do more, but 2 months was simply not long enough for her to relax and accept the risk of failure as a necessary part of the road to success.  She is so desperate to establish a positive identity with the world she doesn’t want any failure at all for fear it will reflect badly on her, so all her attention is focused on the facade of success not actually achieving it.

An other example of this is swimming – it is a huge achievement for her that she can now float in water and can doggy paddle.   So in her mind she is now a champion swimmer and she wants you to think she is a champion swimmer with no further exploration in the skill of swimming.   Whilst her achievement in swimming is fantastic, she is neither a champion swimmer, nor has she fully explored her own potential in swimming.  So on this trip  I did not allow her to believe that she had achieved the pinnacle of achievement when she clearly had only reached base camp and needed to accept the challenge that she could in fact do more and take that journey.

One of things that makes it hard for her to take the journey is her inability to choose what she focuses on because her focus is so intense.   So this next school year I have now got her into a routine of mediation, exercise and interest endeavours out side of her normal coping patterns (she still has her coping patterns but the time she spends on them being reduced).   I am hoping that by her improving her mental and physical coordination and organising a specific time for exploring her artistic interest, that her general ability to focus and achieve is improved and the overwhelm of the social environment diminished.   After a year of this, I will do a rain check and see where she is at before committing to any further plans.   What I do know is that for my own sanity, it would be better for her to stay in school, but if that means that it will compromise her ability to be an independent adult with a skill to support herself, then I will  have to another way for her to get there.

There is another goal, however, that she has now put on the table which is not affected by any of this.  She wants to ride a motorbike and when I suggested that she could ride her own bike around the world she became really excited by the idea.   So over the next 6 years, slowly but surely, she is going to become a biker.  Whether she is good enough to ride around the world, for me, is not important, being able to get on the bike and go somewhere independently would be an amazing achievement in itself and no doubt as she passes each milestone on this journey I will be celebrating it here – first things first though, she needs to learn to ride a bicycle!

For my part the Africa with Autism book is now making solid progress as project ”Sofia Around the World” starts to look like not only an autistic mountain to climb, but a financial one as well!

A big thank you for all the donations received to help us on The Crooked Foot Adventure, with a particular thank you to our benefactor who has supported us since the beginning of our big adventures and without whom none of this would have been possible.  Thank you!

If you would like to make a donation and help us to continue to raise awareness for autism please visit the following link: 

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1005498

 

The Battle to Leave #Nordkapp! – Part 2

Finally we are reaching a conclusion to this appalling story of recovery and Insurance companies Carol Nash and AXA Assistance.  The following is an email I sent this morning to the ‘senior manager’ handling my claim.  Let us hope that from this point on the case closes smoothly and we can get on with our lives in peace!

Hi Katie

Yesterday the van was hired, the bike was taken to the mechanic.  Fuel supply was diagnosed in first instance and long story short the fuel tank was emptied and some litres of 98 octane were added – there seems to be improvement in bike performance.  In my initial call I said that we may have a bad tank of fuel – the mind boggles that it took 5 days and at huge unnecessary cost to finally deal with it.  An oil leak was also discovered but not deemed serious or any risk to onward journey.  As much as can be done to get us on the road again has been done.

As per the reply to Sebastian, which I didn’t ‘reply all’ on as I was in a rush yesterday, there was no road closure and I now know that the Norway agent would not have charged you for it.  This is a serious breach of trust on your part to suggest that you had been charged and there there was only £1000 left in the recovery budget as a result.  I would like to request that this case is now passed on to another senior manager to handle.

I have attached the reciepts for yesterday including the night stay – expenses as agreed earlier and as well as the 440Euros, as agreed, to be processed in the next couple of days and in my account.  As I said on the phone, this is a matter of some urgency now as the unnecessary costs incurred these last several days have now put my monthly rent payment in jeopardy.

I have also attached 3 further accommodation receipts for the unnecessary expenses incurred as a result of the insurance company failing to find a mechanic, and organise appropriate recovery.  Indeed we should have been back on the road by Tuesday morning at the very latest.   If you feel a need to blame the Norwegian agent, that is not my responsibility it is yours.  If you are disatisfied with their service it is for you to pass the charge to them for the accommodation, not me.  I should not be having to say this, however, I would like to cut as much of the unnecessary conversation as possible and get the point.

I will also be claiming for mobile phone usage as all calls to a local number on a UK SIM are international calls and it was many phone calls to find a mechanic.   It is now the weekend, so I will start to discover this cost on Monday.

All hired vehicles have now been returned as of last night.  We will recommense our journey  to Gibraltar today.  Lets hope there are no further problems – with the bike and this claim.

Regards

Melanie

Note:  This is an open email and published on the internet for the benefit of our followers and sponsors.

If you enjoy following our travels, please make a donation – We are travelling approximately 8,000 miles –  £5 will help us cover 50miles, £10 = 100miles  

Thank you to those who have helped with the cost of fixing the bike xx

Donate here:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1005498

The Battle to Leave #Nordkapp! – Part 1

Having battled to get to Nordkapp (see post The Battle for #Nordkapp), we now battle to leave!

The following is an email I have just sent to the Insurance company regarding the current situation:  

To whom it may concern at Carol Nash/AXA assistance,

As there have been many phone conversations, it seems prudent that I should in someway to clarify in writing what has been happening in the current situation regarding the recovery of my motorbike (LV03 BWJ).

On Sunday, my bike broke down on the E69 Nordkapp Road in Norway.   Some 4 hours later someone arrived to recover us, however, it was not a motorbike mechanic and he could only take the bike as far as his garage in Honningsvag as that was as far as the recovery had thus far been approved and advised that the bike should be recovered to the BMW dealer in Tromso to be fixed.

You then advised that you needed a quote from your agents in Norway, and in the conversation is was made clear that I had to choose between accommodation or a hired car.  As it is impossible to camp  with out a vehicle as we would have done and did not know if it was possible at NordKapp at this time, despite the offer of a taxi to take us there, so we booked into a local hostel (80Euros)

I believe the phone call was about 10am Monday my time when I fully understood the conditions regarding accommodation and hire car and said that I would take the hired car but please deliver as soon as possible as we had to check out of accommodation at 12pm.  When I called at approx. 5pm my time, you advised you still had not recieved a quote to approve from your agents in Norway for the hired car or for the transport of the bike.

After threatening to claim for expenses for the night, a car materialised an hour and a half later, 500m down the road from where I was located with the bike.  Effectively it took a whole day to organise a hired car that was located down the road.  Clearly someone had woken up as I was then advised that the cost of transport to Tromso had been quoted in the region of 3500Euros (I forget the specific figure)  and that the policy only covered a sum of 2000 Euros – I then stated that then a more local mechanic will need to be found because the priority was the fix the bike and continue our journey as we were on a sponsored ride.   I requested a solution by 9am the following morning or I would start taking the matter into my own hands regardless of the costs that might result for the insurance company.

That night we wild camped – as it was our expectation to do for this journey where ever possible.

I phoned approximately 10am my time on Tuesday morning to discover, once again that nothing had been done.  So I then spent the morning and at the expense of using my mobile phone to phone Norwegian phones, to locate a more local mechanic.  Once located, I relaid the information back to you, and you porceeded to find a new quote for transport.

The new quote to transport the bike a third of the distance than Tromso was 2053 Euros!

If the discrepancy is not immediately obvious to you, please advise and I will explain in much more detail to help you understand.  However, futher to this, the quote is 53Euros over the limit.  I am not prepared pay for a clearly fabricated quote, especially now that travel expenses are 300% up as a result of this situation.  I then offered to source a van myself and drive it and quote you for the job, and you advised that you would be happy to recieve the quote.

I sent you a quote for approval around 3pm (Tuesday) detailing the cost of the van hire for one day, the estimated cost of fuel, and the cost of my time – the quote totalled 600Euros.

I picked up a message from Matt, who was dealing with the case, around 5.30pm saying that the van and fuel had been approved, but the compensation for my time had not and it had be forwarded to other departments – ‘but at least I can now move the bike’

I phoned him back and explained, that I would not be moving the bike until compensation for me to do so was approved.    I am not fool to be used by the insurance company to do work for free that I pay them to pay for.

I recieved a call from you around 8pm asking if the motorbike had been delivered, and in response I made it abundantly clear that I would not do anything with out recieving compensation for it to which he explained that it was unlikely to happen.  I have already sourced a mechanic would will look at the bike immediately (or at least he would when I spoke to him yesterday morning) and researched and provided a quote to do the job of transporting it myself. This is all work that other people are paid to do and are clearly not doing.  I have now provided a quote that saves the insurance company 1400Euros and they now want me to rush the bike over to the mechanic so that they can then tell me they are not going to compensate me so they can reduced their costs further.  The poor chap got an earfull from me!  I was advised that the quote was with senior management.

We spent the night in the hostel (80 Euros) as the weather had turned bad and camping was no longer an option.

Approx 10am Wednesday morning, having still recieved no phone call, I call you to discover nothing had been done. I am called back some time later to be advised that the senior manager will not compensate me for my time, but I am welcome to transport the bike myself still.

I, understandably, am becoming very stressed and advise that you must now pay the 2053Euros as you have now refused a cheaper offer.  Further to that, I was now in a situation as the weather was till bad  and clearly nothing is being done for yet another day and I was forced to book yet another night (80Euros) at the hostel.

You are aware I am travelling with a child (11 yrs old) I have further made it clear in the last phone call that she is autistic that we are sponsored to do the journey to raise awareness for autism, that the costs are beyond us and that I will ensure that they all claimed back from the insurance company when we return because simply put – our plan was to come to Nordkapp, wild camp one night if it was possible, then leave and head south for a bike meet in Estonia.  That we are now still here is entirely as a result of the insurance company regardless of my efforts to help move the situation forward anyway I can, and in so doing saving the insurance company money – something that the company has now rejected.

So the current situation is that we are still in Honningsvag, I have booked another night at the hostel (80Euros)  the hired car will need to be returned in 12 days, the motorbike has not moved, and you the insurance company are not doing what you are contracted to do which is to provide recovery for the vehicle regardless of being given the options to do so.

My stress levels are high and increasing and I have not slept properly since this whole debacle has begun.  My daughter’s travelling preference is to keep moving towards the end goal, and she is now becoming stressed as she can’t understand why we have not moved from Norkapp in the last 3 days.  This is added stress for me as her carer for which there is no relief beyond being able to take out my increasing frustrations on the phone to your customer care agents that phone me intermitantly to tell me that nothing has been done or nothing will be done.

It is now 1.40pm Wednesday – almost exactly 3 days from my first call for recovery.

If I have miss-understood the events that have transpired these last 3 days please clarify, and like wise if you would like me to clarify further on any points I will be happy to do so.

Please note that this is an open email and is published on the internet as part of our (myself and my daughter’s) on going journey to travel from the UK to Nordkapp to Gibraltar and back to the UK with in 8 weeks.

Kind regards

Melanie Cowpland

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If you enjoy following our travels, please make a donation – We are travelling approximately 8,000 miles –  £5 will help us cover 50miles, £10 = 100miles  

We don’t know the costs for fixing the bike yet but any help towards that will be GREATLY appreciated!

Donate here:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1005498