Day 52 – Thursday, March 19, 2026

On my last day in South America, I was scheduled for a breakfast with a Hungarian lady, Eva, working at the embassy in Lima (I got her contact through Gábor). I asked her to pick a place close to the bike shop, so I could pick up the box and head for the airport.

The place she chose was an organic bistro at the San Miguel area. I started heading there by an express bus with its own dedicated lane, embarking platform and a (re)chargeable plastic ticket system. The issue was that the bus was so crowded at 8 am that I hardly fit, the door closed behind ne only on the fourth attempt. It was quite an experience, however. Out of the 35 million Peruvians, sone 11 million (!) live in Lima, it making it comfortably in the list of the top 10 most crowded cities in the world.

I had to change busses and the next one would have been a small, even more crowded one. No, thanks, time for Uber - so I got there ahead of time. I went for a walk - it was a wonderful park, with birds singing, squirrels running around, people relaxing. Not far was a huge private golf club - in the middle of the otherwise crowded city.

Crowded bus

Peacful park

We had a pleasant breakfast, consisting of poached eggs and avocado - and chatted about South America and traveling in general. Eva was kind enough to drop me off at the bike shop.

Last - and yummy - breakfast

There I collected my (now clean) laundry and the box, both of which I had dropped a week earlier. I asked some of my light, but bulky stuff (tent, mattress. sleeping bag) to be placed in the box. My bags felt light, but I thought it was as part of the stuff way in the box.

I did miss one favorite sweatshirt - one that accompanied me on many bike trips. I asked the lady owner of the bike shop to help translate - as I thought the laundry might not have returned it. They told me they had returned everything.

Oh well. It was time to head for the airport. A Venezuelan Uber driver came, he did not speak English, still, we communicated rather well.

At the airport, something suddenly hit ne. It was not just my favorite sweatshirt missing, but my tent poles. And my pants. And some T-shirts. And, and, and. When the realization hit me, I remembered - I left a sizable bag at the bike shop, that both the lady owner and I forgot about.

At first, I was quite devastated, yes, these things can be purchased, but it would be a pity, Then I remember I had heard of a service by Uber, called a Courier. They pick up stuff and bring it to a specified address. I ordered it, directed it to the bike shop and in no time, it was on its way.

It was on the wrong side of the airport I was initially waiting for my stuff, I realized there was not a single motorcycle coming there. A cop told me it was a level lower where I had to go. Easier said than done, I had to navigate my way there with the large bike box.

Luckily, there I met a helpful cab driver who helped ne communicate with the courier rider. I was quite surprised how large the bag was that I had left behind - and was pleased to be reunited by it.

So large was the bag I had forgotten...

...the motorbike courier

Then it was time to check-in. A lady struck up a conversation with me. Soon, it turned out she was the same age as I was - roughly. Then she said she was turning 55. I asked which month. June. Oh, me too. And which day? 15. Ladies and gentlemen, I have never met anyone having been born on my birthday, June 15 (June 13 was the closest). Here was somebody being born on the very same day as I was - June 15, 1971. Funny! It turned out she was born at 12:30 pm, ne at 1 pm, so she was older by 30 minutes...

The rest of the trip was uneventful. I watched a movie, then turned my seat to a bed and slept 7 hours - something I rarely do! We overflow Ireland, the first piece of land was captured by my camera.

Technically on March 20th, we landed in Amsterdam, I waited three hours in the lounge, followed by a short flight to Vienna. During boarding, some 100 cell phones went off at the same time. A scooter factory went up in huge flames close to the airport, there was smoke everywhere.

Smoke everywhere

We landed on time, all my stuff arrived, shortly after that a message from KLM, them apologizing for them having list my luggage. Weird, eh? I was happy to have had everything in my hands.

I took two trains and a bus with my large box - and made it safely home!

Well, I guess I shall write an epilogue, but not now, as am feeling sleepy. Now off for a nap! It's been a great adventure!