Thanks, Gromit!

I called ASK MINI this morning, and the guy I spoke to said my baby is at the port! He didn't know how many others are there, and said there's about a 50/50 chance I'll make it on the Courage 7/15. Here's hoping! Swim, little MINI, swim!

 

You know Mini's can't swim! They zoom across the water like Dash in the Incredibles!

 

From what I've found out, looks like the best bet for the west coast, will be on the Madame Butterfly. A RoRo (roll on, roll off) ship now l departing from Southampton, and scheduled for Port Hueneme, CA!

 

Where are you finding info for shipping to California? I tried entering my VIN# in the WW site and it doesn't take it. But I know for a fact that our car is sitting on the dock waiting to be loaded on a boat.

Just curious..... Thanks!

 

Detective work. First I found out what ships are in Southampton, then looked up that ship to see what kind it was. I registered with these guys...

http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppSche...esselSearch.do


And got the schedule. Madame Butterfly was the only car carrier in Southampton scheduled for Port Hueneme.

BREMERHAVEN GERMANY 07/07/2006 07/07/2006
ZEEBRUGGE BELGIUM 11/07/2006 12/07/2006
SOUTHAMPTON UNITED KINGDOM 13/07/2006 13/07/2006
MANZANILLO PANAMA 25/07/2006 25/07/2006
PORT HUENEME, CA U.S.A. 02/08/2006 03/08/2006
YOKOHAMA JAPAN 23/08/2006 24/08/200

 

MADAME BUTTERFLY, Here we come!!!

Fyi, madame butterfly was not a madame at all... :-P

 

P.S. great work gromit!

 

Thanks Phil. Where will you be picking your Mini up from?

Also...

http://aisfree.aislive.com/Influx.as...%20Southampton

 

I'll be going to South Bay Mini in torrance. I see ur from up in norcal, just curious what's movin' you to NV?

btw after i register with ais, how do i work it?

 

How do i read the dates on the schedule?

 

European, so: day/month/year

First date is arrival, second is departure. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

wait i think i get it, dd/mm/yyyy. So it only takes one day for the trip from southampton to huenememememe?

 

Housing affordability, relatives, and sick of CA politics.

Still working on the AIS thing myself.

One day? It leaves Southampton on July 13th, and get to Port Hueneme on August 2nd.

Sure hope we're on that ship.

 

7/13/06 - 08/02/06, so just over 3 weeks.

 

ahh i stand corrected, thanks for the help and apologies for my mistake...

 

Now the bummer. Just talked with our sales agent, and he's saying that we will probably be on the next ship, not the Butterfly. He says that the cars usually sit on the dock for about a week before being loaded up.

 

oof, aw man that sux... so i'm guessing i'll finally have contact with my baby about mid aug.

I find myself getting crazier and crazier about the mini's i see on the road as it gets closer to arriving...

 

Yeah, at least you'll get yours before we get ours. Longer trip up the valley.

 

That's so weird because mine arrived at the docks and was loaded on a vessel the same day.

 

Could be since there's two entry ports for Mini on the east coast, there might be more ships on the routes. We have to rely on one route, and one port out west.

 

NOT true. I've ordered 2 MINIs. The 04 waited 1 day. The 06 arrived, was loaded and the vessel left on the same day. Wallenius knows whats coming, what ships are arriving and their capacity. They are not going to let a vessel wait days to make a load! The load is forecasted ahead of time.

 

Funny.. these are the reasons I want to leave to go back to NZ or Oz..

 

rsun: I sure hope you're right.

As far as moving to Pahrump. We can get a 3 bedroom, two bath house, 2 car garage, on an acre, for like 160k. My wife can easily transfer her job to Vegas, 50 miles away. Easier commute then she has now. Still close enought to enjoy the things we love about our home state.

Also, the Vegas region of SCCA are bunch of nutballs... we'll fit right in.

If I lived in the LA area, I'd want to move to NZ or Oz too!

 

Just talked to ASK MINI (they are the last 3-4 outgoing calls on my phone!) and my car is in the final QA check! Woo-hoo! It should be heading to the port later today.

 

I'm booked on the Courage! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone else with me?