My other half (Chris) found an interesting bike scheme on the Internet called Trans Atlantic Bike Share (TABS for short) in February this year. The idea is that like minded people all over the globe help each other out with transport/accommodation. It sounded good to us and we joined up - £35 for the first year and a small fee after that.

Chris fancied going to the States in September and put his details on the web site saying where we wanted to go and when. Sure enough we were contacted by a guy called Ted Hall from Vermont, New England who had a BMW 90/6 (a slash 6 for those in the know) that we could use for our holiday. We had plenty of contact with Ted before our journey actually took place over the Internet. Ted arranged to meet us at Boston Airport - a round trip for him of 6 hours - even though we had said we would get a Greyhound bus out to his neck of the woods. We travelled on a scheduled flight with American Airways - (very comfortable with plenty of legroom if anyone is thinking of going to the States) and that was the most expensive part of the holiday. Ted and his wife Lynn were at the Airport and off we went with them to their place in Vermont. We stayed with them for the first 2 nights to get over the jet lag and found them to be very good hosts. You also get to make some good friends on this type of holiday.

We took off on Ted's bike for our touring holiday with no particular plan in mind. Ted had supplied us with a map of Vermont (these area maps are free at the gas stations by the way) and we decided on the day (every day) which direction we would take. The traffic is not as aggressive as over here and it surprised me. Most did just over the speed limit which was 55mph outside the towns and there was no pressure on you to go faster. Nearly all the other bikers out there are on Harley's or some other form of cruising bike. It was a surprise when I saw my first bikers without helmets. This law changes from State to State so it is as well to see what other riders are wearing when you cross a State line. We did not ride without our lids even though it was really hot (80's to 90's phew). These types of machine are perfectly suited to the style of riding and the thousands of miles of open roads out there.

We spent our first night in a guesthouse and this cost $55 (£36) for the two of us. We averaged about $50 per night, this went as low as $35 and (one night only) as high as $89 at a Great Western Motel. So the accommodation was really reasonable. Most places had cable TV. All of them had shower and toilets. We are still awaiting the Mastercard bill to see how much we spent but it is cheaper than the UK or here come to think of it!

The most surprising thing about America was the lack of crime - completely the opposite of what I would have expected. We didn't need to lock the bike up once in nearly 3 weeks. We left our leathers and lids with the bike when we were parked in shopping Mall car parks and never had anything touched. Cars were all parked with their windows open - it was amazing. We were in mostly rural locations though.

We did 5 States - New York, Vermont (of course), New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. This amused our hosts when we returned for the last few nights of our holiday. Ted would have done the same kind of mileage in a few days (1,500 miles or thereabouts). Of course we were visiting tourist spots like Mount Washington (8,200 feet high - boy that was fun looking down the sides from the back of the bike going up, up, up) which took us half an hour to ascend after stopping twice on the way up to take piccys. We did stop at one Motel for 3 consecutive nights as the place was really lovely and had its own private beach on a huge lakeside. Nobody was bothered that we were bikers so we never had hassle anywhere getting accommodation.

All in all it was a brilliant holiday and I would recommend this scheme to anyone. There are member's worldwide but most are in the States and Europe. It is a fantastic idea and you get to meet some really great bikers - who could ask for more.

You don't have to reciprocate but Ted and Lynn are planning to come here for part of Grand Prix week in 2003 and we are really looking forward to meeting them again and returning their generous hospitality. They will be in the UK for 3 weeks and will pick up the bike over there.
If you think you wouldn't like a stranger riding your bike think of it this way

Chris and I were so careful about riding Ted's bike - more so than if it was one of ours. So you've got to realise that it is only like minded people who join TABS and they will look after your wheels. We had 3 guys from Wisconsin over for TT week and they stayed in our camper in Douglas. They had collected their bikes from the UK, as Ted will most likely be doing. One of the guys had lost a part of the seat unit on the motorway and he was paying for a new one before he left for home. So I hope this gives you some idea of how it works - in a word MAGIC. Spread the word…