Hungary & Dalmatian coast (July 2013)
As a Serbian friend said about the motorcycle....catastrofa.....
On Wednesday morning the 24th of July, with my son Konstantinos, we started a trip dedicated to Hungary and the Dalmatian coast. My bike was ready, the panniers were loaded on the motorcycle and we left our home in Rion with a direction to north! We drove in Ionia Autodrive and then we entered in the Egnatia Autodrive. At nine o' clock in the morning we crossed the borders from Greece to FYROM, at the border station of Evzonoi. We entered in FYROM and we continued our trip north. We intent to end up for the day in Belgrade (Serbia) where we would stayed overnight. The tank of the motorcycle was about in the 1/3 full of gasoline, so I thought before I enter in Serbia, it would be better to fill the tank because the gasoline in FYROM is cheapest. So I filled up the tank of my motorcycle in a gas station after the town of Kumanovo, and after traveling about 10 kilometers, we reached the border with Serbia. It was a very hot day there were a lot of people waiting to cross the borders, I switched off the engine. When I tried to switch on the ignition the right cylinder started to sound like it was out of balance. I turned off the engine immediately and when I tried to turn on the engine the sound the same and worse.... Then I realized that it was a matter of gasoline. When I was going through the borders, I asked where was the nearest gas station, and they told me that is one kilometer distance. We got there and I asked for a hose to remove as much gasoline could from the tank. The employees of the gas station, polite and willing to help us, they found a rubber extraction water of a washing machine and gave me to start pumping out the gasoline. So I sucked with the hose, and I extracted from the tank 10 litters approx. The truth is that I drank a little gasoline, so it may be pulled out and a little more.... Because of the tank is not uniform we couldn't get out more gasoline.... Along with Konstantinos, we moved the bike and filled in the rest tank with Super Unleaded, and we threw a small quantity enhancer gasoline (Additive), to help a bit. Had to work a little the engine to circulate the new gasoline. I switched on again and the noise was persistant. We were hoping that the situation will change in the next 3-4 kilometers as the new gasoline would circulate in the engine. After 4 kilometers, the bike while I was in motion, turned off, and as I looked back I saw a thick white smoke coming out from the exhaust of the bike which had covered the car that was right behind us. I stopped on the right telling to Konstantinos to descend quickly and go the right side of the road. As soon as I stopped, I saw from the exhaust coming out flames. Immediately I took out the left pannier which is in the exhaust side and with a bottle of water I threw water to extinguish the fire....
Immediately I made a phone call to my road assistance, ADAC, and after 45 minutes a tow truck of the Serbian Road Assistance AMCC came to pick us up.... We loaded the motorcycle on the truck and we went to Vranje, a town 30 km north. In Vranje we loaded the motorcycle in another truck and after consultation with ADAC we left for Nis, a Serbian city 120 km northern of Vranje, in a workshop at BMW, to justify what the magnitude of the damage on the bike.
In the workshop BMW Mitic, we found that the left cylinder was ok, while in the right cylinder we found a "clipped" spark plug.... The motorcycle remained in the workshop to be repatriated by the ADAC in Greece, and Konstantinos and I, we continued our trip with a van offered by ADAC to Budapest instead of Belgrade. We arrived in Budapest distressed at 4 o'clock in the morning. We lived a very intense 24 hours and sleep was something that was missing and it was obvious in our bloodshot eyes. The hotel I had booked through booking with a phone added another night stay. Stumbled dried to sleep. The next day we took a walk in the center of Budapest and in the afternoon we met our friends from Patras (Greece) and we went along in the track of Hungaroring where would be on the race of Formula 1, which was the main reason we decided to make this trip. We bought our tickets and we toured the track and the paddock as well. It was a new experience for us, since it was the first F1 race to be watched live and not on TV....
We spent four wonderful days in Budapest, in the rhythms of the race, and we enjoyed the nightlife of this city. Meanwhile, negotiations with ADAC through the telephone for the time of the return of the bike,to my service shop, BMW Andriopoulos to restore the damage to the bike was in the every-day agenda....
Eventually instead of continuing our journey on the bike to the Dalmatian coast and to wander from north to south, we got the train on Monday (29/7) from Budapest to Vienna, and we flew from there to Athens.... 
Undisputedly the damage is major, having ascertained that broke enough parts in the right cylinder and I feel sad about it, but what happened could happen at some point "away from civilazation", where I could face greater difficulties in dealing with the situation.....
Anyway, I enjoyed the company of my son all these days, who was very cooperative and he was an assistant who would like everyone in such difficult circumstances....!!
And as I've said many times..... "We have not done our best travels..... yet !"
