The REALITY of Shipping my Truck from Europe to Mexico

I've been feeling so lonely without her, so in limbo without her, that to know that she's finally arriving here today feels a little bit surreal. A couple of months ago, I shipped my expedition truck from Germany to Mexico. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo ship, calling out various ports along the way, until finally, with a four-week delay, my truck, Odyssey, arrived in Veracruz, Mexico. Yes, after a few weeks on the sea and countless delays, Odyssey, my truck, is about to arrive here in the port of Veracruz in Mexico. I know you can't see much of the city right now. And I'm about to pick her up and start a whole new chapter of my life. This is gonna be huge, but more on that later. I'm Eva, and I'm a full-time adventurer. I want to bring you on a journey that's all about being brave, experiencing the world, and feeling truly alive. My travels have been one hell of an adventure so far, but last summer, I bought an old Land Rover Defender and converted it into an off-road expedition truck. I now wander around the world and live in my 4x4. Hit subscribe to join my adventure crew and watch real raw travel videos every week. First things first, I need to see whether I can actually pick her up today or if it's gonna take some time. I need to see whether the car has been broken into or anything has been stolen, because that's a real risk with some of these ships. And, of course, whether she's still working or whether something has broken, because that's another distinct possibility. So a lot of questions today, and you're probably wondering how much it costs to ship a massive truck from Europe to North America on a ship. So I'll be answering that question too. But first things first, I need to get to the office of my shipping agent, customs agent, I don't know what these people are called, to see what he has to say. So my shipping agent told me to come at 11. It is exactly 11 right now. And the address is Madero 33. Agentes Aduanales. I believe that means customs agents. That's exactly the place I'm looking for. Because Odyssey has to go through a big, long customs and immigration process. So I've heard a lot of horror stories about the process of getting your car out of the port here in Veracruz. Someone messaged me the other day on Instagram telling me that it took them a year to get their car out of the port. I don't know exactly what happened, but I sincerely hope it doesn't take me a year to get Odyssey out of here. Anyway, I'm here in front of the customs agent's office, and let's see how this goes. Zabdi here is helping me speed up the customs process. It's a lot of paperwork, all in Spanish, and she's here to make sure that Odyssey doesn't get stuck in Mexican customs. Okay, Zabdi's just gone out to get some photocopies of my documents. And I, in the meantime, have literally signed over Odyssey to her. It's a part of the process, but it does mean that Zabdi has basically kind of like ownership over what happens with the car right now here in Mexico. So that's a little bit unsettling, but you know, I trust her. She comes recommended. Let's see what happens next. Well, I've come out of that meeting with a bit more knowledge about what's coming up. So tomorrow, Zabdi's gonna try and get the first documents approved before we head over to the Banjercito, which is like the Mexican driving permit insurance kind of office. I don't know. And I've also come out of that meeting with a very fancy neon vest, which I have to wear on the day of the customs inspection, along with some other very specific types of clothing. Don't ask me why. We'll get there in a few days. I'm not even thinking that far ahead just yet. So yeah, I'm gonna head back to my Airbnb for now and start praying for the best. No, I don't pray, but you know, keeping my fingers crossed, hoping, sending positive vibes, manifesting all the things. It's all the things. I need Odyssey. Okay, you're gonna have to ignore the mess behind me and the Airbnb that I'm staying at these days because I just got a message from Zabdi saying that she just got the bill of landing. So the car is allowed to be released, which is so exciting. That was really, really fast. It was meant to happen tomorrow, but it happened today. So tomorrow at 8.15 AM, we have to go and get the Mexican insurance permit thingy. So things are moving pretty fast. I can't wait to see the car. I just really hope that nothing has been taken from the inside. I've heard so many horror stories, but I guess I'll only get to see that once the customs inspection is underway, probably next week. So anyway, for now, I'm just gonna enjoy the rest of the evening, go for a run, and then wake up early tomorrow morning to start sorting out this whole thing. So today we're gonna run to the beach and all along the beach for an hour. It's so balmy here. It's like a proper Caribbean, like tropical climate. I'm not complaining, by the way. I love this. Check this out. That's the port and this here, wow, is a very, very busy beach. Oh my God. This is as close as I'm getting today. Big cargo ships. One of those is probably carrying Odyssey. Welcome to day two of this small mini Odyssey. Yes, pun intended. All right, I'm heading off to see Zabdi, the shipping agent, to start sorting out the bandericito. First, I need to lock this though. Done? Done. New day, I'm feeling good about this one. May everything go swimming. It is 8 a.m. here and this town is still very much sleeping. All the shutters are closed. And honestly, I feel this vibe because I am also like barely awake. I haven't been sleeping very well because I've been thinking so much about Odyssey and stressing out over whether everything will work out and plans and everything else that's coming up. And you know, at the end of the day, I feel like it may seem like it's just a car, but it's so much more. It's kind of like, it's my home. It's my adventure companion and it's the tool that enables me to be mobile and free. Yeah, so having a car is not just having a car. You know, having a car means so much more. It means having that independence. As simple as it seems, it's pretty empowering. Gracias. Here we are. Okay, apparently we're not allowed to film, so I'm going to have to switch off the camera because, you know, I want to make sure that we get this done right. We don't create any issues. So see you in a few minutes. So we managed to get all the documents sorted within just half an hour, which means that Odyssey can now drive on Mexican roads, which is so exciting. It wasn't hard. It was just a bit of sitting around. I'm back home. I'm now waiting for a call from Zabdi to confirm all the details and the next steps. Oh, wait, I have laundry to pick up, so I'm going to go do that now. I don't want to be driving around with the back door open. 40 pesos, that's just a couple of bucks. It's really not much for two kilograms of laundry. Gracias. Si, hasta luego. Ciao. Hasta luego. When you live on the road full time, you don't have access to a washing machine. So getting your laundry professionally done rather than just like hand washing it in a sink feels like a luxury. Really does. Ah, I'm so happy. It's the little things. Please continue ignoring the mess. Don't judge me. I have no house living skills. So I've got some really good news. And yes, I'm going to hold my mic like this, like all the cool YouTubers who are half my age. Anyway, Zabdi says that on Monday, we have an inspection at 9.15 a.m. Woo-hoo! Which basically means that it's the first thing we do on Monday morning as the port opens up, which is great. I mean, yes, granted Monday is still like five days away, but this is great news. The only thing I'm slightly worried about right now is something that like a sailor friend told me. So this guy used to work on ships and he said that whenever they had cars on the ship, his crew would like kind of go around and you know, because they get the keys to the cars, they can just kind of go in and they would sometimes steal stuff. Like they would take valuables from inside camper vans and trucks and things like that, which is not cool because stealing is bad. And I hope that that didn't happen to Odyssey, but it could have well happened. So we'll find out soon. But on a funnier and lighter note, he also said that the other thing that they would do on these ships is they would just like go into people's camper vans and just take naps. Like just go in and you know, just lay down on the comfy mattresses and just sleep for an hour or two and then go back to work, you know? So it's very likely that someone slept on my mattress inside Odyssey. Shame on you. Actually, no, I would rather that than the stealing part. So I guess we'll find out in a few days. Cool. Well, that's that. I'm off. I was in equal parts excited about getting the car and frustrated that it was all taking so long. After getting through the first three days of the process smoothly, the customs authorities closed down for four days because of a national holiday. So more waiting, which turned into a good lesson in patience. Day four came, then day five and six and seven. And finally it was day eight of the process. Today is the big day. So I need to iron my shirt. Today is the day of the customs inspection on Odyssey. So in exactly 45 minutes from now, I gotta be at the customs agent's office to start clearing Odyssey. And maybe, just maybe, if my shirt is ironed enough and I look convincing enough, I could drive out of the port with Odyssey by the end of today. Remember this? This is gonna be one of the most important items for today. I've got my documents. I've got cash. I've got cards. I've got my phone. I've got, I think, everything that I need to survive today. I really hope this goes okay. I really hope this goes well. And if everything does go okay, then I no longer have to be lugging these really heavy bags around with me everywhere because I can just unpack inside Odyssey. Oh my God. So I'm actually gonna take these suitcases, these bags, and I'm gonna put them in the hotel's luggage room because I'm checking out today. Now, I know that's a really optimistic thing to do because there is no guarantee that I'll be leaving the port with Odyssey today. But I'm just gonna assume that that's what's gonna happen. I'm just gonna hope that that's what's gonna happen. I'm just gonna like manifest that that's what's gonna happen. So I'm checking out. I'm about to reach Zabdi's office, which is so exciting. You know, Veracruz has not thrown on me. It really has not. And off we go to the port. I wasn't allowed to bring my camera inside the port, so I filmed everything on my phone, which isn't technically allowed, but hey. Oh my God, I can see Odyssey. Oh my God, she's there. Oh my God, she's here and she's whole. And nothing has been opened. And it seems to me like right now nothing has been taken. Nothing has been stolen. All right, the inspection is done. There was a dog that came to sniff Odyssey inside and out. And it seems like Odyssey passed the test. So we're leaving the car park right now and we're gonna wait for a police authorization to release her from here. This could take a day, could take hours. Let's see, it's hard to say. Okay, so how much is this whole little party costing me? People tend to assume that intercontinental shipping is crazy expensive, but it doesn't really have to be. I paid 2,200 euros to ship Odyssey on what's called roll-on, roll-off, roll-roll. Basically a ferry where the car is not inside a shipping container, but traveling directly on the ship. And then I paid another 600 euros to the customs agent to help me get Odyssey out of the port. You can do this yourself, but it's a massive bureaucratic headache. So yeah, all in all about 2,800 euros or 3,000 USD to ship my truck from Europe to Mexico over two months. Okay, I just got a message from Zabdi saying that we're ready to go pick up the car. So I grabbed my shirt and my high-vis jacket, vest, thing, and I'm running. Because the port's going to close in an hour, so we really need to move fast if I want to grab Odyssey today. Oh my God. This is what I've been training for all this time. This is why I've been doing all the marathons and ultra marathons. It's this moment. All right, I've got my little stack of documents right here and we're off to the port. Gracias, Andres. Andres is going to drive me to the port and yeah, I got to submit all this stuff to the authorities. We have 45 minutes left until the port closes. So let's see what happens now. Okay, I just went through the first level of security just in that building behind me where they checked my ID and my credentials to enter the port. And now I'm just waiting for Andres to come and pick me up with his car here on the other side, inside the port now. And we're going to drive into the Odyssey again and get her the hell out of here. Oh, here we go, Odyssey. Odyssey. You beauty. I've been waiting for this for so long. I hope she starts. Oh, she's starting. Oh my God. Oh my God, I'm driving Odyssey. We haven't finished all the admin stuff just yet. There's still a lot to do. I'm not celebrating. Just guess what, it feels so good. That is one long queue. I feel like I'm going to be stuck here for a while. This line was taking me to one of the final release checks where an official would decide whether all my documents stack up and whether I can actually finally leave the port. Oh, it is pretty sweaty in here. The sun is shining, it's hot. Of course, Odyssey doesn't have aircon. So while we're waiting, I'm going to check if anything is missing from the box. My little secret box, but I don't think it is because it hasn't been opened. Check this out. The seal is still here. So I'm pretty sure that we're good. Woohoo! Just as I left it, it's perfect. The side storage box is only one spot that stuff could be missing from. It's not the only one. So let's take a look in the safe. See how sweaty I am? It's genuinely boiling here. Anyway, you guys told me off the other time I showed the location of my safe here in the car. I mean, I don't think it matters and I think it's a bit futile now. For all that, it does matter. But let's take a look inside the safe to see if there's anything missing from there. And the drone is in there too. So nothing is missing. Nothing at all has been stolen. Everything is exactly as it was when I left it here in Germany. And you know what? This is a big lesson for me because I just listened to people's stories. I listened to the most dramatic stories, to the darkest stories, you know, where people had half of their stuff stolen for whatever reason. But these stories are a minority. It's just that these dramatic stories are the ones that we listen to, the ones that we remember because they kind of speak to our survival instinct in a way. But everything is good. Man, you do you. You do you. That is the moral of this story. Ah, it's there. I'm getting really close. Really, really close. I've been waiting for an hour and a half. I've been waiting since 10 to six. It is now half past seven and it looks like another 15 minutes. And if everything goes according to plan, we're out of here in 15 minutes. I've given my card documents, my import documents, all of that stuff to the official here at Immigration. She's checking them. And she needs to approve them before I get to leave the port. So let's see how long this takes. I mean, don't like the look of the accessories. It's like a rooftop tent on Odyssey. So they're asking me to go to another place to do another check. Oh, yes. I got the magic words. Todo bien. One more gate and we're out of here. The ones are being checked once again. Oh, listo. Gracias. Ciao. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Odyssey is in Mexico. We're in Mexico. Oh, ----.