Purchasing a vehicle: Adulting at it's finest!

Adulting is hard. It's even harder on a tropical island where it can seem as though everyone is living the carefree vacation life around you. For those reasons, I've made it clear that Evan and I adult the minimum amount needed to, you know, live a semi-respectable life. We've had our TV and internet disconnected because we've forgotten to pay the bill. We've driven around with no window in our car because we chose to go to the beach instead of the mechanic. We've temporarily been locked out of our PO Box for failing to renew it (As I read this list I can't help but think, "losers"). But...Evan and I have also done some very respectable adult things here on the island. We purchased our house (excellent decision, given the incredibly rising market in Cayman), we've held respectable jobs and I've managed to get my contract renewed twice, and we purchased a very respectable vehicle. Now buying a vehicle, my friends, is probably the most challenging, soul-crushing adulting experience on island.

Purchasing a vehicle consists of attempting to connect with sellers via WhatsApp, arriving at their home for a test drive only to find that they are not home (duh....they are at the beach! They are selling, they don't need to adult!) and then finding that a) the car is rusting out due to sea salt damage. or b) It's needs a new engine or...something important like that. Vehicles here are incredibly overpriced (about 50% more than in Canada) and let's be honest, no one else here is adulting, so generally speaking, the vehicles often haven't been taken great care of. When you take a car for a test drive, it's not uncommon to find heaps of sand in the backseat, empty beer cans rattling around in the trunk, and a cleverly constructed zip tie apparatus used to open the window. It's difficult to hand over $5000 CI for a vehicle that has remnants of prosecco spray on the ceiling. If you do get lucky enough to find a respectable vehicle for purchase, you then must withstand hours and hours (I am not exaggerating) at the DMV, waiting desperately for your arbitrary number (do not expect order) to be called. When your number is called, you will no doubt have filled out the incorrect form and be instructed to fill out a new form and enter a new and eternal line. By the time the sale is complete you are left wondering how you seemingly lost years of your life during this time-sucking experience. Adulting at its finest.

Now we got this experience out of the way within a week of moving to Cayman. We purchased a 2010 Mitsubishi Colt, which had been originally imported from Japan. It was a great car! It spoke Japanese to us and nothing was more exciting than when the GPS lady would scream "Get out of the effin ocean!" (I don't speak Japanese, but given the fact that our GPS map depicted somewhere in the middle of water, I imagine that's what she was yelling). Like college roommates who spent their last $10 on beer, Ev and I shared the Mitsubishi colt for 4 years. Most of our friends, who were obviously adulting at a higher level than us, thought it was odd that we managed to share a vehicle for so long. The fact is, Evan works from home and rarely needed the vehicle when I was using it. When he did need to leave the house for appointments during the work week, he didn't mind catching the bus. The "bus" on island, by the way,  is a white van that picks you up if you are standing anywhere near the road, and indicating that you need a ride.  But there were moments where the bus wasn't so reliable and Evan ended up running on foot to appointments in his collared shirt and "dressy" shorts. During one such incident, a dude, sipping a Red Stripe while riding his bike past an out of breath Ev, exclaimed, "Bro! don't you have a car?" It was at that moment that Evan decided we needed to step it up and start vehicle adulting.

learning how to drive in Cayman: hands at 11 and 1. Obviously. 

In all it's glory!

"Ev! We finally made it to Tokyo!"

We made the decision to sell the Mitsubishi to our buddy, Stacey, because we wanted him to experience the love that the Colt provided to us for 4 years. Then Evan began the process of finding a vehicle overseas to ship in to Cayman. This is a common occurrence on island. Although it's a bit tedious shipping in a vehicle and paying duty, you can hire a broker to take care of the details and generally speaking, you can find a nice vehicle and overall, pay less for more than if you purchased your vehicle on island.

As Ev and I scoured the selection of vehicles, we upped our adulting game hard, searching for respectable SUV's with sun roofs and leather interior (no prosecco stains in sight!) We settled on a used Land Rover because of it's extra large sunroof, which would provide a sea breeze and beige leather interior, which wouldn't be as hot as black leather.  See! Adult decisions. Evan and I were adulting like we had never adulted before. We examined the inspection sheet and determined that this would be a good respectable vehicle for the Lindsays. Done. Then we began our search for our second vehicle, AKA the #midlifecrisis #livingmybestlife Jeep.

This was Ev's first choice ;)

I've never been one to be really excited about vehicles. I know some people love the "new vehicle scent" and yearn for the latest and greatest features on their vehicle, but that was never me. I just don't really care. I have, however, always dreamed of owning a Jeep. Since I was 16, I pictured myself as a super cool surfer chick, driving to the beach with my blond hair blowing in the wind, and jumping out of my Jeep and unstrapping my surfboard from my roof. I was told immediately that a Jeep was a bad idea in Saskatchewan winters. It rode rough. It was cold. It was shitty on ice. So I firmly placed my jeep dream aside and carried on driving my reliable Grand Am. But here I am. Nearing 40 years old, and although I'm not a surfer chick, nor do I have clearance from my Ortho to "jump," I'm finally living in a perfect Jeep climate and ready for my midlife crisis mobile.

So as we wait for our responsible "family" vehicle to arrive from Singapore (room for both the cat and the dog!), we are searching for our fun, rugged Jeep. Easier said than done. Now I have an open mind. Given that his is going to be our 2nd run-around vehicle, I'm willing to buy something a little rough around the edges. Evan jokes that I'm looking for "rugged luxury," but honestly, my bar is set quite low. I just want a cool Jeep. Unfortunately the first Jeep we test drove was a little more "rugged" than I anticipated. The seller was honest, explaining that it required x, y, z, a, b, c, d, etc to be fixed. When Ev started the engine I had flashbacks of driving my dad's old grain truck at the farm. Some belt squealed incessantly and the breaks didn't work well enough to actually prevent us from moving. As Ev drove this piece of rugged luxury down the road and commented happily, "It has character!" I was shocked to see that I could actually view the road beneath my feet! The floor was rusting out! Yabba dabba doo? As Ev marvelled at the bottle opener which had been cleverly attached to the dash for easy access, I couldn't help but think that we had adulted too hard with the Land Rover and had obviously regressed too far back into never never land - you know, the place where adulting is banned. I convinced Ev to discuss this "character-filled" vehicle with our buddy who is a mechanic on island before considering a purchase. And I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Jeremy for explaining, "It is bad if you can see the road from the floor of the Jeep." Haha. Thanks buddy. And, Ev, I'm sorry if I took you too far into adultville. I promise that once the Land Rover arrives from Singapore, we can fill that back seat with sand and empties!

"rugged luxury" haha. 

Cheers to #livingyourbestlife! haha.