I was going to ride with Dom and Leah on their bikes for a few days as we are going in the same direction.

The only problem is that they get up and go to bed late whilst I get up and go to bed early. This suggests a fairly basic incompatibility. However, they are fun and since I’ve never travelled with any other bikers before I decided to give it a go.

I went for my usual latte and bagel 7.30 am. On the way I thought it might be a good idea to get them for not only Dom and Leah but also Howie and Elaine. It might kick start them into some kind of hyper activity. When we met the previous day I was having lunch and they breakfast. Would fresh coffee from room service help?

Their hotel was like a traditional cell block around a central atrium. There were loads of large potted plants on the ground floor which made it feel only slightly less like a prison.

I knocked on their ground floor door, room 4. The windows were shut. It must be pretty hot in there I thought.

‘Good morning, Dom and Leah, Room Service here, coffee and bagels for breakfast, please open the door.’

‘Hi’, said Dom ,really a lot more awake than I would have thought. There was no sound from Leah.

I waited outside. Did Dom hear me and then just roll over and fall asleep again? I waited a bit more wondering if I should go through it again. Trying not to get too impatient I chilled out and waited some more.

A short while later I could see movement behind the door. The latch went and the door slowly opened. Dom stood there in his boxers looking slightly sleepy.

‘Hi, I’ve brought you some coffee and croissants so we're ready to leave at nine o’clock.’

‘Wow, thanks’. Dom looked rather pleased.

‘Which room are Howie and Elaine in?’

‘Thirty four’ said Leah from somewhere inside.

I went upstairs looking for thirty-four. It was on the third floor as I remembered Howie complaining about how hot it was at night having had the sun on the roof all day.

I knocked on the door and went through my routine. I heard a sound and the curtains started to twitch. I saw a hand draw them aside. I offered the bagels and two lattes through the window. The hand took them and they disappeared inside. At that moment Howie drew the curtain back. He looked a bit surprised but also really pleased that I’d brought him breakfast. It was quite touching.

It was at this point I realised there was a teeny weeny problem.

It wasn’t Howie.

It was some one I’d never seen before and now he had my coffees. The windows were barred. How was I going to get them back? I started laughing.

The curtain moved again and my coffees slowly re-emerged.

‘Thank you very much, sorry about that’.

I laughed again and chuckled as I went downstairs to have another go at getting the right room for Howie and Elaine.

I told the story to Dom and Leah. It was just another one of those things that seem to happen to me on a fairly regular basis.

Leah started to snort and giggle. She had an extraordinary laugh. Even weirder than my sneezes.

‘So what room are they really in?’

‘It’s thirty-five ‘ said Dom.

‘Thirty-four was the one we were going to have but didn’t’, said Leah helpfully.

I went back upstairs and tried my now finely tuned routine for the third time.

Elaine opened the door and I gave them to her explaining what had just happened.

‘He’s another biker, Rob, an American'.

I met him a couple of hours later outside my hotel.

‘I was asleep and this bloke woke me up. All I heard was 'I’ve got your lattes and bagels' so I took them as they came through the window. When I heard you laughing I thought you must be ok so I gave them back. I could hear you laughing as you went downstairs.’

We met again in Punta Perula two days later.

I asked him what he'd like to do tomorrow?

'Be allowed to keep my own coffee and bagel for breakfast'.