The days of walking up to the airline counter at the airport — as I did at LAX in 1979 — paying $200 for a one-way ticket and flying to London are long gone.
Depending upon which airline you fly, the baggage fee for your bike can be almost as much as that ticket I bought from Laker Airways.
In 2008, when I purchased tickets for my son and I to New York — where we made our connection to Ireland — there were no fees for the bikes on either flight. They were considered part of our baggage.
But when we arrived at Sea-Tac and got in line at the check-in counter, a representative from the domestic carrier we were flying told us there would be a $100 fee for each bike. When we reached the counter the ticket agent told us the fee was not $100, but $150 for each bike.
And this was before the economy tanked and the airlines began their practice of fees for pretty much everything.
When I bought my airline tickets last year and for this year’s trip, I had three criteria. Stay with one carrier (minimizing fees), travel time (minimum layover) and bike fees. Do your homework, check the airline’s baggage policies (focus on the bike) before you purchase your ticket. But that isn’t a guarantee the policy won’t change before you board your flight.
Packing the bike
All airlines have rules as to how they want the bike packaged. A lot of people travel with the bike in a cardboard box (available at a bike shop). To maximize the protection of my bike, I travel with a bike bag (there are several different types). I take the bike apart (remove the rack, pedals, seat post and wheels, move the handlebars to the side, parallel to the frame, and protect the derailleur). I pack the bike in the bag and put it back together at the airport in Europe. I leave my bike bag at long-term luggage at the airport.
Trains
I use trains when I’ve had an equipment failure and needed to get to a city. I’ve also used them when time was short and I wanted to see a city before I flew home. Last year I was forced to take two trains (for a total of about 15 minutes) on my Denmark-Sweden trip because bicycles weren’t allowed on the bridges I needed to cross.
Some trains have a special baggage car for your bike — you are responsible for loading and unloading. And on other trains you and the bike are in the main passenger cars — I experienced this in France and Britain in 2008 and last year in Denmark and Sweden. This is lots of fun.
Ticket prices vary. Last year I was charged my fare and the price of a child’s ticket for my bike.
Ferries
I’ve been on more ferries than trains. I’ve been on long trips (Britain to Sweden, Ireland to France) and others that were a few minutes.
Again, fares vary. The price of the ticket for the ferry I took from Denmark to Sweden was about half the price of the train ticket across the bridge from Malmo (Sweden) to Copenhagen (Denmark).
Crossing the English Channel on a ferry in the ’70s was like sailing on the good ship Vomit. Modern ferries have better stabilizers, but crossing the Channel can still be rough. If you have issues with motion sickness, try lying down so your head and stomach are on the same plane. It’s worked for me and my son.
When you ride on and off a ferry, be careful of the steel plates. They’re slippery and can take a rider down. A fellow on a motorcycle went down in front of me as we disembarked in Cherbourg, France, in 2008.
Some times a deck hand will tell you where to lash your bike. But you will be responsible for lashing it — with hooks attached to steel cables or with rope — to the bulkhead.
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