Help! I want to go to Europe.

[o2tour]

I’m hoping to tour in Europe, first trip, this spring using my LHT with front and rear racks and fenders, gear for camping, and flying from Chicago to Dublin. I have routes planned and I'm ready to go.

However, I just got off the phone with Aer Lingus and I was told the W+L+H be no more than 63 inches. That seems awful small.  No exceptions for the bike.

Is this trip possible with my bike and gear and flying or should I take a slow boat, buy, rent? Need some advice and any information?

Thanks for any help. 

[John Nelson]

Check with other airlines.

[tonythomson]

Hi, never seen those restriction before however, never flown wit AL.  Do they know it's a bike? As airlines usually accept that sports equipment is different dimensions than regular suitcases.  Does that mean no ski's?  The measurements you gave I haven't checked (being lazy) are you able to remove the wheels, fenders (mud guards when you get over here  ) racks, drop the handle bars etc to get anywhere near them?

If not fly with someone else.  Little chance of hiring the kind of tourer you want and really you need your own bike as you know it and can carry the relevant spares, tools etc.

It's spring here already and we are snowed in. 

You'll have fun enjoy your trip.  Pm me if you get any problems over here I'm in the south of UK

[dombrosk]

I've taken my bike from the US to Europe several times on Delta... they charge a lot, but it's worth it to me to have my own bike and my gear (and a non-stop flight, I live in a Delta hub).  For the trip over, I pack my bike into an Amtrak cardboard box. All I need to do is remove the pedals, turn the handlebars, and slightly deflate the tires and I'm set for baggage check-in.  On the return I've been lucky flying in and out of Amsterdam / Schiphol in the bicycling heaven of the Netherlands and been able to purchase a comparable box at the airport.  Happy riding!

[tmoritz]

My wife and I traveled Europe last year with our bikes on Iceland Air.  $52/bike/direction plus they had the lowest fair.  They treated our boxed bikes well.   It doesn't look like they fly out of Chicago or into Dublin but you may be flexible.

[ChrisLS]

You may have already resolved the situation(I'm a newbie UK member)...but have you thought about Fed Exing your bike to a bike shop or friend in Europe?

[o2tour]

I dipped my toes in Europe and I'm ready to go back!! For the flight over I got a box from LBS near O'Hare. That was after checking with the airline if they had bike boxes. Earlier in the month I had checked their web site and called customer service and was told they had boxes. The people at the airport when I asked told me they have not had boxes here in years.

My brother and I disassembled the bike and stuffed it into the cardboard box that we got from the LBS.

I’ll save the longer version for some blog but everything went fine and as I said I’m ready to go back and plunge in.

Thanks to everyone that replied