Auf nach Hawaii: Erster Flug mit Bikes

28.3.

As this is our very first flight with our bicycles, this time there is a more detailed report about it.

We have already asked some cyclists we met, the questions 'How do you do it when you fly from one country to another? How do you pack your bike? Where do you put your panniers? Etc.'

Most people recommended that many bike stores have old bike boxes left over and you could get them cheaply or even for free.

That's exactly what we did.. but unfortunately there was no bike shop along the way when we were driving a few days before the flight to Auckland. There would have apparently been a shop, but they left recently ;-)

Well, then we tried it at the Warehouse (a 'discount DIY store' where you can buy almost everything!) - and lo and behold! The saleswoman already had two empty boxes for us!

We were ecstatic that it went so quickly and uncomplicated! We didn't even pay anything for it!

At the parking lot we immediately disassembled the bikes and then came to the realization that the boxes were unfortunately a bit too small. As a last resort, it would work, but it would be better if we could find larger boxes somewhere.

The good thing was that we had already started preparing so early. So we still had plenty of time until the flight! And above all, we had the advantage of having a car!!

Hm.. well.. asking again at the Warehouse was still a bit embarrassing for us - so the next day we simply drove towards the airport. On the way there we discovered a bike shop. And, we were lucky! The vendor had a box for us!

(Next time we definitely know: Organize the boxes again as soon as possible, and always ask for the right size right away!)

So we solved the first problem: Our bikes were well stored in bike boxes.

Next, we had to accommodate all of our remaining luggage. Fortunately, we had 4 free baggage pieces - that made things much easier. So we simply stuffed as much as possible into our travel bag and then somehow distributed the rest among 3 other bags. We took one bicycle bag as carry-on luggage and it worked out fine.

But no idea how other people usually do it when you can only check in 1 piece of luggage for free.

So we'll probably have to find out soon! We won't always be so lucky!

Oh well, when checking in everything went well with the bikes.. HOWEVER!!!!! we were told that we couldn't enter the USA without an outbound ticket - of course we bought a flight ticket.. sometime in 80 days - AND THEN... THEY DIDN'T EVEN ASK US FOR THIS TICKET AT CHECK-IN!! AAAHHHH!

But well, it's not bad anyway to have a rough idea of when we will roughly fly somewhere. (So on June 18th our flight goes from St. Louis to Ottawa).

The flight to Hawaii was then quite okay. But we were a bit afraid of entering the USA. But surprisingly, it was really chilled! We were only asked once what we had with us, but otherwise absolutely nobody scanned us ;-) or asked us to unpack anything!

Arriving in Hawaii, we were now faced with the challenge: What's next!? Somehow we didn't have time in New Zealand to think about Hawaii, and now we didn't have a plan. WiFi didn't work either and we didn't have a SIM card yet.

So somehow we came to the decision that we had to put our bikes together anyway and just drive towards Honolulu!

And that's exactly what we did! OFF TO THE WAIKIKI Beach!!

All in all, we survived our first flight with the bikes quite well. We were lucky to get free boxes and had a car until shortly before departure - so we could transport our bike boxes well! Unfortunately, the fees for the bike were very high, but we had more baggage included than usual.

So we're a bit afraid of the next flights - how we will get bike boxes in Hawaii and especially how to get them to the airport remains a really exciting question! And, hopefully we will be lucky enough to check in several pieces of luggage again! Everything else would really be complicated.

Well.. we'll keep you posted! Now we're going to enjoy Hawaii for now!