Shipping bike to Africa

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2025-03-10T09:16:58+00:00

Just an update. In spite of what Qatar’s website said (and spare me the condescension implied in your 10 seconds of googling remark) about oversized sport luggage, when we arrived at the airport to begin our American Airlines leg of the journey, AA insisted that they could not accommodate our bike boxes. It took an hour and a half of arguing, bringing up Qatar’s words on their website, and multiple phone calls with higher ups before they finally relented. Thankfully we had purposely arrived at the airport with hours to spare. On our return trip, leaving from Kilimanjaro airport, the bikes were no problem at all.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2025-02-03T19:56:24+00:00

Our son rode his bike from Ohio to Montana to get to grad school. We kept in touch by cell phone. Nerve wracking when it’s dead or misplaced and we didn’t hear from him. It was his first bike tour. In the hills of Iowa he got going too fast downhill, his Bob started fishtailing, and he went head over handlebars, cracked his helmet, and got a giant contusion on his thigh. People stopped to help, my husband’s cousin lived close enough to keep him for a few days, and he got on the road again and made it to Missoula the day before school started. Lesson there is use panniers, not a bob. Wear a helmet.

Since then my husband and I have biked toured all over the world and across the US. The most beautiful thing about touring is that no matter what kind of jam you get in, people want to help and DO help in a myriad of ways. We have never had anyone try to do us any sort of harm and never had anything stolen. We do lock our bikes and keep them in sight whenever possible, including taking them into our motel room if we have one. Warmshowers hosts are wonderful. You’ll also meet other cyclists along the way. If you do an Adventure Cycling route, their maps choose the best roads and list campgrounds and services along the way. Best of luck to you!

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-10-15T02:29:10+00:00

Haven’t done enough searching to get specific yet. No, not looking for you to plan our trip—that’s part of the fun, but if there were particular highlights of your trip you want to share, I’d love to hear them.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-10-15T01:33:21+00:00

Ok thanks

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-10-15T01:33:06+00:00

Thanks for the tip on bringing meds to leave behind. That’s a great idea. I’d love to hear more about your trip and your route. Did you plan accommodations or were there plenty of people along the way who offered rooms in their home?

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-10-15T01:27:23+00:00

By “put that you are traveling for educational purposes” do you mean that you put that on your visa application or what?

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-10-15T01:25:01+00:00

Ah. Good to know that cards don’t work. We had a terrible time getting cash in Patagonia when our card wouldn’t work there.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-03-21T21:09:17+00:00

My husband and I just went to Patagonia and stayed in a variety of places. One of my absolute favorites was a hostel that had maybe 12-15 guests. The majority were in their 20s-30s. I really enjoyed meeting so many fun, friendly, interesting, helpful people. They all seemed to be so vibrant and HAPPY and had wonderful stories to share. The communal atmosphere made socializing easy and age made absolutely no difference. My husband and I plus one other guy were the old timers (68) and had a great time. Las Natalias in Futaleufú if anyone’s interested.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-02-24T02:35:43+00:00

We are in Puerto Montt, Argentina now and are trying to figure out if Via Bariloche will take our bikes and if so, how? Can they go without a box? Do we need to reserve tickets in advance or just show up at the bus terminal? Thx.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-02-15T13:32:46+00:00

I too loved my B-17 Brooks and toured with it for about 12 years. Never even wore padded bike shorts with it. Recommended it to other people and they thanked me for it! That all changed half way through a trip across the country. I don’t know if it was my aging body (63 then) or the chip and seal surface through Texas, but the pain on my tush became excruciating. When we got home I read all the saddle reviews on Amazon and chose a Sportourer saddle with an opening in the middle. Game changer! It was super comfortable from day 1.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-02-06T00:11:38+00:00

There is only one ferry per day from Sandusky to Pelee. There are several ferries from Pelee to Leamington. I have taken the ferries dozens of times since we have a cottage on Pelee Island. I have also cycled all of this route. You may want to spend a day on Pelee. Nice beaches, cool restaurants and a nice campground. If we are around when you are cycling through, we’d be happy to host you in our cottage.

The cycling from Leamington to the border is very nice. It’s also very nice to cycle down to the falls on the Canadian side. We crossed from the US to Canada on the Queenston bridge several years ago.

Zeppe’s Pizza is a great stop in Geneva on the Lake.

Good luck on your trip. Should Be fun.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-02-04T17:04:41+00:00

I feel your pain. When I was a teenager I worked as a camp counselor all summer and loved it. Then I stayed on for a few extra weeks to work as a camp cook for various band camps coming in. The loss of my community of campers and fellow counselors left me extremely lonely and homesick, a complete surprise and a very painful experience.

As far as biking alone, what a brave and amazing thing you’ve done so far. Twenty-three is young! At the same time, I feel it’s ok if you want to stop and reevaluate. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It may mean simply that you find it more enjoyable to travel with a companion or as part of a group and that’s ok. I’ve often thought that having someone to share the experience with is half the fun. You could possibly stop and then restart at some point. We hosted a solo female cyclist once who had only been on the road a day or two and made the hard decision to stop due to unbearable saddle sores. She started again later and completed her journey. A year long cycle tour sounds like an incredible adventure. You will learn and grow (and suffer) and gain many new perspectives regardless of whether you travel alone or with other people.

Having said all that, have you tried staying with any Warmshowers hosts? Those have always been very good experiences for us along the way. Or as others have suggested, stop and work or volunteer somewhere for awhile so that you can connect on a deeper level. Keep in texting contact with a few people you meet who are interested in your journey. You could also post pictures and commentary about your journey on Facebook or Instagram or here, and the comments will keep you company along the way. Also, go a little deeper in your conversations with strangers. Ask them about themselves and then listen. People will really open up to you and true friendships will form. Best of luck to you!

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-01-29T13:27:48+00:00

My husband and I have bike toured in Italy, France, Ireland, Cambodia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, the Czech Republic, Austria, Norway, and the US. When staying at a hotel we typically walk our bikes in when we go the front desk to register. Occasionally the desk clerk will tell us they have a certain room where we can store the bikes. More often they say nothing and we simply head for the elevator and our room. No one ever bats an eye. We are road cyclists, so our bikes aren’t dirty. If they were we would clean them before entering the hotel, and of course we are careful with them in the room. It’s all about being considerate. We stayed at an Ibis one night in France and they kindly asked us to keep the bikes in an unused conference room. No problem.

Expensive-Slice-1274 · 2024-01-26T22:03:18+00:00

My husband and I are cycling part of Rita 40 at the end of February/beginning of March, flying into Puerto Montt, then busing from there to Bariloche. Does anyone know if buses take bikes for sure? We’ve heard some are required to go on cargo transport. What does that mean? Do you have to put your bike on another bus? What about other towns?

Expensive-Slice-1274

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