Shipping the bike home:
Here is where the story takes a bit of a turn into the wall. Originally the plan (instruction from AMC) was to drop the bike off 24hrs prior to the booked flight. The bike was originally going to fly with me Monday 2pm (on the same flight). The week before I left, I was instructed to drop the bike off at 6am Monday because the shipping company was not open on the weekend and could not accept the bike.

Monday
(6:00am)
Bright and early I was waiting at the reception desk. The person at the front desk took a 10sec look at the paperwork and said. "Nope its wrong, we cannot accept. Return with a valid Air Way Bill". WHAT?. It turns out one box was missing an "X" that had to do with customs.

(7:00am) Standing outside the shipping company with no clue what to do next. Currently 10pm Sunday back in Calgary where the company that produced the paperwork is located.

Enter Hero #2. Claire Bury with Aero Cargo in Paris (CDG). I got her number before I left as she was the freight rep for WestJet in Paris. I called her, and amazingly she picked up at 7am even though her office did not open until 9am. She spoke English and was willing to help me out. She informed me that she needed to wait until WestJet opened at 4pm Paris time before we could do anything.

(7:15am - 12:00pm)
Commence stressing out for the next 9hrs. Instead of running in tight circles in my tiny hotel room, I decided to see if I could get to the bottom of the French customs portion. Fortunately, I still had the bike, so I rode to the airport customs office. Great ladies! they were very accommodating and even brought out a translator to try to help with my questions. They ended up pointing me back to a freight forwarder and advised that I could not fill out the paperwork myself. I needed a customs clearance broker (I think that's what they are). Another dead end.

(12:00pm)
Still 4hrs to wait. I re-scheduled my flight to the following day and I decided to start to look into "Plan B" where I park the bike somewhere for a week or two and fly back home, get things sorted and return. The hotel offered underground secure parking for a pretty steep rate. This was an option (although an expensive one) to have in the back pocket.

(3:30pm)
I get a call from Claire. She can help!!! I think I said "Thank you" a dozen times (Enough to make even this Canadian think he was overdoing it!)
Here is what has to happen:
1. I need to get a new Airway bill with the SCI customs box checked.
2. Return to the shipping company and see if they will accept the bike

(3:45pm)
Luckily AMC has a Toronto office, and by this time they answered the phone. They were able to re-send the AWB this time with the SCI box checked unfortunately with 5 "XXXXX". When I returned to the shipping company, they would not accept it. It could only be 1 "X".... Another phone call, and finally this was sorted. The shipping company then said great, where are the customs documents.....

(4:20pm)
Claire calls the freight company to figure out what is going on. It turns out the customs paperwork can be completed by a company she works with. I hustle to their office a few blocks away, and Hero #3 enters the story. Johan Sourdet with TAF can get me the paperwork TONIGHT. He pulls all the stops, gets the customs office representative to stamp the documents, prints them off for me and tells me "no charge, get out of here and back to the shipper before they close!!! Rush!" Legend.

(5:30pm)
Back at the freight company. The paperwork is all in order, and the bike can be accepted. But it's too late, come back tomorrow morning... Ahhhhhh I asked them to triple-check all the paperwork. Yep, it's all good. I can relax, at 6:30am they will accept the bike. Off to find a large bottle of alcohol staggering distance from the hotel... What a day.

Tuesday
(6:30am)
Bike was delivered to the shipper. They checked the paperwork again, and all was in order. The bike is accepted by 7:30am. Time to walk back to the hotel and grab my stuff. I cannot believe the bike is FINALLY going to be loaded into an airplane. Before I dropped the bike off, I put an Apple Air Tag on the bike to follow its journey.

(1:00pm)
I am at the airport waiting for my flight at 2pm and I see the bike jump from the shipping company back warehouse to somewhere VERY close to me. Sure enough I can see them unloading it off a pallet right next to my plane. Its actually happening! I was able to watch (and film) them loading it into the aircraft. Boarding was shortly afterwards and knowing the bike was on the aircraft with me was such a relief. Finally.

8hrs later, I land in Calgary and 2hrs after that I get a message the bike is available for pickup. Tomorrow I get to bring her home!

Wednesday - Calgary
Jetlag, be dammed! At Canada customs at 8am, hand in my document from the shipping company holding the bike and the simple import form to the Canada customs agent. Because the motorcycle is over 15yrs old, its fairly straightforward. They take a copy of the bill of sale and my German registration. Accept my customs exception of $800 since I was out of the country for 7days. Pay the $245 customs fee and off to pick up the bike. Pay the shipping company more handling fees of $200 and the bike is mine, legal in Canada and all that's left is an out-of-province inspection.

I now have a 100% legal Honda Africa Twin waiting for this summer's adventures. Crazy plan, an amazing bike, an unforgettable trip, and remarkable people helping me along the way. Amazing, thank you to everyone that helped make this happen. A story I will have for the rest of my life.

Here are the lessons learned:
1. Hire a local freight forwarding company at the airport you are flying out of
2. Ensure they can get you the customs documents (one stop service)
3. Do not plan ANYTHING time sensitive on a Monday morning. Weekends everything shuts down and nothing happens before 9am.

If I would have done the items listed above, I am certain the entire process would have been smooth sailing. Live and learn.

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