HELP!

Just a short update for anyone following Barry and Alan on their RTW trip. As of today 19th June 07 at 05:15am U.K time, they are 80mls west of Novosibirsk, Also they have asked me to find out for them about flying arrangements out of Magadan, has anyone used the flights recently into or out of Magadan to or from the U.S.A, need to find out asap or they will have to go to Vladivostok, they'd prefer to go Magadan way.

Thanks to anyone who can supply me with upto date info of Magadan's flying situation.

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R.n.B. Caves Beach, NSW.

Live life to the MAX!! "one knows that one can, if one wants too".

Hi,

Flying there in a couple of weeks. No flights direct to U.S. anymore as Magadan Airlines is no longer in business (there are some old posts on the site that refer to this, formerly used to fly to Anchorage I believe). From Magadan you can go to Vladivostok twice a week and from there you can ferry or fly to Korea and onwards. Whether or not they will allow you to ship your motorcycle as cargo on that flight would be a question that likely could only be determined when you arrive in Magadan. Good luck and please post the link for their RTW trip.

There will always be some flyer at Magadan who will be able to obtain a plane, necessary permissions and fly it to somewhere in North America. It's just a matter of numbers - numbers of Dollars

In Russia (and, I believe, USA for that matter) anything is possible - but at a cost, as well as who you have as your 'fixer' working things for you.

Given a few weeks still remaining, it might be possible for A&B to get others to join in; which increases the aircraft's load but reduces the financial load per person.

An alternative, which I started exploring a few months ago (with more than one positive initial response), is to arrange such a person from USA to fly to Russia to collect (or drop off - I was seriously considering going the 'reverse' way round for quite a few positive reasons- and might next year).

Sadly (?) I am on the roads in Russia myself now, so have no access to my records and phone numbers at home, but there were people in Hamilton, Alaska who sounded less than negative at the idea. Probably loving the idea of making lots of money!

As with most in life, it costs.

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Vitim Bridge Clubwww.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533442
www.sibirskyextreme.com

Thanks, Mountain Man, Tony.P

For the good info supplied i have passed it on to Barry n Alan and i'll leave it up to them to decide, if any more info arises in a couple of days it'll be gladly passed on, as for you Tony thanks also your info has been forwarded to AnB so it up to them to make the decision, hope your enjoyin your trek in Russia somewhere. Oh! Barry txd me last night there in "Barnaul" they been out on the tiles with some Russian bikers, there off out again tonight with them, there showing then the town, Baz said they should be in Mongolia by Friday our time.

Thanks again to all.

Roi. n Bron

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R.n.B. Caves Beach, NSW.

Live life to the MAX!! "one knows that one can, if one wants too".

Hi
I was thinking about my last post during my wait at BMW Autodom, Moscow this morning.

It may not have been Hamilton but Fairbanks, Alaska. I certainly spoke to a tour operator in Fairbanks who ccasionally takes clients to Russia.


Talking of Autodom - I found it typical of anything BMW. You go in and find a white marble palace full of smarly dressed people - all doing nothing. And all very adept at avoiding eye contact with an enquiring customer who had prebooked. Who pays for all this?

I was particularly impressed with FOUR 'salesmen' standing behind the 'BMW only' polish and shampoo counter that was only 12 feet long. That is about three product lines per salesman. Not a customer in sight over there - yet I waited 15 minutes to be 'greeted' at Reception. And I think she only averted her eyes from her screen to go for a pee. That was my chance - I started talking.
That was at 9 this morning. A full hour and a half after arriving for my prebooked service I departed to go shopping nearby. The bike had not moved from where I parked it in the car park (sorry - "Valued Customer Arrival Area").
At 3pm they rang me to say the bike would not be ready today (they are open well into the evening). A prebooked 10,000km service plus fit a stock tyre? Come on.

The whole BMW theme always annoys me. They behave as if there is no other make of motorcycle ever made. They make you travel quite large distances to get their services because the investment to be a Dealership is so great and draconian that you need a wide territory to make it pay and they will not allow any other Motorcycle Establishment to deal with them. And when you do get there the bike section is generally apologetically tucked away behind everything else. Even the car wash got greater prominence and was nearer Reception than the Motorrad signs, which were at the rear adjacent to a wooden fence by the rubbish skips!

But their bikes are good. Not great, but good.

Rant over!

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www.sibirskyextreme.com