Best Destination for AirCanada trip to Europe
 

Starting the research on getting the bike to Europe via the Air Canada deal.

Ignoring any price difference , is there any particular destination where the arrival/customs process is significantly easier to warrant that destination being higher on the list?

Or where speaking only English will be a hurdle?

As near as I can tell, the major destination options are:

London, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, and Dublin. We were just in Italy so I left out Rome, Milan, and Venice.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
James

I have had no trouble at all shipping into Paris Charles de Gaulle. In fact, on one occasion, the plane landed at 8:00 AM, and I was riding down the road at 10:00 AM.

If you are concerned about language (being unilingual English), in addition to shipping into the UK (which I DO NOT recommend), you could ship into Germany or Switzerland, and be reasonably assured that the customs officials will speak English. Also Ireland, of course, but be aware it is expensive to get from Ireland to the continent.

If I had to ship my bike today, I would ship into France or Germany or Switzerland.

Be aware that no matter where you ship into, you are going to get dinged for storage charges at the destination, even if you claim the bike immediately. I suggest you budget about CAD $150 for fees to get the bike cleared and out of the freight shed. Plus about $30 or $40 for the taxi ride to the freight area, which is inevitably on the opposite side of the runway from the passenger terminal.

Michael

I've shipped into Germany, although not with Air Canada. Getting my bike released was simple, took a few hours, and we managed despite their general lack of English and my absolute lack of German. There was one unexpected fee of some sort which required Euros, and I had to prove I had pre-arranged green card insurance.

I wouldn't ship into the UK or Ireland unless I wanted to actually BE in the UK or Ireland. If it comes down to this, it's worth a couple of hundred dollars and/or a half-day of bureaucratic hassle to be where you want to be.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark