Seattle to Korea by Air
 

Hi everyone,

is anyone out there, who has reliable info about flying my mc from seattle to incheon/korea? Does United take bikes? How much $$$ for 550 pounds/250 kg?

Any info is helpful.

Thanks for now,
Harti:confused1:

Vancouver, BC to Incheon ran me US$1300, Korean Air Cargo in mid-August 2010. Suzuki DR650 with all luggage.

An option to consider.

Cheers
Sean

Sean,

thank you for getting back to me so quickly.

Did you hire an agent or did you work it out yourself? What are the obstacles in Korea? I hear that you can't drive your mc yourself out of the airport because there are only highways and no minor roads and mc are not allowed on highways. True or false?

Cheers, Harti

Hi

Here is a thread where the ins and outs of getting into and riding around Korea are discussed. People have had different levels of hassle regarding number plates, insurance, and riding on the main highways in Korea. Regarding the highways: You can ride away from the airport, but the airport is on Incheon island, and the two bridges connecting to the mainland are considered motorways. Some have been able to ride on them without getting noticed, others get caught and deal with the fallout, I took the cheap and quick ferry.:innocent:

I worked with LEI to have it shipped. Had the bike crated at a dealership (Richmond Motorsports), and LEI arranged for it to be picked up. I also had fresh tires, chain and sprockets installed before crating. No charge for the crate, only for the labor for parts installation and tie-downs (nice industrial strength ones).

Awesome support at LEI, highly recommended. Richmond Motorsports also took very good care of the bike; very friendly and professional staff.

Hope all of this helps!
Sean

Howdy Sean,

very interesting info's.
Do you happen to know where in Zarubino I get mc insurance for my trip westbound? And someone mentioned one should bring rubel into russia. I guess you can't just buy rubel in any korean bank, can you?

Take care,
Harti

Can't help you with Zarubino, but it has been used as an entry point by many overlanders, so there should be some wisdom out there.

I don't think I had any rubles when I arrived in Vladik. There was a bank of ATMs in the ferry terminal and I was able to successfully extract rubles from one of them.

Cheers
Sean

This is for Japan:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...686#post312180

But it should apply for Korea too. In the case I referred to, the bike changed planes in Korea.

You have to buy insurance at the Zarubino customs before they will let your bike enter Russia. There is a bank/money chnager in the customs office.

Don't worry about things like this, many travellers have done it before you and the infrastructure is in place to deal with any and all travel requirements - this applies to just about any possible country you can imagine riding in.

Sean,

just for my peace of mind...
did you ever get the tax deposit from the korean customs back? Or didn't you make one?

I'm right now in Korea and payed a lot.

Harti

I don't recall making a tax deposit, possibly because they accepted my carnet.

I have previously shipped the other way (Korea - Seattle) but cannot see why it should not be possible to use the same shipper. I used Wendy Choi at Aero International (via Air Korea). She was incredibly helpful with all aspects of the shipping and managed to arrange it so that we did not have to leave a deposit when we initially entered Korea. As an added bonus much cheaper than any other quote.

You can get Roubles at Zarubino at an ATM, same at plenty of ATMs in Vlad but maybe a good idea to take a little in just in case.

Lee