From Tel Aviv, Israel to Mumbai, India - December, 1999

We arrived at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 9th in Mumbai (Bombay)... The better part of the first two days were spent trying to figure out who to talk to and what procedures to follow in order to extricate the motorcycles from the customs officials at the airport...We didn't spend all of our time hassling with the bureaucracy though, the cargo/customs were closed for the weekend so we managed to squeeze in a bit of sight-seeing...we finally got our bikes released on December 13th.

Details and costs:

3 Days (5 including weekend)
Fax to FIAA (Indian AA) from CAA (Canadian AA) authorizing authenticity of Carnet - We sent an email request Thursday evening and the faxed documents were received Friday morning.
Authorization letter from FIAA to Indian Customs officials
Visit to Customs Office at Mumbai docks (most vehicles enter Mumbai by sea) for Carnet paperwork
Roughly 27 signatures from various offices (Mumbai and at the airport)
$211 in fees (+ $2,200 for shipping and $1,100 airfare)
Flew Ro-Ro (uncrated), but price was same with/without crate: US$1,800 + $300 for paperwork and handling.
NOTE: Clearing agent requested $175 for 2 bikes (1 bike for $100) -- We did it ourselves, but it required a lot of leg-work.
Overlanders claimed it only took about an hour at border.
Upon reflection, we should have ridden across the Middle East.