From Vancouver, Canada to Paris, France - April, 2005

I contacted Jenny Keel early on in the process and we coordinated everything ahead of time by email. She was very prompt in returning emails and answering questions and the whole process went exactly according to plan. Only about a week's notice was needed to schedule the shipment, but we were in contact a couple of months in advance.

Worldwide Animal Travel is located at the Vancouver Airport in the Cargo area. Their primary business is shipping animals from Vancouver, BC to locations all over the world, but they have also shipped several motorcycles over the years. Their primary shipper to Europe is KLM Cargo and they have a very good relationship with the folks at KLM.

Jenny Keel and the folks at Animal Travel were very helpful and getting the bike ready was a breeze. I just had to have less than 1/4 tank of gas remaining, the battery cables disconnected and taped, and the dirt and grime on the bike wiped down. They even helped me clean the bike! Most importantly, the bike needs to be delivered to the shipper at least 48 hours prior to departure for security reasons.

I left everything on the bike during shipment: my aluminum side panniers, rear top box, tank bag, tank panniers and two large dry bags strapped to the tops of the side panniers.

Retrieving the bike in Paris was straightforward. The bike was shipped from Canada on KLM Cargo, but Swissport was the agent in Paris. After picking up the paperwork from Swissport we then walked about a half mile to the French Customs office. The customs officials were very friendly and were mainly concerned if we were planning on selling the bike in France (if so, they wanted duty on the value of the bike), and whether we had the required "green card insurance" which is mandatory for all vehicles travelling in Europe. After explaining that we had no plans to sell the bike and showing our insurance card, the customs officials wished us luck and we were on our way back to Swissport to get the bike. We showed the Swissport officials the customs documents, paid a fee of 64 euros and were shown the Transalp parked out back in the warehouse. The bike arrived in perfect condition.

The whole customs process in Paris was very simple, it probably took no more than two hours from the time we arrived to the time we were reunited with the bike. Everyone was very helpful during the entire process, although a knowledge of French sped things up a bit.

You can take the metro and RER trains from central Paris to the cargo area near Charles de Gaulle Airport and a bus will take you right to the Swissport warehouse.

The final cost was $1350 Canadian Dollars in Vancouver and 64 euros in Paris. The bike shipped was one 1989 Honda Transalp. Overall, the whole process was very simple and stress-free. I would highly recommend this shipper!