After learning that Barcelona was on the list and as I only live 3 hours away from the Calgary airport I booked my flight with Westjet assuming that the transport of my motorcycle would be a done deal and on the same flight. It was my intention to head south from there and cross into Africa. I had contacted AMC Air Marine Cargo Inc. prior to do my due diligence, but they now inform me that they don't ship to Barcelona for some administrative reason that made my eyes glaze over....

I contacted Todd at Avisar International as mentioned by vbharley previously and Todd said he can make it happen. He now, however, does not respond to my emails.:mad: My flight is June 3rd so I'm getting a bit anxious.

My options, as I see them, are to harass Todd at Avisar in the hopes that he can make good on his claim. The other option is to change my flight to Paris or Rome and make the trip into Africa from a greater distance. I'm leaning towards that option. In any event the planning with Westjet may be in vain as their pilots have recently participated in a strike vote and labour action may be imminent.

On top of all that the person in Nigeria who agreed to write me a "letter of invitation" so I could get a visa is in the process of renewing their passport. Accordingly they don't have a current copy of their passport in their possession. A copy of their passport is apparently required to accompany their invitation letter to satisfy the Nigerian consulate here.

I'm starting to think God does not want me to take this trip.

It’s all gone to $hit. I’m currently in Paris, the freight company that was to receive my bike said the waybill is incomplete and won’t take the bike. The shipper in Calgary that WestJet uses (AMC) has not returned my phone call even when I told dispatch it was urgent. So far the program is crap. This is not the service they advertise.

That's an easy question to answer. It's because of the wind.

In the northern hemisphere, the prevailing wind is from the west to the east. If you take a look at flight times on an airline's booking page, you will see that it takes about 15% more flying time to do a Europe-Canada trip than it does to do a Canada-Europe trip along the same route.

Because of this, the airline has to add more fuel to the aircraft for the westbound trip. Aircraft have a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), and the payload on an aircraft consists of passengers, their baggage, freight, and fuel.

On an eastbound flight, it is often possible to have full seats, all the freight that is desired, all the necessary fuel, and still be below the MTOW. On a westbound flight, if you need to add (for example) 8,000 pounds of extra fuel to provide for the additional flying time going west, you might hit the MTOW before you get all 8,000 pounds of extra fuel on board. This means you now have to offload either pax or freight to stay under the MTOW. Freight is usually what gets offloaded, or, if freight demand is high and/or the freight is perishable, the airline won't sell tickets for every available seat on the aircraft. To make up for the lost revenue, the airline charges a higher price to fly the bike westbound.

There might be some influence on the price due to asymmetric cargo flow (more freight going west than going east) on certain routes, for example, flowers from Netherlands shipped to North America, but for the most part, it is the need to carry more fuel when going westbound that increases the "price per pound" charged to carry the motorcycle on the westbound trip.

Michael

Beakers motorcycle MIA?
 

BeakersAdventure motorcycle MIA?



"I’m currently in Paris, the freight company that was to receive my bike said the waybill is incomplete and won’t take the bike."


Curious: Where is your motorcycle? Still in Canada?


Regards,

I am really sorry about what is happening to you right now. Thanks a lot for sharing! It is very helpful for all of us. I wish you the best.

Tell us what is missing from the waybill and maybe we can help you complete the missing information. Waybills are pretty simple documents, there is nothing particularly complicated about them.

Michael

Update:

I am home, and so is the bike! It was quite a stressful ordeal.

The lesson learned, is don't hire a freight forwarder to manage the shipping from a country NOT in the location you are shipping from.

Longer version:
Plan was to drop off the bike on Monday morning 6 am for the 2 pm flight. When I arrived, the shipping company in Paris said it was missing the French Customs portion of the Airway Bill (AWB) and being 6 am in Paris = 10 pm Sunday Night in Calgary—no chance of getting the AWB fixed in time.

I had a phone number/contact for a Freight forwarder associated with Westjet in CDG (Paris airport). She picked up the phone at 7am, 2hrs before her office opened. She needed to wait until 4 pm to talk with Westjet so that ruled out flying the bike home on the Monday. BUT what she did do was get things rolling for me such as re-scheduling the flight, getting someone that could help me get the French Customs form done.

By Monday 5:30pm I had the correct AWB, French customs clearance, my flight moved to Tuesday, The bikes flight moved to Tuesday, and a commitment to accept my bike at 6:30am Tuesday morning and have it on the plane for 2pm.

Heros:
Clare Bury - Aero Cargo (Freight Forwarder) - CDG
Johan Sourdet - TAF (Customs Clearance) - CDG
WFS - Reception staff. Did everything they could to help.

If you have the time, it's not a bad one. There is a direct(ish) ferry from Genoa to Tangier, it's 2,5 days sailing, but saves a lot of gas/hotel/wear&tear. Currently looks to be about 350 euros for a person, a bike, and a shared cabin berth.

I took that ferry (Genoa to Tanger Med, with a stop in Barcelona) about 5 years ago. It wasn't exactly what I would call a ""delightful time on a cruise ship".

The ship itself is quite old, and the passengers are primarily Moroccans and their large families returning to Morocco. The food was unremarkable and also expensive.

If someone does elect to take that ferry in the future, my recommendation is that you pay the price to get a single cabin, which is what I did. That's not a cheap choice, I think the single cabin premium was about €300 on top of the basic fare, but I'm awfully glad I did that. I was able to sleep away from the considerable noise in the common areas, and also have a private shower and bath.

From an economics point of view, the €350 basic fare + another €100 for food is less than the cost of riding from Genoa to Morocco - your gas, tolls, wear & tear on your tires, and hotel charges will certainly be more than that if you ride the bike on that route. But for the sake of your sanity, and to ensure that you don't develop a strong dislike for mankind in general by the time you get off the ferry, I really recommend that you get a private cabin for that trip.

Michael

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm not pressed for time and I've not seen much of Europe so I've made the decision to fly into Paris and ride south through Spain. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the countryside.

The only real change to my planning is to keep the tires I have on now and haul some fresh one with me which I'll install when these are worn out.

A few important lessons scattered amongst the posts above. The most obvious is not to take anything for granted--airlines change schedules, make mistakes, go on strike; shippers display ignorance, fall off the map, or dissemble (which is sometimes called "lying"); border rules change without notice, even in the absence of global pandemics. The ability to respond flexibly without catastrophizing or sliding into despair is often the difference between a wonderful trip and pure living hell.

Meanwhile, I sure hope Canucklr is aware of what it means to be riding across inland Europe, then West Africa during summertime.

wesjet
 

You have to admit that the cargo handlers found a No BS way of shipping the legacy Africa Twin
Thats the way it done a whole cookie sheet for the twin

Nope. Probably best you not tell me either before I am actually there. It probably helps to be a bit naïve when planning such a trip. I suspect, however, the experience will be a slight departure from my life here amongst the mountains of western Canada.

Ok, i won't ruin your fun. I won't tell you.

I will just say that it might be a good idea develop the habit of monitoring any increase in heart rate or breathing that don't match with the physical effort you are doing while riding. If they don't match, stop riding!


Patrick

Apparently Westjet and its pilots have reached a tentative deal and a strike/lockout has been averted. I'm going to Africa.

Holy sh**! I'm going to Africa!!!

I have to pick an outfit...do my hair......so many tasks in the next two weeks. :)