I'll be flying out of Toronto on or about the 10th of April. As the plan stands right now Ill be flying into Paris then head south to hopefully warmer riding weather. I had planned on running north but was reminded at how crapy the weather can be during that time of year so I hit re-route on the GMaps and now it's south. After all; isn't that what touring is right? Pick a direction and go with it.

So the mountains in the south Alps sounds like a good plan to me. I have some friends who live in Italy so that will be on the stop list as is a run into Spain just to say I was there and hold me over until I get a trip set up to run over to Madrid. I was in Madrid back in 2002 to fly the POTUS *** and trash around for a few weeks. The town has a nice vibe that I have wanted to get back and see on my own time.

Thats it in a nut shell. Im still trying to figure out the bag option for the bike. I have a set of old police hard bags in the mail and have been talking to others on the board to figure out how to mount the bags to the bike. Short of welding some hard points to the frame my options are limited as I want to stay away from the "easy bracket" options and still keep the original look of the bags.

 

After 2 months of anticipation for my trip to Europe Im here. Woot. The bike drop-off was painless in Toronto. Sign a few papers disconnect the battery and lock a few items into my hard case and I left it standing there in the cargo hanger. One day later I fly to Paris spend way to much time finding a ride over to the cargo area. My French is all but non existent so I had to muddle my way thru but once I got over to Fret 6 or Cargo area 6 and found Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) building. Building B6 is what I had to find. I was off and walking literally due to my cab driver not knowing jack **** about the Cargo side of the house at CDG. I think most of them only know Paris and back to the airport routes. Of course he did not have any change so I told him to find some and after walking around for 20 min I told him I would give him 10euro and 10 US. He jumped at it I think I wore him out and he knew I had all day so WTF did I care? I'll play your silly games. lol I win!

So.. WFS had my paperwork and gave me a pile of it to take over to customs at the next building over. So off I went walk right in no line. Nice French lady helps me and hooks me up with 60days worth of EU travel time and tells me if I need more just find a local customs office in the EU and they can extend it. Sweet back over to WFS (B6) and wait for 45 min to get my bike after paying 85euro for airport tax. Looked like a coffee fund to me but what do I care its all the price of doing business. 20 minutes later out comes the bike tied to a pallet. The fork lift operator puts it out of the way in the loading dock area so I can take my time to unload inspect and let the bike back up.
30 min later I was rolling down the loading ramp and off to the Hotel.

Today looks to be a nice ride into Paris for some photos then Im off for North Europe tagging.

Here is a photo of the bike at send off in Toronto.


And here is a photo of it at at pick up in France CDG

 

Great post, Sieg. There are many of us anxious to hear and see more from you. I noticed that you use the Biker's Friend roll bag. It's one of the best purchases I have ever made. Keep the posts and pics coming.

Chuck (Retired Army Guy)

 

Have fun in Europe Sieg! What are the travel plans for the coming weeks?


(BTW: you are right about the cab drivers in France. Last time I travelled to our Paris office I had to give the guy the directions along the way. Was close to taking over the steering wheel )

 

have fun and be safe my friend !

 

Very interesting. Have a great trip.

 

A short video of me in Paris on the Harley.
http://siegrist.us

 

We are planning to move to France and we want to ship our motorcycles. Can someone suggest the cheapest way to do so and please provide company names so we can get started with quotes.

 

Last year I shipped 2 bikes(1 Ultra & 1RKC) to Italy and I used Schumacher Cargo they were pretty reasonable cost wise and the bikes arrived at destination(Genoa,Italy) without a scratch.Few years ago I shipped my Porsche to Le Havre,France and that too arrived undamaged ,I 've also used another company called Freightmar to ship a Chevy HHR to Bremerhaven,Germany and they too were pretty reliable.All the vehicles were delivered by me to their warehouses in New Jersey.Good luck!

 

Have a look on the Horizons unlimited web site