Motorcycling Western Europe

Art had a dream since getting his motorcycle license in 1973 to motorcycle across Europe. The Big Red Motorcycle Heidi gave him for his 50th birthday was too big and loud for this trip, so we decided to trade up to, of course, a fine European bike capable of handling the the European roads, the two of us as well as all the gear needed for our 6 month adventure. We bought a BMW K1600GTL and set about planning for the trip. Art researched the costs and logistics of getting the bike to Europe and Heidi set about figuring our the minimal amount of gear needed to take on this momentous adventure. The picture below shows my 6 month allotment of space for Art’s clothes, electronics, etc. Air Canada had an offer that exactly fit our needs, “Fly your Bike to Europe” was the name of the program. With all the Air Canada air miles Art had accumulated during his working life we were able to fly for free. The air cargo program then allowed us to ship the bike and all our stuff inside the belly of the same plane that delivered us to Frankfurt Germany. This cost us $1,400 inclusive of brokerage fees, not bad when you consider it would whisk us all around Europe for 6 months.