Robyn,

I would imagine the cheapest solution would be the Ikea bag.  I think we paid $3 or less for ours.  We packed two full panniers and one empty one in each of our Ikea bags.  Then they were checked baggage.  They were strong enough to take the beating the airlines might give.  Now we are two months into our trip and the other day I was wondering what the heck was at the bottom of one of my panniers.  Oh, it's that Ikea bag just waiting to be filled again when we go home.  This is the second trip I've done this and it seems to work perfectly.  I think this would also work perfectly for you.  It's nice to not have to think about finding a bag at the end of your tour.  Just look at the bottom of your pannier and there is the solution.  

Are you still in China?

No, it was just a week-long visit at the end of October.

Hi Robyn, I've recently become acquainted with you when I saw you mentioned in one of the Anderson's comments. My husband and I are fellow kiwis and currently locked down in Auckland dreaming of the day we can get to Europe to cycle tour as no doubt you are too. We were doing a tour in Puglia and Andalucia in 2019 when you would have been on Switzerland/France tour. It's certainly given us a hunger to get back and do more. We are planning to buy bikes in Europe and leave them somewhere as the starting point to return to when we go back (as regularly as possible). Trish Graham gave me the idea when she mentioned she used a storage unit. I was wondering whether you have done a similar thing with your bikes?
Also great this conversation as I was tying to figure out the same question! 

Cheers, Carolyn

Hi Carolyn

Great to hear from you!

I spent ages looking for cheapish storage options before our 2019 trip. Finally spent 30 mins on the phone with a French guy who managed storage units in Paris and surrounds. We agreed on a location well out of the city but near a train station etc.

Fortunately,  as it happened, we met a fellow parkunner (something I'm passionate about - read Here ) at the start of our trip who insisted we store our bikes in her garage in Switzerland. So we cancelled the Paris booking and did just that. 

Who knew Covid would come along? So our bikes have been in a small village near Geneva since Sept 2019 and who know how long it will be till we get back to them!

Re baggage: My solution was to buy a cheap  but sturdy, I think, 100 litre duffel bag from K Mart and a very lightweight nylon backpack (cabin bag) that both fold up to nothing. This means I can carry them both on the bike. They're still waiting to be tested, of course. We left our panniers, helmets etc with our bikes.

Like you, we're missing Europe. Still have our Singapore Airline credits.  Maybe 2023? I hope that, now you're out of lockdown, you can do some exploring locally. We're planning on doing the Great Taste trail around Nelson next week, towing our puppy in a trailer. It isn't France but will have to do!

Thanks so much for your reply Robyn! How fortunate that you were able to store your bikes in a fellow parkrunner's  garage especially now it's turned into years. The expense would be mounting by now in a storage unit. Would you be able to pass on the name of the storage unit company you made contact with in Paris? And the cost that you would have been looking at? Seems like this would be something a lot of bike tourers would be interested in that are coming from US, Canada and our side of the world. Would be great if there was some sort of website ... like airbnb!

We too are planning to do the Great Taste trail in January after completing the Round the Mountains Trail in Queenstown. So relieved Jacinda announced we will be 'let out' in December. Though I'm not sure how pleased the rest of the country will be feeling about that!

So you're waiting until 2023 before thinking of going back to Europe. The Anderson's are always so inspiring and they seem to manage to slip in tours just before an outbreak arrives.

You never know, Carolyn, if things stabilise in Europe we might be tempted  next year  - watch this space!

I've checked my old emails but can't have kept the correspondence,  unfortunately. From memory, around 50 Euro per month?

If you're passing through Picton in Jan or later, let us know and we can meet for a coffee and bike touring tales??  Robyn 0272515988

Better to be lucky than smart, that’s our mantra.  

This might be somewhat-related since the comments seem to be about packing the gear and bikes for the trip. I normally ship the bikes to the destination in their bike boxes and stuff all the gear for the trip in the box with the bike. The bike arrives with the gear I need for the trip, and all I need to do is fly to the bike with my off-bike clothes, toiletries, and electronic gear. I have a small compressible backpack that I take on the plane with me to fly to my destination.

For me, shipping continental US with insurance is roughly $120 per bike. It's less than the $150 airlines used to charge, and I don't have to worry about the 50lb weight restriction. 

Such neat packing, Paul! And good use of cable ties.

We're fortunate in the southern hemiphere not to have to pay for our bikes, so long as they are within baggage allowance.