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The original planning for this year was to go on a hiking/biking/sailing tour around the Balkan Lake in Siberia, Russia. Unfortunately a declining enthusiasm in the group and problems getting the visa in time finally lead to cancellation of the trip.
Since cold weather was planned anyway the alternative became Iceland; a country where I wanted to go before but the price level always stopped my from going there.
How I got there... From Amsterdam Icelandair flies daily to Keflavík airport. In summer season there are also charter flights from Düsseldorf and Hamburg in Germany but I was too early in season for that. Including airport taxes a return costs just over € 650 (currently about US$ 600).
Taking my bike was quite a challenge. Until 1999 the general rule was that someone taking a bike from Europe to Iceland was allowed 30 kgs of luggage including the bike instead of 20 kgs of luggage. In 2000 that rule changed and only 20 kgs was allowed not including the bike, the bike was an additional US$ 20 one-way. In 2001 that rule was changed again and bikes had to paid as excess luggage at a rate of around US$ 11 per kilogram one-way. For a randonneur like mine US$ 375 for a return flight. This regulation didn't last very long because from 1st March 2001 the rules were changed again and now we're back to the year 2000 system: 20 kgs of luggage plus an additional US$ 35 for a bike one-way.
When I came at Amsterdam airport at the check-in desk they gave an invoice for my bike to be paid at the excess luggage desk in order to get my boarding card. At the excess luggage desk they had no idea about Icelandair's latest regulations with respect to bikes so they assumed it was still the old 30 kgs rule. At the invoice was stated I had 26 kgs of luggage (which I had; excluding my bike) and it was assumed that was the total weight of my luggage and bike so I got my boarding card without paying anything extra for my bike. Additionally I booked a domestic flight from Reykjavík to Egilsstaðir with Flugfélag Íslands (also known as Air Iceland). This is the only domestic airline company in Iceland that takes bikes. The fee in 2001 was ISK 3200 (about € 35 or US$ 30). Note that it is only possible to take bikes on flights flown with a Fokker 50 plane.
I had to pack the bike properly and bring it to the plane myself but apart from that everything went very smoothly and within the hour I was on the other side of the country.
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