I was thinking of copying the Bike Friday suitcase trailer method for my Merc. It seems delightfully simple -at the airport carry in your clothes and luggage in a backpack and check in the bike inside the hard case along with the backpack. At the other end, take out the bike and trailer wheels, set up the trailer, stow your backpack and contents in the suitcase, hitch up and off you ride.
The idea seems marvelous - the actuality? Well that may be different. It does have real versatility though, and leaves you entirely self sufficient. Having just come back from a walking holiday in a country where I had five or six words of the language, I can see the advantages of not having to negotiate the purchase of a bike box in a foreign land.