I'm biking to the airport soon on my touring bike. I'll be putting it a plastic bag and arriving in Amsterdam for a 3 week tour on the North Sea Route. I'm cool with just about everything as I've toured in Europe several times. The thing is that some crazy people have changed the rules! I have to change the way I pack.

Here are a few questions I need tourers to answer. Yes, tourers, people who tour with their bikes!

1. I've bought a new alcohol stove. Can I pack it?
2. How about the alcohol? Can I pack that too?
3. Matches, I'm very confused about matches. Can I pack them?
4. Anything else I should know before I bike to the airport?

Alcohol and matches are available in Amsterdam....no worries there!

As to the rest, I've never flown with a bike, so I'll leave that to others to answer as I couldn't even answer that under the old rules!

Have fun on your tour and we'll look forward to hearing about it when you are back!

I've posted this many time before, but I'll post it again:

https://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm

These are the regulations for packing bicycles. Then if you go to the site for the airline you are using, you can find out what the regulations are for everything else. It varies from airline to airline.

You don't say where you are flying out of...but in the USofA TSA has the say in what is allowed and what is not. Flammables ARE NOT packed or carry aboard.

Aaron

No reason not to pack an empty, clean (or better yet, unused) stove of any kind. Airline and TSA security people will probably get nervous, though, so have a copy of the airline's rules handy and be ready to politely explain that there's nothing flammable in the stove.

No reason to bring alcohol or matches on the plane, so don't cause problems for yourself. Just pick them up when you land in Amsterdam.

Get on the airline's website and read the rules for everything about you and your equipment that might be a little out of the ordinary (stove, bicycle, etc.), and make sure you are in compliance (bicycle prepared/packed as required, etc.).

Get to the airport early so the baggage handlers have time to load your bike carefully, instead of being in a rush.

I would never take flamables on board it's broadly illegal, but i would leave the specifics to people who actually know the details. In a post shampoo world, who knows.

While I hate the waste of those butane stoves that have the compressed gas cartridges, I found the fuel widely available in euro. They are light and there really isn't any residual smell once the cartridges are burned off so you can pack the stove bit for the return trip, with few worries.

Anyway, have a great trip.

For alcohol, make proper arrangements. Start with Heineken (brewed) in Amsterdam (5%), ride to Ambt-Delden for a Duth home-grown organic wine (12 %) go to the Harlingen branch of Beerenburger (30 %) and the rest of you trip gives you 'wings'.

Oh, you mean for your stove?
Come and cook with me or my brother on the itinerary.
And we can try the alcohol where it is meant for...

arie,
you sound like just the resource I need. I'm arriving at Schiphol and heading directly for Den Helder by train with my bike. I'll probably stay at a guest house for the night and then head out down the North Sea Route. I plan on camping, but I'll need to buy stove alcohol. Where can I buy that? Here I buy it from the hardware store. They used to call that the iron mongers in UK, but now it is the DYI. In Canada we call it methyl hydrate, what is it called in Netherlands?

As to cooking with you and bro', I guess it depends what you're cooking. You would be surprise what I can cook up with my Trangia. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

You knwo, you can just bike out of Schiphol. I did that many years ago at least.
Isn't methyl hydrate just methanol?
Look for art supply or auto parts shops.
Its used as a paint thiner or as a gas antifreeze (sold as HEET in the US). its also used as a race fuel.
At elast most people speak english in the netherlands, so it shouldn't be too hard

It's called Meths in UK. Runs steam engines, fondue sets, and is used in quantity by yachties in their alcohol stoves. Solid fuels have replaced it in some uses. Has all kinds of synonyms.

stokell,

good data on international fuel names here:

https://www.members.iinet.net.au/~mbu...el/index.shtml

Airlines are funny. Especially with the TSA running around. I wanted to bring my own juice to drink since everything in the terminal is overpriced and disgusting, but "liquid containers over 3 ounces aren't allowed". The fact of the matter is, an airplane is a flying tank of gas. You don't need flammable or explosive liquids to commit an act of barbaric terrorism, the plane itself provides those. All a terrorist needs to do is set it off. I was at the airport and I got mad and started spouting off over the phone to my buddy when I noticed a TSA agent in my immediate vicinity. I said "I mean, any idiot knows you could put a piece of data sheet inside a flip phone, pack a blasting cap in the antenna hole, and blow away a plane! It just isn't that hard." So then the TSA dude started stalking me around the airport.

Whats the point of this rant? I don't know. I just get pissed off by flying, the airports and government have their heads so far up their asses its pathetic. They utterly fail to keep us safe, and instead just insist on making traveling as big of a pain in the ass as possible.

As for what I'd do, I'd buy the stuff when you land just like Tom said.

Just wanted to add that we couldn't find Coleman fuel or the equivalent anywhere in Germany, if your route will take you through there. Despite using the name on that international fuel list and searching hardware stores, garden centres and camping shops as well as asking my German relatives and showing them the stove and the fuel we had on us, we had no luck whatsoever. Stock up when you find it! We have been running our stove on petrol for several months now, well since Germany basically.