Aberdeen/Manchester/Dehli

[matt2matt2002]

I live in Aberdeen and want to catch a flight from Manchester.
Thinking of a train down with my bike, have it boxed by Evans and then taxi to airport.
I did a similar arrangement when flying from Edinburgh.

Any thoughts / opinions, folks?
I prefer a boxed bike to a bag.

[gregoryoftours]

Personally I'd want to box it myself, then I know that it's been done right, and can also put other stuff in the box to bring it up to just under weight allowance. Booking a presumably tight time slot at a busy bike shop could lead to problems and/or a rush job, it's too much of an unknown.
It's a bit of a hassle but I've always boxed my own bike at home, taxi to railway station, using luggage trolleys wherever possible (have some £1 coins). Tape a bit of plastic to a bottom corner (I use a flattened drink bottle) to protect and make dragging easier. Bike box on a train has never been a problem if you have a bike reservation as it takes up less room than a bike. Take a spare roll of gaffer tape with you just in case.

[gregoryoftours]

I live in Aberdeen and want to catch a flight from Manchester.
Thinking of a train down with my bike, have it boxed by Evans and then taxi to airport.
I did a similar arrangement when flying from Edinburgh.

Any thoughts / opinions, folks?
I prefer a boxed bike to a bag.

Mind you if you've done it before and it went ok then maybe it's fine.
Whereabouts are you going to cycle in India, by the way?

[matt2matt2002]

I live in Aberdeen and want to catch a flight from Manchester.
Thinking of a train down with my bike, have it boxed by Evans and then taxi to airport.
I did a similar arrangement when flying from Edinburgh.

Any thoughts / opinions, folks?
I prefer a boxed bike to a bag.

Mind you if you've done it before and it went ok then maybe it's fine.
Whereabouts are you going to cycle in India, by the way?

Rajastan.

With the flight from Edinburgh I dropped the bike off at Evans in the afternoon after arriving, One nigt in Youth Hostel nearby. Walked to Evans, the next day, collected bike and taxi to airport.
I know what you mean about packing yourself and weight issues but Evans did a very good job for £30. I was flying to Ethiopia via Istanbul on Turkish airlines.

[gregoryoftours]

Ah that sounds quite a low stress way of doing it actually. Rajasthan sounds amazing!

[matt2matt2002]

Ah that sounds quite a low stress way of doing it actually. Rajasthan sounds amazing!

We'll, yes. Pretty stressful free but I do worry. At each link/ stage if something goes wrong the rest of the sequence is buggered up. Train late or Evans can't pack at last minute, I sometimes think that if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. So try to have a plan B. Building in time helps.
But never believe it until I'm in my plane seat!

[simonhill]

Sounds like a good plan, but there are tens of things that can go wrong. All you can do is have a good plan and then contingencies for any major hiccups.

Hopefully the train bit will be OK, at least you aren't on Southern.

Re the boxing, I'd ring Evans the day before to:
a, confirm you have a time slot; and
b, make sure they have a box, so if the guano hits, you can always do it yourself.

A previous written (email) confirmation is always useful.

Do you get to watch them seal the box and if not, how do you answer the question - "have you packed all your luggage yourself?"

Enjoy Rajasthan, it's just starting to warm up.