New York City is really something special. I come in by subway and enter the town at Madison Square Garden I am amazed and enjoy the town for 6 days.

Check out the pictures attached …

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It was not easy coming here. In Lisboa I check everything for the flight ahead so no bad surprises will pop up. Bike is in a box and all in all it weights less than 32 kg. I already store everything in the bike shop, so just need to ride to the airport, check in and fly. But it turns out to be not as easy as I think. First of all there were never ending rows to the check in, so someone from the employees is putting me and box ahead of the queue. That helps! Then the lady tells me that I have overweight, the whole box with the bike weights 33,5 kg. She writes 32kg in the flight formulary, but tells me that I need to pay more because the transport regulations have changed. So over to the “customer information” and again waiting in the line. Time is running short and I walk in front and explain my situation. The gentleman there tells me I don’t need to pay extra and sends me to the oversize luggage to check in the bike. Only one hour till departure and I was still in the arrival area. Once lifting the box up at the check in of the oversize luggage I realize that the box is too big to fit in the x ray machine. Time is running and the security personal says, “… no check in with this box!” So back to the “customer information” of the Portuguese airline and there they tell me I need to check the box in at the cargo terminal, will miss the flight to New York and have to rebook the tickets. Of course I didn’t wanted that so back to the oversize luggage. Now time is running really short! “Let me check in without the bicycle box I ask …” get an “ok let’s try” as an answer and now everything must go quick. Knife out of my bags, cut the box open and put the bike out. All my gear is falling out of the box and all over the floor. People around think I am freaking out completely. So fast I put the bags on the bike, like if I would go cycling, quickly fix the tent on the bike and checked it through. The bike looks like a Christmas tree with all the stuff hanging on it …

With five pieces of hand luggage (luckily no one complains about that) I sprint to the gates. Passing all the lines on first position, through the passport control and security checks. Right at the gate I check in immediately. Totally stressed and completely wet and from the run I enter the airplane. I get to New York City that’s for sure!

I arrive in time but my bike does not make it. It arrives 3 days later and the wheels are pretty scratched. I do some repair on it and after taking care of the rims and putting a new rear tire on I am good to go again.