preparation

on this site, i have tried to collect all the preparation steps, that were
necessary to plan our trip. it maybe gives you an idea, what is necessary
to plan before the trip starts and what can be done during the trip. 
 

point one. book the flight.
we have booked the flight very early! so, we were able to get a really
cheap price from germanwings.com. this flight was cheaper, than if we
travelled by train. the earlier you book, the cheaper is the flight. the only
point that's negative is, that the discount airlines don't have many
destinations in one country. note: if you are going to take your bike with
you, you must register it directly via phone! you will have to pay an
extra fee. in our case, it was 25 eur per way. we had four ways to
travel, because germanwings always flies over cologne (koeln-bonn, 
cgn). that's the next point: if you don't have a direct flight, it could
be very laboriously! we had to get the luggage in cologne and
had to check-in again for the second flight. we had to wait about
four hours in cologne. in this time we had to carry our packed bikes.
this was very bad.

point two. get the bike packing.
if you plan to take your bike with you on the plane, you must register
it at the airline and to pack it the right way. you can buy good bags on
the market. but nobody wants to carry this bag on the trip! not all airlines
and airports do understand this problem and support you with a good
packing solution. germanwings had no solution for that! neither in
zurich, nor in cologne, nor in oslo. so i have called the zurich airport:
they sell boxes for about 15 eur. we had to turn the steering bar parallel
to the frame, take off the pedals and to pull down the saddle. aditionally
you can let some air out of the tubes, because of the difference in the
air pressure (but i think it's not necessary...). so, the way from zurich to
oslo went right. the way back we had a problem: the airport oslo and
the groundhandling partner of germanwings didn't sell a pack for the
bikes. so, we had to check them in without a package. i'm still happy
that nothing went wrong on this way! i think the airline companies
should take more care of such problems anmd provide a solution for
their customers.

point three. get luggage insurance.
if you don't book over an travel office, you will have to care for an
luggage insurance by yourself. but you can get this insurance in every
travel office.

point four. get travel abort insurance.
this insurance pays, if you get sick and if you are not able to travel. you 
can get it also from your travel office.

point five. get foreign health insurance.
if you travel outside your country, you must have an extension for your
health insurance! to get this, please contact you health insurance partner.

point six. book the hotels.
because of the stop in cologne on the way back, we had to spend a night
in cologne. therefore we booked the hotel already before the trip. that was
a very good decision, because we didn't have to care for that. maybe you
want also to spend the first night and the last night of your trip in a hotel.
so it's a good idea to book it before. you will maybe find good links on
the website of your airline.

point seven. get the maps.
i bought the maps already in switzerland. that was no so bad, because
we were able to plan some parts of the route before. i think it's better,
if you don't plan the whole route before. you are then more flexible.

point eight. get information.
it's not bad, if you get some information about the region you want to
travel. especially about some objects of interest. in our case, we read
about the "rallar vegn", which is an old mountain road. we wanted to
get there and got there.

point nine. get the right money.
don't forget the money! you can surely get money from an atm on the
route or pay with credit card. but it's a good help, if you take enough
money with you to start the trip.

point ten. get sporty!
don't forget, that you will have be in a good, sporty condition. so, you
will have to start the training early, if you do not already.