As the most intresting aspect of my trip to Copenhagen was without a doubt the fact that I brought my bike with me as a form of transport I think I will write up a sumary of my experience for anyone interested in attempting a similar endevour. Noone was really sure this would be allowed but encouraged by a story from a friend who said he had seen some tourists do this before I decided to give it a go. The plan was to just leave the bike at the busstop or airport if they refused to board the bike. I took no luggage with me, just a sholderbag with all my stuff so there was nothing going in with the bike and nothing extra to carry once I got there. I guess you could take a backpack with you or special bags that go on the bike but a suitcase or any other type of luggae, even a plastic bag would make this type of travel impossible. I also took a GPS navigator with coordinates installed for all the locations I would have to visit. This was in fact a most genius idea as I never had to hover over a map or anguish over what direction to go in to get to my destination. It made the ride much more relaxing than normally in a foreign city. And now for an overview of the process:
I cycled from home to the bus stop and got the driver to load the bike with the other luggage. It was surprising that they dont have a rack on the back of the bus to accomodate the bike like many busses do. The driver was surprised but happily loaded the bike. Later I found out that not only are you meant to pay 50% extra for your ticket when you have a bike but also that not all the busses will accomodate a bike, especially when the busses are full.
Once at the airport I took the bike in with me and felt a little silly carrying a bike when everyone else was all dressed up, carrying typical trolleybags, full of the typical I-am-going-abroad stressed self importance that Icelanders do when going into a flight terminal and giving me that “is that really allowed” look when they saw my bike. I kind of likd the feeling but Im not sure everyone would. Then when I got to the checkin the lady didnt know what to do so it took a long time to check in. In addition I had to pay 2.000kr extra to load the bike. This was all rather expected but once it was realy yo go in they were not sure wether I had to make any changes to the bike so that it would pack better. A common request is that you turn the steeing bar paralell to the bike and perhaps take off the pedals. However even if they requested this in Iceland and in Denmark I was able to persuade them not to bother. Having the tools to do that is advisable however. The one thing I was not able to talk my self out of was to deflate the tires during checkin in Denmark so a handpump would be a good thing to have. I walked the bike to a petrol station near the busstop in Reykjavík to air the tires again.
Once in Denmark biking from the airport was a breeze, it was in fact quite enjoyable and only took about 20-30 minutes. With the GPS I never worried about getting lost and really enjoyed the ride. The weather was sunny and hot. On the way back the weather was crap, rainy, windy and cold. I also left it too late to get going so the ride back was much more stressfull and hard work. In addition one of the roads was closed for about 10 minutes due to a procession of the royal family. I got to see the royals but it cut my time to get there even shorter. Once there I was wet and sweaty but actually very happy, much more so than when i take the train because the exercise was invigorating. During checkin I got the bike loaded for free as I had no other baggage but I had to deflate the tires. This was very different form the Reykjavík experience but it gave me no grief. Once I arrived at either arport the bike then came out through a special gate, not on the luggage conveyorbelt. All in all this was not a bad experience.
Once at keflavík airport the bus driver refused to take my bike as he said he didnt have room. This was the only real trouble I had bringing the bike. However the next bus had enough space but there I had to pay 600kr for loading the bike. I had to wait 20 minutes between busses so that was not too bad but honestly I was alittle crossed at the icelandic AirBus company for inconsistency in their services. I was not in a hurry though and didnt really ming the inconvenience that much. Ofcourse I should have biked to and from keflavík airport but I have to admit that I found the 45km ride too daunting to attempt.
All in all I thouroughly reconment this mode of travel. Having my own bike in CPH was really nice. You can rent a bike but those are all marked as such so the tourists never quite blend in. On your own dirtly old bike you are more like the rest of the crowd and that always feels good. The overall cost of taking the bike is 5.200kr if you get charged for all that you are meant to be charged for but due to the rarity of those situations a lack of cosistency got me away with paying 2.600kr. I probbably cycled about 60-70km all in all while I was in Denmark for those 5 days.
