Day 27 - Bike Packing (by Mary)

Even boxing up bikes is better with coffee!  We decided to ride the bikes to the airport today (Tuesday) instead of tomorrow because rain is predicted for tomorrow. 

The ride to the airport was extremely pleasant -- mild temperatures, lots of sunshine, and dedicated bikeways much of the way there. Navigation was mostly smooth. There was one point when our route wanted us to turn into a local air force base, but the guard at the gate gently redirected us. We were just three traffic circles away from the airport, and he kindly drew us a map showing us which way to go. 

The day was actually full of friendly, helpful people. Shortly after entering the terminal we were approached by one of the airport ombudsmen, Sandrine, who asked if we could use help. "YES!" we replied in earnest. Sandrine walked us to the oversized luggage drop off, to show us where that was, then escorted us to the luggage wrapping kiosk to get bike boxes. It was closed for a lunch break, so she called for someone to help us. She was initially told they couldn't wrap bikes, but when we pointed out that we were there to get boxes, she promptly called back and cleared things up. Boxes were produced and bike packing began in earnest. 

Although there wasn't a dedicated space for the task, we settled in to a little-used corner of the terminal and set to work. Sandrine came by twice (!!) to make sure all as well. 

The tricky part was yet to come. Once the bikes were boxed, we needed to find the baggage storage are, which turned out not to exist. Despite several indications of baggage handling on airport maps and the airport website, there is NO luggage storage of any kind at the Bordeaux airport. 

We ate a late lunch and pondered various off-site storage options.  Eventually we got a very friendly and helpful taxi driver who was happy to toss the boxes in the back of his van and drive us back to our hotel. 

We thought -- briefly -- about being able to check our bags in tomorrow, 24 hours before our flight, but Lufthansa wasn't having any of that. Bikes in boxes will travel with us back to the airport Thursday morning. In the meantime, we are all enjoying a little more time in Bordeaux. 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️