(A ‘Rite of Passage’ for most sailors cruising Europe)

This article discusses the challenges of getting back to your boat after a trip home.  You might wonder why this subject would even come up.  Read on…

Most sailors cruising Europe return home at some point – some of us annually, if we cruise Europe for some years.   This article is not about shopping for airline tickets.  It is about the challenges that Customs, Immigration, airline baggage guidelines, your airline’s gate agent and – most of all - your own boat force upon you.  You may think of flying back to your boat as the last (easy, essentially automatic) step in a round trip visit home.  What it instead can turn out to be is a multi-phase project in its own right that requires some thoughtful planning if you want to avoid the traps that have snared others.  Let’s break it down into bite-sized pieces…

Shopping for You and the Boat:  You will inevitably want to bring things from home when returning to the boat. Among other reasons, almost anything you buy in North America (NA) will be cheaper than in Europe, and your NA boat will also need things not readily available over here.  You may not start out with a big list but your mound of ‘stuff’ will inevitably swell in size and weight quite beyond your expectations.  It’s easy for your eyes (shopping list) to be bigger than your stomach (luggage capacity).  Making lists and prioritizing even before flying home, while still back on the boat, can be very helpful.  And at the top of the list is likely to be boat gear.

Why bring back boat items?  Wouldn’t it just be easier to have them shipped as you need them?  Here’s a recent example that illustrates why we all exert some serious effort to fly back with our boat parts.  If our Raritan toilet base had developed a crack one week earlier – the week before we left for the States - we would have picked up a replacement when back for our Holiday visit.  U.S. Price:  $35.  Instead, it began weeping the week we returned.  An epoxy patch was a short-term fix but the base is made of Delrin, a difficult material to permanently patch.  How about ordering one from a European Raritan distributor?  Yup, that was possible and we got the quote:  5 weeks delivery time and about $150 USD before VAT.  We’ve faced this situation before, e.g. when we lost an autopilot on our way up to the Baltic with its short summer sailing season.  When time becomes a factor and is worth some of our money, we normally just email our preferred vendor, Defender Industries.  A very sweet young woman there, Cheryl Gerfin, gets our needed item whether they carry it in stock or not, Defender gets it to us no matter where we are, they have preferred shipping rates, and I can arrange all this via email from the boat, using the manufacturer’s parts list and/or Defender’s catalog.  In this case, the toilet base arrived in Malta in one week – and was even delivered to the boat by Fedex - after being drop shipped from Raritan.  Cost:  $90 USD shipping, Customs fee of $9. for a total cost of $135 USD.  All in all, relatively cheap and very easy as these things can go, and with the importation costs offset by convenience and minimal time loss.  Still, my preference would have been to pay $35 and carry it back with me.  Multiply this one example by the number of spares and non-local consumables your boat digests in the course of a sailing season and you can see how your luggage begins to expand.

Helpful Tip:  Preplanning your purchases is a great time to take digital pics of the parts you later hope to find, and to take & record measurements for items that need to ‘fit’ just right on the boat.

Airlines and Baggage Issues:  Beyond the normal criteria you use when buying airline tickets, like total elapsed travel time and number of connections, here are some criteria we’ve found important to consider:

Baggage Weight Limits:  International checked baggage weight limits used to be 70 pounds (approx. 30 kgs) but I believe all carriers have now reduced this to 50# or 20 kgs.  The European carriers seemed to have moved to 20 kgs some time ago.  International flights and continuing flights booked as part of the same reservation usually provide for 2 checked items per passenger.  However, that is not true for individually booked tickets. So e.g. if you fly from the boat to London on a low-cost carrier (e.g. Ryan Air) and then transfer via bus to an airport for your transatlantic flight (e.g. British Air), you may pay a total lower airfare.  But the downside is that your checked baggage allowance with Ryan Air on the return leg will be one checked item per passenger, as you have had to book that flight separately.  Mind you, Ryan Air will take the second checked bag…but you will pay dearly for it (perhaps €5 per kg).  For maximum checked baggage allowance, book all your legs as part of the same ticket (using the same booking agent or airline).  And if you are forced to check excess baggage – more weight than allowed in a single bag and/or more bags than allowed – check with the airlines for their excess baggage charges before finalizing your choice of airline.  I noticed recently that American Airlines was charging about 1/4^th the amount that British Air was charging, per # or Kg, for excess baggage.  This yet again underscores the value of making lists and planning on your stateside purchases before making final decisions on flights & carriers.

Helpful Tip:  When packing, you will want to keep each bag under the maximum weight allowance – perhaps even down to the pound.  To do this, some of us drive over to the local grocery store or a mailing center and use their accurate scale.

Packing and Schlepping the Bags:  You may want to think of this step as more like a household move than merely catching a flight.  You will want to concentrate on weight distribution between your bags and protecting what is breakable.  One very experienced cruiser told us she has to pack at least 4 times before she gets it right; that’s been our experience, as well.  Our basic luggage set has evolved into three vinyl-lined, strong L. L. Bean Nylon duffle bags – easy to store aboard, light weight, and strong enough to hold more than I can carry. We may have two of these folded up and carried inside our 3^rd duffle when flying to the USA as we typically carry little on this leg, but we then have 3 large duffles available for the return trip.  When back in the States, we almost always pick up a 4^th piece of luggage at a thrift shop (normal price $1 to $3).  This is because a hard case (aluminum or vinyl) is usually needed for some of the more fragile boat gear.  Some cruisers use cardboard boxes as their ‘back-up luggage’ but airlines will sometimes refuse to check boxes.  Also, if the TSA authorities open up a cardboard box to inspect it, how does it get properly sealed up again?

Our Luggage Dolly:

It solves all kinds of logistics tasks, from jugging

fuel and water to delivering the liferaft to the repacking shop

When packing to return, it’s easy to assemble 5 or 6 bags (2 carry-on and 4 checked) weighing over 200#.  How do you move around an airport terminal, then catch a bus to the train station, and then get out to the taxi stand at the other end for the final transfer to the marina?  We use an aluminum dolly on the boat for schlepping fuel jugs, laundry, bigger grocery runs and other miscellaneous needs (see picture).  This becomes very useful for handling luggage as well, with the bags piled on top of one another and then bungeed to the carrier.  We’ve found backpacks are a very functional type of carry-on bag, and we’ve shifted to using a backpack designed for a laptop rather than the conventional laptop business case.  I can roll the dolly along while “wearing” the laptop, gaining ease of handling AND better security.

Helpful Tip:  “Transfers” can be a significant complicating factor, and can also be expensive.  When booking, try to minimize the number of transfers to reduce overall cost, inconvenience and the physical exertion demanded by that luggage.  As one example, all of us wintering in London preferred flying back into Heathrow, because there was a Tube (‘Underground’) route that allowed us to push the bags off the first train and then lift them right back on the connecting train that took us to Tower Station near St. Katharine’s Dock.  Total distance bags needed to be moved:  10 feet.  And the Tube was far cheaper than the rail trip in from Gatwick.

Dealing with Officials:  Try to operate under the Boy Scout Motto as the more you are prepared with paperwork and information, the easier you can hurtle the barriers officials are there to impose.  Here are some specific steps to make boarding your plane and re-entering the EU relatively hassle-free…but all of which require some paperwork and/or pre-planning.

Checking your Bags:  If you are a sailor, there’s a good chance you will either be flying back to North America or returning with an odd looking and so questionable item or two in your bags.  The best example of this I can offer is when I was returning to the USA with our 406 EPIRB; I was hoping to save 50% of the battery change-out cost that the British ACR vendor wanted to charge.  I carefully stowed it in the middle of my checked bag but – wouldn’t you know – I was halted by 5 airport security types when approaching my airline’s ticket counter at Heathrow Airport.  “May we look in your bags, Sir?”  Uh-oh…  (Pulling unfamiliar electronic device with battery and antenna out of my bag) “Sir, please tell me what this is.”  Double Uh-oh…

Steps to Take:  First, this illustrates how helpful it might be to have a friend hang around the airport on your behalf until your bags pass through inspection, as you may not succeed in getting all your items onto the plane.  A well-known example of this are PFD air bottles which, if found, are aften removed from checked or carry-on bags, even tho’ similar bottles are stored under each passenger’s bottom on the flight.  Having a friend nearby can be especially difficult if flying on the homeward bound flight, like I was with my EPIRB, as it may prove difficult and expensive to have a friend at the airport ‘just in case’.  Second, the one thing officials seem to understand is paperwork…so take paperwork!  In my case, I was carrying my boat document, a letter from HM Customs allowing my vessel tax-free status, and my EPIRB Registration.  I could knit together a paper-based relationship (tax status on MY boat which carried MY 406 unit) that was acceptable to the inspectors.  However, it was looking very grim until the HM Customs seal surfaced.  Whew!

Boarding the Plane:  You hold a paid ticket for your return flight and a guaranteed reservation, yet the Gate Agent tells you can’t board the flight.  What!?  This does occasionally happen because the airline personnel don’t want to obligate their airline to return you to your home country if you are not admitted by Immigration into your destination country.  And of course, you only hold a reservation leaving your home country.  This is the same principle cruising sailors worry about when taking crew into a foreign country and the crew then announces they are leaving the ship but Immigration doesn’t want to clear them into the country.  Immigration looks to the captain of the ship (aka: airline) to pay for the return flight.  We’ve known folks who were unprepared for this and had to buy a full fare ticket for the retun leg at the last minute, and then seek a refund at the other end, in order to satisfy the Gate Agent.

Steps to Take:  Carry a copy of your vessel’s document (to prove you are its owner) and a copy of the marina contract where the boat is berthed, confirming that you have ‘onward travel’ after reaching your destination.  When presenting these papers, explain that you are “Ship’s Crew” returning to your vessel.

Clearing Immigration:  Some countries enforce a restriction that your passport must be valid for 6 months after you are allowed entry into their country, even if their tourist visa restricts you to 3 months visitation rights.  This can be a surprise to the crew member who is arriving in Europe only to help sail a boat back to North America, and who therefore isn’t thinking in terms of using a passport for more than six months.  This restriction can also catch you off guard when doing onward travel.  E.g. if you are flying into Britain with reservations to continue on to Madrid, British Immigration may not care about your passport expiration date. However, when arriving at Spain’s Immigration booth, you can be refused entry.  Now what?

Steps to Take:  Obviously, insure you have an extended period remaining on your passport before its expiration.  (Think:  What’s the maximum time I’m likely to remain in Europe – plus six months – before flying home?)  When renewing (actually, replacing) your passport, be clear about how much time you need to allow when back in North America.  You’ll find helpful information at http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/renew/renew_833.html  If you find the application process is going to take more time than you comfortably have before flying back, talk with the USPS staff at your local post office.  They had several useful suggestions for us, including placing expedited handling envelopes, pre-paid by us, into the expedited mailer with our passport applications and pictures.  If you opt for this approach, don’t assume the Passport Office will use a single expedited mailer for both of your passports, even if the applications arrive together and passports are to be sent to the same address. One passport per mailer was our experience.

Customs Inspects Your Bags:  When first entering Europe, you will have to claim your luggage and then proceed through a Customs inspection area.  (This is after Immigration has first allowed you into their country).  You will be given the choice to leave via an exit where you declare items in your luggage you are ‘importing’ into Europe OR to choose the Nothing to Declare exit, where you might nevertheless be stopped and asked to open your bags.  This is not a terrible thing;  you’ll be able to leave the airport with all your goods.  But if some of your items are viewed as ‘Subject to Duty’ by Customs, the real issue is how these items then get valued.  This is Customs role, not yours…although you can influence them.  Since European prices are generally higher than USA or Canadian prices, and because some items will be so obscure that guesswork could enter into it, what you’d like to rely on at that point is your own proof of value.

Steps to Take:  Anything a tourist might be likely to take on a trip – (new) digital camera, PDA, iPod, laptop and other (new) consumer electronics, (new) clothes, (lots of) preferred toiletries and so forth – will usually be excluded from valuation by Customs.  Instead, they’ll consider assessing duty on that new sewing machine you’re carrying or the new mainsail, items considered not to be related to routine tourism.  Keep receipts for these specialty purchases and have them handy, should this unlikely episode unfold.  For small items (fuses, non-metric fasteners, etc.) I will often combine them in a ziplock or pill container.  With all the packaging taken away, small assortments of odd bits don’t look as expensive as they were when you bought them.  If a valuation process begins, pull out your receipts and know the exchange rate that applies so you are prepared to talk Euros, Kroner or whatever.

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We hope you find some of this information will smooth your return to the boat, and that it will help insure that everything you truly need when back aboard arrives with you safely and inexpensively.  And perhaps we should end with one final suggestion:  Be sure to allow for a good rest and an extended unpacking period once back aboard.  You’ve just ‘moved house’!

© Jack Tyler – July, 2007

WHOOSH, currently lying Gzira, Malta 

jack_patricia@yahoo.com