Harley-Davidson® Authorized Tours

Conditions

Essential things to do before your departure

Everyone MUST have a machine-readable passport - otherwise you will be sent home by passport control!

Everyone travelling to the USA must apply for a tourist visa via the internet (ESTA) in advance. This is your responsibility.

Anyone who is any doubt as to whether they have anything on their criminal record that has not yet been deleted MUST clarify this in advance with the local police.

Everyone is also obliged to have their own private travel insurance.  We also recommend that you take out cancellation insurance with your insurance company. Not all travel insurance policies include this cover. (This provides cancellation cover if the participant, spouse, children, sibling or parents suffer an acute illness, accident or death). Always carry the telephone number for your insurance company with you - remember the 24-hour international telephone number.

RE. INSURANCE AND TRAVEL AGENTS For customers, it is normal standard procedure with regard to insurance, whether you have your own private insurance purchased directly from the individual insurance companies or insurance purchased through a travel agency.  However, all requirements go to the individual companies, not to the travel agents - they are only agents.  No travel agents act as self-insurers in this way. They are not allowed to  anyway. No one can sue a travel agent because they have been injured on a tour;  in such cases, you must contact the relevant insurance company.

If you are travelling with children under 18, you should carry a birth certificate or a document which shows you have permission to enter the USA with the child (applies to divorced parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.).

During the journey Everyone is responsible for themselves whilst travelling; in other words, you will be responsible for yourself throughout the journey and must act accordingly, both on the roads and elsewhere. We as tour organisers cannot therefore be held liable for any injuries or accidents during the tour which you cause.  Everyone who travels with us on one of our tours must accept that the guide has the authority to send participants who are a danger to themselves or others home.  Everyone is also responsible for meeting at the agreed times or for notifying the guide if they cannot make it. To create a good atmosphere on the tour, we make sure that meeting times agreed by the group are kept. If anyone wishes to travel on their own on a particular day, they must inform the guide. Everyone is responsible for their own luggage and for carrying it into and out of the escort vehicle and hotel rooms.  Everyone is responsible for locking their own bike securely using a steering lock, wire and key lock, and for parking it safely in accordance with the guide's instructions.  If you wish to travel with the group, it is an absolute requirement that you have no alcohol in your blood in the morning. (You can of course have a cold beer with your lunch, but wait until we reach somewhere where we have two overnight stays before indulging yourself).  In most states in the USA, goggles and a helmet are mandatory - and you must always wear a helmet when riding a hired motorbike.  Please note that there are special rules for nature reserves/parks - everyone is personally responsible for following these rules.  You are also not permitted to bring fruit into California and if your route will take you past the Hoover Dam, you must have your passport available.

Responsibility Prices and tour programmes may be adjusted from one year to the next in relation to updates, conditions and any written information that you may have received previously, which may be out of date.  All news and updates will be shown on our website. It is the updates on our website that apply at any one time.

By registering on one of our tours, you confirm that you have understood that riding a motorbike can involve risks, that everyone travels on their own responsibility and that the organiser cannot be sued or otherwise held liable for any accident on the tour or changes in prices, tour programmes, flight times or any cancelled flights that are caused by a natural disaster, terrorist threat or other unforeseen event.  Everyone is individually responsible for signing their own hire contract with Harley or the relevant car hire company.

By registering on the tour, you confirm that you have understood that you must arrange travel insurance yourself.

Bike/car hire  You must be at least 21 to hire a Harley in the USA. You must also have a licence.  If you wish to hire a car, you must be at least 25 in the case of convertibles. In this case, you can only choose one type of "class" car. You can choose which car within the class you wish to drive on the day you pick up the car.  We ask everyone to write down their first and second choices of motorbike, as it is difficult to guarantee 100% that everyone will get their first choice. 99% of people do get their first choice, but if it is in the middle of the tourist season or if there are a lot of accidents for example, you may be offered your second choice. We give priority to people who ride two on a bike to ensure they get an Electra Glide wherever possible. The differences between the other models are very small.  Insurance: we provide all insurance for the motorbikes. As regards cars, there are several options.

Everyone must have a motorbike licence in order to drive a trike in the USA.

Can I drive a car ? Yes, of course you can drive a car. That is not a problem.

Although this was originally a Harley tour, MORE AND MORE people are choosing to drive a  car. All you need to do is put a cross for "BIL" ("CAR") on the registration form. NOK 6000 will then be deducted from your package price.  If you wish to drive a cabriolet or SUV on one of our tours, it may cost a few thousand kroner more overall.  People who wish to drive a car/cabriolet will then pay NOK 6000 less for their package tour. You collect the car and pay for fuel on the tour yourself.  The reason why it is always more expensive to hire a car/cabriolet car on a one-way trip is that you have to pay a one-way fee.

Your tour guide may be able to help you with practical matters, but you are responsible for signing out the car yourself.

We recommend that you hire a car from Alamo Rent A Car. Our experience is that Alamo is the cheapest car hire company.

There should be no more than two people in a cabriolet due to the small back seat and windows.  If there are to be two or more passengers, you should therefore choose an SUV or non-cabriolet.  People in cars drive in the same convoy as the motorbikes.Registration, group bookings and payment You register via our website, under the "Registrer deg" ("Register") tab. Type in your full name as shown in your passport. Take extra care when typing in information. Airlines are very strict about the name on the ticket being exactly the same as that in your passport. Here, you will be asked to make a series of choices, such as passengers, single room, choice of Harley, etc. You will be able to change these choices later via "MinSide" ("MyPage"), where you can access all relevant information concerning your tour. When you register, we will ask you to pay a first instalment. When you have paid this instalment and sent in your registration form, you will receive an e-mail which confirms that you have been registered. On completion of the registration process, your booking will be binding for you in accordance with the "Ordinary conditions" pursuant to the Danish Act on package travel. If you need help registering or concerning general questions, please call our customer services line on (+47) 9706 0066. Are you a group who wishes to travel together? Contact us for information on tours with sufficient places available. In the case of more than 20 motorbikes, we can tailor a custom tour to suit your needs.

Prices The starting price for each individual tour is quoted on the website. Different prices apply for drivers and passengers.Please note that price adjustments may be necessary as a result of changes in the USD exchange rate, flight taxes and prices and/or taxes in the USA.

Following feedback from our customers and because many people register two or three years before departure, we have divided the payment into three instalments. The first instalment must be paid when you register. The second instalment falls due for payment eight months before departure, while the third instalment will fall due four months before departure  (any minor price adjustments will be added to the final instalment).

The following is included in the price:  - All air travel from Gardermoen.   - All hotel accommodation in the USA (16-17 nights)   - Harley hire + all motorbike insurance  - All fuel  - Guides  - Escort vehicle – which will carry all the luggage  - Trailer and extra bike  - T-shirt  - A film from your tour  - 300 photographs  - Transport on excursions to the big cities.

You can omit the airline ticket and arrange your flights yourself if you wish, e.g. if you want to travel out a little earlier or stay longer. This can also be a solution for people who do not wish to travel from Gardermoen.  You will then receive a discount of NOK 5500.  We recommend that you contact Ronny at Berg Hansen on (+47) 21 02 46 32/ronny.bolle@berg-hansen.no, who will give you excellent service and low prices.

All our tours depart from Gardemoen. If you are in a group of more than 12, we can arrange for you to depart from a different airport. You will then meet up with the group at an intermediate airport.

On our website, you can also purchase excursions, such as a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon.

Hotels The tour price is based on accommodation in a double room. We can book single rooms upon request. A surcharge will be payable for this. The standard of the rooms is the same. People who are travelling alone but wish to share a room with other travellers must pay the single room supplement if no one else is available to share a room with them on their particular tour.  If you are travelling with a child under the age of 15, the child can sleep in the same room as the parents. Please inform us of this. You can book a single room on the registration form. If you wish to share a room with a particular person, this must also be stated on the registration form. Otherwise, we will allocate a roommate for you.  If the hotel room does not meet your expectations in any way, you must immediately notify the tour leader, who will seek to rectify the problem.  Very few hotels in the USA have allergy-free rooms.

Tour programme changes In the event of an unforeseen incident, the organiser can amend the programme, e.g. alter the travel route, accommodation, etc.  The organiser has the right to cancel a tour if necessary. You will be notified of any cancellation at least one month prior to departure. All amounts that you have paid will of course be refunded.

News Please note that all news and information concerning tours will be placed on the website under "Nyheter" ("News").  Please remember to check "Nyheter" regularly.

Cancellation, non-appearance From 1 November 2009, the following will apply:  The NOK 2000 that is paid upon registration is considered an administration fee and will therefore not be refunded.  We pre-book flights, hotel rooms and vehicles based on these registrations. If anyone subsequently withdraws, we will be charged fees for cancelling flights, hotel room bookings and motorbike hire.  In the event of illness, your own cancellation insurance or travel insurance will take effect.

If the amount is not paid in full three months before departure, your booking will be considered as not having been paid for and you will be deleted from the list.

Everyone is personally responsible for meeting at the agreed time at Gardermoen on the departure date. Anyone who fails to turn up will be responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the USA yourself.

The original dates may be brought  forward or delayed by a few days, depending on when you fly to or from the USA.  It is also possible that the tour you originally booked may not have enough bookings to enable it to be go ahead. In this case, your group will be combined  with another group that is not fully booked.  You should therefore take this into consideration.

Customers must therefore be prepared for the possibility of their tour being brought forward or delayed by a week during the three-month period leading up to departure.  The booking will be considered as having been cancelled if a customer is unable to join the tour after it is rescheduled.

If you give us less than 100 days' notice prior to departure, we will already have paid  our joint venture partners and will therefore not be liable to  refund any money to you. We will also lose this money. Your  travel insurance company will normally refund you if you have to withdraw  because of illness, etc.

Flights As soon as we receive the flight numbers and departure times, all participants will be able to access this information under "MinSide". We therefore strongly recommend that you do not book any connecting flights until the flight times to the USA have been announced.  The original dates may be brought forward or delayed by a few days, depending on when we fly to or from the USA. It is also possible that the tour you originally booked on may not have enough bookings to enable it to go ahead. In this case, your group will be combined with another group that is not fully booked.  You should therefore take this possibility into consideration.  The final dates for all groups will normally be available before the end of February in the year of the tour. It can therefore be a good idea to wait until the beginning of March before finalising any connecting flights or holiday arrangements. Please note that as tour organiser we cannot therefore be held responsible for any flight tickets that are booked very early, as we organise around 30 tours a year and cannot organise tours with only five participants for example. We therefore have to combine groups in order to make up a single larger group. We do this as early as February.

FLIGHT RULES If you are in a group of at least 20 people who are travelling on the same flight on both the outward  and return journeys, you will be defined as a "group". We can then arrange flights for  you at the same price as participants travelling from Gardermoen/Oslo IF you  are travelling from Arlanda (Sweden) or Kastrup (Denmark), as this  will not normally be any more expensive for us than sending you from Oslo.

If 20 people are travelling together from Stockholm or Copenhagen, they will not need to travel to Oslo first. This will save you a lot in terms of the number of days travelling, connecting flights, hotels in Oslo, etc.

If you are a group of more than 20 participants who wish to fly from Stockholm  or Copenhagen, you MUST appoint ONE main representative for the group who  informs us of this NO LATER THAN 1/2 before departure.  You must insert a cross for your preferred departure airport (other than Gardermoen)  on your booking form.

If you wish to stay longer in the USA or travel to the USA earlier than the main group, you must insert a cross to indicate that you are booking the tour WITHOUT flights. You will then receive a discount, currently NOK 5500. You can then e-mail our air travel expert Ronny at Berg-Hansen (ronny.bolle@berg-hansen.no), who will give you the lowest  possible price for both the inward and outward journeys regardless of where you are travelling from.  You can of course also call your nearest travel agents or  any travel agents in Norway who can help you with this.

This is the simplest option if you do not wish to travel with the group from Gardermoen/Oslo . REMEMBER: Although your flight tickets might cost  NOK 500-1000 more, you will probably still save NOK 2000 - 4000 by  not travelling to Gardermoen (one or two days extra travel, flights, hotel accommodation, etc.)  if you live in Sweden, Denmark, Finland etc.

The general rule is that all our flights depart from Gardermoen.

Complaints If a participant wishes to complain about a tour, they should first speak to the tour leader, who will attempt to rectify the problem. Any other complaints which participants wish to be considered must be submitted in writing no later than 14 days after the end of the tour. Any comments on questionnaires that are returned will not be recorded as a complaint.

Norwegian Travel Guarantee Fund  We are members of the Norwegian Travel Guarantee Fund (Reisegarantifondet), which gives you maximum  protection as a customer. We are listed under the letter "N", for NORWEGIAN MULTIMEDIAAS  (www.route66usa.info)