Axy, I have actually looked into taking a freightor to get to Europe. I'd have to get with the right company and get a good price to haul my wife and I with two scooters, then I may take you up on that. I think in many ways, a ride through many parts of Europe would eclipse anything found in the US. Not so much the beauty but the people. I saw a really funny picture in a bicycling magazine called Adventure Cyclist. This guy was riding through Czech Republic. He happened upon two older woman pedaling on their bicycles. They were gathering firewood. He, on the other hand was touring. The look on their faces was priceless. They were laughing at him. I could almost read what they were saying. This man has the intelligence of a donkeys ass. What a silly american. Their bikes are for utilitarian use. The american was riding for pleasure. This would not happen in the US unless the guy was getting mowed down by an RV or someone driving too fast.
Hey HillBillyBear,
well, you can sometimes see people using bicycles in utilitarian way, but only in rural areas and very rarely, at least in my country. I live in a town that is laid on hills, so pretty much nobody uses bikes for anything... even touring people and tourists have problem crossing my town as 17 % slopes are not a rarity.
A friend of mine recently bought Harley and transported it from US of A. The price was around 1.400 US$, and it was shipped from somewhere in USA to Hamburg/Germany.
It is hard for me to comment on Europe as I live here (and Europe is not exactly homogenous term, France has nothing to do with UK, in turn UN has little similarities with Nordic countries and south-eastern Europe is different than eastern Europe or... get the picture), but a lot of tourists come here, I guess for a reason.