Traveling with your BJDs

Oh! One last thing: if your doll is the martial type, put all toy weapons in your checked luggage. I brought my pirate doll with his teeny-tiny toy sword and toy muzzle-loading pistol, and security wouldn't let the toy weapons through!

I'm not doubting you, but I'm honestly curious why? Have I just been super lucky? Admittedly, I've only traveled with the big dolls (in checked luggage) twice.

When the dolls are sent through the mail (particularly the ones that come from Asia), they are tossed and crushed. But packed well, they always survive. Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I don't think I've ever received a package from an overseas doll company that didn't have scary crushed corners and tears in the outer cardboard container.

 

It's not just a question of surviving the handling. Luggage gets lost, loaded on to the wrong plane, tags fall off or get switched, sometimes out-and-out stolen right off the trolley. It's the same reason you're advised never to put your valuables in your check-in luggage, and to most BJD owners a doll is definitely a valuable.

I went to Kentucky years ago and had to change last minute because of technical problems but my luggage was already loaded and I couldn't get it back. I didn't get it back for two days. Needless to say, for the entirety of the two days I was a nervous wreck thinking all my stuff was going to end up in Saskatchewan or something. And that was BEFORE I had a BJD...

Honestly? Nowadays if I can't take it in a carry-on, I won't take it period. Then again I don't travel much these days.

Now I can't get Jeff Dunham's story about going through airport security with his puppet Peanut out of my head. XD Google it, it's hilarious.

 

Oh! Lost luggage hadn't even occurred to me. You're absolutely right. I will never check a doll again! THANK YOU!

 

I never go anywhere on a plane if I can help it! Precious dolls and horrible flight anxiety already make that a bad combo If it's up to me, I go by bus or car, but if I had to take them on a plane, I would unstring them all and put them in multiple wrapped bafs before going into my carry-on. I travel pretty light, and basically everything else except my laptop and some art pieces I take with me to finish can go into my checked bag, if I have one. If I had the space, as my backpack is obnoxiously large, I would try wrapping pieces in a soft cloth individually, like some old (clean) washcloths before putting them in a carrying case. Unstrung, you can probably fit a few in a carrying bag that some dolls come with, or in an ita bag.

 

Very smart...can't wait till I will also visit Japan....

 

I'm going to bump this thread up again because I will be moving to the UK from US, and I'm planning on brining 9 dolls (5 SD size, 3 MSD and 1 YOSD) with me (GOOD LUCK ME) I'm a very light traveler, so I really don't have too many personal items beside the dolls, and reading the previous comment on never put the dolls in check-in luggage, I'm planning on throwing everyone in my carry on LOL
My current plan is to have maybe 2 MSD and the YOSD in my backpack, and the rest can all sit in the cabin bag. I think the flight's going to be pretty empty due the the current situation, but I will still wrap their hands and cover their faces for extra protection. The reason I'm bringing so many at one time's because I have more dolls to be moved, so the more I can bring for this round the better lol Hopefully I can bring all 9 of them to the UK safely

 

I will also be moving later this year, from New Zealand to Japan.
I only have 4 dolls currently (msd and smaller) and I think I will unstring most of them and pack them in my carry on. I've had a checked-in bag miss a connecting flight before, so I don't trust my dolls in the hold. It will also be nice to have them in quarantine with me.

What I need to decide on is if I bring their boxes with me. Fortunately, only two of them have boxes, so I might just pack them with clothes and put them in my big bag.

 

I've only traveled with a bjd once, and luckily everything was alright. Avoid checking dolls in, luggages can go missing or get wrecked. If you do it as a carry-on, never ever let them out of your sight. I've heard horror stories of unattended bags or dolls the owners had out in public (to show them off/travel with/get pictures of) getting stolen. Keep them out of sight from others, secure, and keep an eye on them.

 

Nice! I had to unstring one of my dolls because it was just impossible to squeez him in lol
I have too much anxiety about getting the dolls in check in due to all the horror stories. Good luck to us!

Good advice! It'd be the saddest thing if the dolls got stolen during travel. Never leave the bag unattended is the biggest thing, as people can easily smuggle illegal stuffs in there too. Never hold anything for stranger, and never leave your bags unattended!

 

And never EVER take your doll(s) out! Not to show a person, not to check on them--keep them good and secure in the bag. Worst case scenario, you take one out to check on it and some Karen demands you give it to her kid, someone just steals it, or you accidentally drop an accessory and don't realize until after you've left.

 

Always take the doll in cabin. If the doll bag is too big for the norms, you can always take the doll out.

 

Haha the Karen's scenario would be truly scary! Especially when one's trying to board XD
Though I really wanted to take the dolls out to take a picture at the airpot, I remembered your advice and stopped myself from doing so XD

With that being said, I've successfully made it to the UK with all 9 of my dolls in the carry on!
And security did not ask a single question, not at the US, and not at the UK (I had a connecting flight to Edinburgh, and still, not a single question or inspection through the baggage check.)

I traveled from LAX to London Heathrow, both big city so that might be a reason, and also I'm like hobbit size Asian girl, so they probably think it's normal that a girl just carrying a bunch of dolls LOL

 

I'm glad to hear you and your dolls made it just fine!

 

Great that you've done it sucessfully

 

I used to always travel with 3 dolls. My 2 MSDs and 1 YOSD in 1 big bag.

Now, I have a total of 5 dolls and I have no idea how to make this work.. even if it's lockdown and I can't go out of the house with them xD

 

I would wrap the hands and feet separately if I were to travel with bjds. Esp the hands, I have seen bjd's fingers break during shipping before. You don't want that happening.

 

This is very interesting. I'm quite new to this hobby and I've never flown with my bjds before. They're big size SD17s and id75s. Thankful that I came across this thread. Now I won't make a mistake of putting them in my luggage

 

I'm planning to take my dolls over seas in the new year. Face masks, bubble wrapped hands, and hair nets for everyone. Then my Yosd is going in the fabric burrito she came with, my two msds will be put sitting in a kid's lunch box with some padding. I'm going to try to make the 65cm a burrito like thing that will be L shaped so he can be sitting too and then it's all going in my carry-on, strapped in place where possible. The rest of the space will be filled with soft things like clothes or extra pillowing.

 

I traveled with four dolls recently. Three big 70+cm guys and one 1/3 sized guy whose only about 30 or 40 cm tall, he's mostly a bust. I had the three big guys in the largest rolling carry-on I could have, with two of them having only their legs unstrung and one completely unstrung. Everyone was carefully packed up with several towels and they were quite snug in there. I had the heads along with the smaller boy in my own laptop backpack, also well wrapped up in towels and t-shirts.

The two biggest tips from me, wrap them up in cloth, and make sure there's as little extra space between them as possible!