Travelling with your dolls: issues/ideas/etc. Part I

I'm going to the beach at the end of this month, granted it's only a 6 hour drive, but i'll be gone for 5 days, so I'm taking 2 or 3 of my boys with me. My family will just have to get over it, there are going to be doll pictures happening in the beachhouse XD

 

I took 3 of my girls from here in florida to Ireland for 3 months. everything was fine. I took them in my carry on.

when i had a puki, she came with me on a cruise last march.

also... Ill probably take Jainey (my unoa) with me to chicago over christmas for 2 weeks!! snow pictures are sooo happening!!

 

I travel light, & always have to have my hands free, so-- no. No dolls. The boys stay home!

If it's a doll-convention or a Dolpa event, however, that's another story. They get bundled up in the carrier-bag & transported by hand, no problem.

But dolls are heavy and cumbersome (I have mostly 60+cm boys), and they're hyper-expensive and fragile, and I hate to lose ANYthing, I mean I even hate to lose my miniature tube of toothpaste, which I'm always doing in hotel-rooms, so having a doll lost/stolen/broken would send me on a screaming window-smashing RAMPAGE and I would be promptly deported home or detained for months in Guantanamo Bay. No, it has to be a seriously doll-related event before the dolls travel with me. If most of my vacation activities won't be doll related, there's no point in bringing them.

 

I tend to travel like I packed for a family of four...at least recently, and I tell you, it is a pain in the rear to transport 8 dolls for a trans-international flight. I actually had to check several of them.

...but I was moving to Japan for at least a year, so it was slightly different circumstances. For actual short trips, I only take dolls with me if they are important to the trip. That being said, I only took my Sei to this last Dolpa, because I knew I would be too busy to do much else. SD-sized dolls are a pain to transport. I've taken dolls to cons (although usually only one at a time.)

Depends on how you pack, if you are a light packer and have room to transport a doll safely, go for it! Just be aware that there are risks in doing so. Don't be shocked if a doll is missing a finger or something by the end of any serious vacation. Of those 8 dolls I took with me, 6 got through without a problem. My F-31's faceup was scratched a bit, and a rogue s-hook gouged the side of my F-30's neck (faceup damage is minor, neck damage has been sanded out cleanly.) I was irritated, but well, thems the breaks. Not a broken finger in the lot, shockingly.

 

So far, I've only gone to Cincinnati with MiniRyu and Ryuichi-doll, [I live in Cleveland, a 4.5 hour drive] and when I went, miniRyu was in his carrier, [a pokemon lunch box full of his clothes] and Ryuichi-doll sat on my lap under my seatbelt.

When I travel anywhere, they're coming with me, because I would miss them too much! I sleep with Ryuichi-doll, Kuma-doll and my Kuma, and I would be lonely without them!

I'm hoping to someday visit Tokyo, Japan, and you'd better believe that they're coming with me, along with InuYasha, my bf, and his Hellsing when he gets him in Feb or March.

Ryuichi

 

i took 3 resins to tahati on a cruise over last x-mas. only issues i had was, it took one day for word to get around the ship that i was the doll girl. :/

a really rude family screaming out freak across the deck while i was doing a photostory in an empty chair on the pool deck.

room cleaning guys getting my boy all twisted up, but partially my fault i left him on the bed.

lax airport sercruity screening showed my dolls as being a liquid. :/

when i took them to disney. only one issue, some of the characters were a little weirded out when i asked them if i could get their picture with my dolls. till i said it's like the nome.

i'm taking my resins that are whole to mexico with me for this years x-mas. so i'll let ya know after that one how it goes.

 

when i brought my doll with me to cambodia recently, most of the natives (especially children) were pretty receptive to his pressence (they didn't touch him though) and were polite, abeit curious. the tut-tuk driver we hired even gamely took a pic with him when requested~
when he has to stay in the hotel, i pack him in his sleeping bag on the dresser and he stays there safe and sound.

the only bad reaction i got was from other tourists. and a couple of people (involved in the same project but whom i don't know) i was travelling with~

 

Since we got dolls, we've been on vacation twice. Both time we took 2 of them with us, both time - in doll carriage bag. One of trips involved plane, and we took dolls with us (dolls in luggage? no, thanks!) there was absolutely no problem with that, as we said it's a "fragile item". I definitely plan to take 2-3 dolls with us each time, except when we're going camping - there will be no time and not especially doll-friendly conditions.

 

Taking your BJDs to new and interesting places can hold great opportunities for photo ops! Just make sure that they are always close by. SUPER lolz on the x-ray machines, guys. XD

 

Depends where I was going, I guess.

I wouldn't take a doll somewhere too busy or on a vacation where I was going to be very active, like a cruise or to Disney World or something. I am going to Disney World with my boyfriend next year and there's no way I'd bring my dolls... They'd just be a hassle and last time I went to Disney a resort employee stole some very expensive jewelry out of our room's safe. Yes, it was all locked up in a secure safe but someone employed by Disney enter our room and took our belongings because they are given skeleton keys. They handled it well, but still... Can you imagine? Not fun.

However, if I were going somewhere scenic to visit family for something (like my parents in Maine) then yes, I would bring a doll. Probably not more than one though. I'm not overly concerned with security, but I would make an effort to pack extra lightly if I was bringing a doll as a carry on. I hate having a large carry on anyway, so if I did bring a doll it's likely that would be the only thing I had with me... Besides like my wallet and a book or something.

 

A dumb question.

I am seriously considering bringing my doll with me when I go to China on Sunday. From what I have found out, the temperatures there can drop below - 0 degree celsius. Will the cold have any effect on the resin? I was afraid that it might crack the resin or something.

Thanks for the help.

 

avariel: Haha, I don't think you have to worry about that too much. I brought my doll out in -24 Celsius and he came out just fine (other than being very frigid and some snow in his joints).

 

Thanks for the info. I live in Singapore, which is hot and humid all year round so I don't have much experience in cold weather.

 

my first rule of travel has always been "never take anything with you that is irreplaceable, hard/expensive to replace, or that you would cry endlessly over if it broke."

the doll may just be resin and strings, and possibly replaceable with another of the same model if unthinkable doom and disaster should occur, but it will never be EXACTLY the same, even if it's the same down to the faceup, the original is still irreplaceable if you're attached enough to even think about taking it along on an adventure with you.

 

It gets very cold in the midwest during winter and I have not had any problem. And conversely, its hot in the summer too and my dolls were ok then. I think you only need to worry about very hot or very cold temperatures if the change is sudden. :3

Like, from hot to cold very quickly. Resin, like any plastic (and other materials too), will expand and contract when the temperature changes but it does it slowly, so there's nothing to worry about, but if it happens very fast it can cause cracking and what not.. But for that to happen it would need to be very very extreme temperatures and a very sudden change.

(Like how putting a glass that is cool in hot water will crack it).

 

Took my girl on the plane with me. Had no problems. I had her in a bag and had her face protected. She was fine. Not happy though when i took her out.

 

I was thinkin' about the same thing, but I was told it's risky cause it might get stolen.

 

I would raither leave them at home where they're safe Yes I would feel a bit lonley,but it would be ok

 

I think it would depend on where you are going.

If it would be to a place where there is a higher risk of theft (for any sort of valuable), it probably wouldn't be best to bring it on vacation.

However, the worth of these dolls probably isn't well known to the general public, so that said, it's probably not too much of a problem.

Also, if you were to watch over them and bring them *everywhere* like you would to a real child, that also prevents risk.

 

S-some of you are very brave!!

I would love to take my dolls on a cruise to the sunny Caribbean and take lots of pictures. But I would be deathly afraid of something awful happening to them!