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

I plan on not only taking Ryuichi with me when I drive to Otakon next month, but I also plan on taking him with me to the Vamps concert!

I have a group of extremely close friends that I know will circle around him and my friend Noriko-san,who'll be recovering from knee surgery so she'll be in a electric wheelchair. She'll be holding him on her lap and we'll protect them both so he should be fine! They want him to go as well, so I know he'll be safe, since most of them are either BJD caregivers themselves or future caregivers!

Ryuichi goes EVERYWHERE with me! I'm getting a strong right arm because of carrying him!

Besides, I think that Sakuma Ryuichi should "check out his competition!"

I'll tell you how it goes when I get back.

Ryu

 

My family hardly ever travels, even though we've been planning on going to Utah to see the rest of our family for the summer...for the past 5 years

Though we have talked about going to farther up state in August, and I'm planning to bring Kori if we do go. I don't think it'll be a problem since we'll 1) be driving and 2) I'll hopefully have a case by then...

Its all up in the air though, if we DO go I may just leave him with Ashael...

EDIT:: I'm also planning on taking him to the anime con in October, thats a big iffy though.

 

I'm going up to Delaware in early August for a couple weeks as a vacation/meeting the parents combo. I was panicking a little bit on transportation there because I knew I wanted to bring my MSDs along with me for some snapshots, but I was terrified by the idea of flying with them. Well, thanks to lots of your input I feel much more confident.

I went ahead and ordered a carrier from DDE. (I only own one other piece of luggage, which is the one I'll be using for my personal belongings) It was made for one doll but I know I can get a second with a bit more padding. Just to be safe, I'm categorizing the doll carrier as a carry on.

 

When I went to Canada in April and brought my dolls I kept my MSDs in my regular suitcase, packed safely inbetween clothes and the pillow they came with. My Puki traveled in a box in my carry-on luggage. ^^

 

I'm going on a trip to France with my french class and I REALLY want to take my boy and girl with me since there's some beautiful photography spots there. I'm working on making some carrier bags for them but I'm not sure how to go about it. My girl's a Puki so she shouldn't be too tough to get on the plane but my boy is an SD so I may have to make him my carry on in his bag with maybe a few of my things. I own quite a few bags so it shouldn't be tough to find something padded and nice that he can fit into along with my other essentials.

Laptop isn't a problem though, just getting my boy on the plane with me. I won't be bringing many electronics (converter things are too much for one trip.)

 

deleted question~

 

I noticed there was an older thread for this. So feel free to merge/delete if neccessary.

But in a bit it seems I will be moving across country. (4-5 hour plane ride at best) and I am freaking out about how to get my dolls to move safely with me.

I have seven currently 5 tinies and 2 MSDs. And I have the plan of shipping all but one tiny ahead of me. But this stresses me out severly and packing them in my check luggage seems out of the question.

So how did you move with several dolls? (or travel with them great distances) Is shipping ahead the best option? Or is figuring away to fit them in to a carry on the best?

Any and all tips would be amazing.

 

When I relocated I shipped my dolls to me after I had settled down, they were staying with my parents, though. If you have someone you can trust I would have them hold the dolls until you're ready and then mail them to you.

 

It's quite easy to fit 2 SDs into a carry-on bag (I've done this multiple times) so I can't see many problems for you getting your tinies and MSDs into a bag to take with you on the plane. Just make sure their faces are protected and they're wrapped in something soft to guard against any jolts, and you should be fine

 

I moved to another country with my SD and MSD sized dolls. I bought an adequately sized carry-on bag, put their face covers on, put them between their doll pillows (secured with string) and layered them between a throw blanket. Around them were clothes, so they were padded like crazy.

On one leg of the flight they had to be checked. The plane was too small and didn't have enough overhead room. They survived that, being dragged (literally) around an airport terminal, 14 hours in an overhead compartment, being lugged to a hotel, stowed under a bus, thrown in a luggage area on a train, and jostled around by my housing agent. 100% fine. Just pack them really well. Bubblewrap mummies or something. And make sure that the bag you put them in is completely stuffed so that they don't move around at all (but not so much that you crush their little fingers)

 

I packed mine into my checked baggage, secure between many layers of clothes and pillows, when I moved across the country. They were in the middle between so much softness nothing happened to them in the 18 hours we spent. (Yeah, 18!)

 

When I moved cross-country I had no choice but to pack mine and their original boxes, put those into one super-huge (and heavy) box and leave them at the mercy of the moving company. They were shipped by ground almost 2,000 miles.

I let the guy overseeing my move know that this particular box was holding some very delicate and pricey items and to take extra-special care of it. They arrived completely unharmed. In total, the giant super-box had 6 SDs.

 

Your tinies can be wrapped in bubblewrap and put in your carry on luggage and you could probably do the same with your MSDs, to be honest. At good, strong laptop bag will hold and protect that many dolls. Your other option would be to unstring your MSDs, wrap each part in bubblewrap and put the parts in between soft clothes in your check-in luggage.

 

What about padding them and putting them in a guitar case? Even after that whole United thing if you can carry that on most people would guess something fragile is inside and tend to treat it carefully. Aren't some cases shaped like violins for that reason?

 

Be careful about packing them in carry-ons too. The airlines are cracking down on carry-ons, and airline agents are enforcing it at the gate, where bags of large dimensions or weight must go under the plane. I've heard this about US Airways, AA, Delta, Continental, Southwest and Jet Blue, and there's probably others I haven't heard of.

I work downstairs in baggage processing for security these days, instead of upstairs at the checkpoint. I can tell you that you can request being present at a hand-check of your checked baggage if you tell the ticketing agent at the counter. But once it leaves security, it's in the hands of the ramp rats and I can't assure you of how they will or will not handle a fragile package ("United Breaks Guitars" anyone?).

Plus the airlines are trying to make us enforce carry-on bag amounts and sizes through a federal bill. Which I consider to be complete and utter bull-hockey and I oppose with complete and utter conviction. The airlines are trying to fob off on us what should be their job, but they're too spineless to enforce themselves. Keep an eye on that bill. It may just affect getting dolls into the aircraft cabin.

If anyone has any questions about dolls and getting through security checkpoints and the like, I can try to answer. Feel free to send me a PM. This applies mostly to domestic US flights and international flights of US origin. I can't speak for our Canadian counterparts.

 

I've transported dolls all over the place -- when I moved I just tossed my doll in my car with the rest of my belongings because I was road-tripping it, but I've taken dolls on trips a couple times. I have carried both an MSD and a tiny in my carryon on different occasions, with a face protector and wrapped in a towel. On the way back on both trips I didn't feel like schlepping a doll in my carryon again so I packed them in my checked baggage, in the middle of my suitcase, wrapped up in clothes. They were both fine. Dolls are sturdier than people give them credit.

If you don't have room in your baggage or are too concerned about them, you can always ship them to yourself or have someone else ship them to you -- just pack them up safely and make sure they're not rattling around in there. And at least then you can insure them.

 

Well Im not moving but when I went from Fl to NY for vacation I packed my two MSD's in my carrier (made by a DoA person, you put your dolls box in there) and they were fine with the Guards but they thought I was crazy XD sadly mine dont hace face protectors.

 

I toted three of my tinies home at Christmas in my carry-on. They travelled with me, Inuvik-Norman Wells-Yellowknife-Edmonton(fourteen-hour layover!!!)-Winnipeg and the same -in reverse- going back with no problem and no damages. When putting them thru the baggage check I always told the security agent taking their bag it had 'valuable and fragile' dolls in it and to take extra care. Everyone was very nice and accommodating.

Of course...arctic travelers are treated a bit differently, so your experience may vary; there is no security at the Inuvik airport, you just toodle across the tarmac and hop on the plane - we have to get off and go thru security at Yellowknife. We also get hot meals and metal cutlery in-flight, and there is no such thing as 'first-class' on our airlines - everyone gets the same treatment.

I'd keep an eye on which airline you fly - WestJet definitely seems to be the most understanding (though I haven't managed to get a ticket with them in years, dumb Aeroplan restrictions) and fun-loving. Also keep in mind the size-restrictions on carry-on - in order to fit an SD in that you may have to either unstring or pack them in a curled-up position.

 

I moved from the UK to NY quite recently, i brought two of my MSDs in my carry on with me, the rest are being shipped, wrapped and padded! I'm shipping them because airlines can loose bags, and i'm very paranoid about that (They've lost and never found quite a few bags of mine) but if you ship them they can be insured and are probably safer in the long then in your bag.

 

I put my dolls in my hold baggage, mainly because I had a laptop in my carry on bag - two sds + laptop = mofo heavy. I wrapped them in bubble wrap before putting them in one of their original boxes and lining that with clothes. I then lined the luggage bag with clothes around the box, so it was a nice snug fit.

I guess that either worked (it was a fair amount of bubble wrap) or I was extremely lucky that nothing was broken. (This was a 12 hr long flight from England to British Columbia)

If you're really worried about them, like others have said, packing them securely then shipping them to your new home is probably the safest bet.