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

It occurs to me that a little note in the top of the bag that says "This is a $1500 collector doll" might keep people from getting nasty with them.

 

When I flew out to San Francisco last week, I got to the airport at 7am for my 9am flight. I was tired and slightly hyper. I was chattering away with the TSA guy that manned the super-detailed human bodyscan machine while Oliver, my HDF Cream, was floating along the conveyor belt behind me inside my purse. Yea, it slipped my mind that I had him tucked inside my purse with a travel blanket.

As I stood there cracking jokes with the TSA guy about being Sailor Moon [I swear, they make you pose like Sailor Moon], some elder guy behind me was grumbling about how the body scans were "useless." While I was still sprouting out, "Moon Prism Power," the TSA guy at the conveyor belt said, "Hey! If her and her doll has to get scanned, you will too!"

The silence that followed was priceless. With a wink from both the TSA guys, I jumped into my shoes, grabbed my purse, and skittered off to my gate.

While coming back from San Francisco earlier this week though, no one stopped me, made any remarks, or even batted an eye at the little body in my purse. Comparing the two experiences, I like the guys in Phoenix a helluva lot more!

 

Victoria Victrix. I am curious about your post. I avoid talking about the price of my doll because I don't want her to get stolen. You aren't scared to label your doll's price?

 

I take me dolls with me on trips and vacations! I feel there is just too many photo ops that I would miss if I had left them home! (I take TONS of photos during trips! Doll and non-doll). I just try to not take more then I can handle depending on the vavation or trip that can be between 1 to all of them.

 

^,^ I was debating on taking my girls with me to New York. Emily is a big girl while Yoko is really small. I knew I wanted to take Emily along cause we are going to be seeing Wicked and I wanted to take a photo of the stage with her in the for ground. Then I remembered Yoko would be home all alone. And since she's so small I can stuff her in my bag and now worry. Also when one goes to New York you get pictures, and dollies are great models ^.^

 

Actually, most theaters don't allow people to take photos inside the theater. I'm not sure why, but when we went to see plays, a warning goes over the intercom to tell you that photography inside is not permitted.

 

The way things fell this year, I haven't had the opportunity to take my doll on vacation yet. My thoughts about doing so really depend on the sort of vacation- much like Poofiemus talked about.

If we're going to visit relatives and call the plans day-by day, bringing my doll would be fun! I have a bunch of younger cousins who also like dolls, and seeing a BJD might make their day. One of my relatives even has a dock on his property, so shooting there would be really, really cool!

In the case of a more tourist-y location, where I'll probably be running around like mad and probably be worried about taking proper care of my girl, I would be more apt to leave her home. Granted, a proper carrying case of a manageable size would be awesome too. I'm used to carrying around a large camera bag with some expensive equipment, but if I could find a bag that allowed my dolls to sit comfortably inside with the camera, I'd be all for it!

 

I've taken my Afanasiy with me on vacation...once. Would've taken him more...but it totally depends on the people I'm going with.

It was a bit stressful on the airplane b/c the doll bag had to be placed into the compartment above and the plane was packed and everyone's stuff looked very heavy. So I had to wait and wait and wait until everyone else was done and find a spot where he wouldn't get crushed. I also had a child with me (not mine) and her mother with a bad back...so yeah, massive stress.

When we arrived at our destination (Japan), I was very very glad that I took him with me. So many wonderful places to take pictures of him in. Suffice to say, he went with me everywhere no matter the time or destination. My only complaint was his weight

Fun tidbit: When your doll goes through the x-ray machine, it looks like a child is trapped in the bag. You see a 'skeleton' of sorts on the screen.Scared the poop out of me.

 

Depends where I'm going, and who's going to be with me. Going to con's, no. I would never. There's already too much stuff in the room. Anywhere else, I probably would. But I don't travel much. Since my dolls take up most of my money XD

 

I personally wouldn't do it, but not for reasons you would expect.

Since my boy has cat ears, I don't want to take him out and accidentally lose an ear, so I do not take him anywhere too far. If I lose an ear, or worse, even both, getting another set wouldn't be the same since I paint them and I am not good enough to paint a new set and have it look the same....

 

Okay so I'll be taking a long 3 week road trip and moving to CA from VA, across the country and I need some advise.

• 
  Should I bring my dolls with me in the car?
  One little yosd or all of them (7+)? (Space might be an issue)
  Will they fry in the car if left there?
  Should I just ship them instead?
  And if to be shipped, any suggestions and experiences with shipping companies?
  What to you all think of UPS or Pakmail?

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

The heat may cause a problem for your dolls if you leave them in the car for too long and so long you keep them at a nice cool-warm temperature then I would say you should bring your dolls. Although I would recommend bring the ones you wanted to come with you the most and mail the rest(usually UPS is really fast but very expensive depending on how fast you wanted to ship to). Shipping companies like UPS or Fedex can be quite expensive but very fast and I never have any problem whenever I needed to ship something overnight or just a few days and quite secure since they do ask for your signatures when delivered to your house. Also, depending on what the sizes of the dolls you have, I would bring the big one and mail the smaller ones, and if they are all small ones then bring all of them with you if it doesn't take too much space.

 

Hi anubisnut! I made a similar move a couple of years ago and brought all my dolls with me on the cross-country car trip. I kept all of them in their boxes with face covers and cushions. Along the way at hotel stays, I would bring in the boxes to my room for added security. (Luggage carts came in very handy for car-to-room transport!) Everydolly made it safely to the destination.

Edit to add: I shipped my other things (books, clothes, music, etc.) via UPS. It did cost a pretty penny, but I needed the room in the car for the dolls!

Good luck on your move!

 

While I do agree that labeling your doll with a price tag might not be safe, I see no reason why slapping a bunch of "FRAGILE" labels on the bag that holds your doll wouldn't be okay. If I had to, I would make a t-shirt for traveling dolls to wear that says, "No, really, dude, HANDLE WITH CARE".

 

I moved from southern Canada all the way down to Florida, but we drove so I just packed Tovi up in his original box, tied securely in his pillow, packed that box in with other things, and stuck it all in the back of the U-Haul.

But I only had the one doll and if I had to fly I would have easily kept him in a carry-on. In your case I would probably pack them up in their original boxes and ship them ahead. Maybe wrap them in foam or bubblewrap. You know, like how they come when you first get them. If they can make it through customs and everything like that, I'm sure they can make it across the country.

 

I'm really happy there was a lack of trouble, I'm going to be flying to New York in a few days, and I want to take my big girl Emily BBB Pandora with me. My boyfriend is worried we'll be pulled aside, I'm hoping to put her in her own bin so they know what she is going through, I also do that to my computer and other stuff, (I travel a lot, and I don't take chances with security).

 

I have only 2 sd sized boys, and no real bags for them...so i just put both of them in a fetal position and fold them into a thick comforter. It protects them, insulates them, and keeps any sunlight away from them. I should also menition when they travel its only about 2 hours by car at any time. They happy with it...though they keep complaining about cramping.....

 

I'm going off to university this autumn, and I'll be taking my dolls in my carry on bag. I think.

Ok, I live in Austria, and will be going to the UK to study. Most probably St. Andrews in Scotland. That's either a two hour journey by bus to Bratislava, an hour and a half by plane to Edinburgh, and another hour by bus to St. Andrews, or an hour by plane to London, where the waiting time is between two and four hours (usually), then a flight to Edinburgh and then a bus trip to St. Andrews. And then a walk to my accommodation.

By Autumn I will have a pukipuki and a LTF, so the size will not be so much of a problem, but I think that my carry on bag will be one of the old cloth IKEA trolleys where I will probably even have most of my clothing. So I'll wrap my dolls in bubble wrap, or maybe just my LTF and stick it in a thick jumper or into a pair of socks. My Puki might travel in a glasses case, with protection over her face.

But next spring I'm getting two SD's (my parents are not aware of this) and I have no clue how to transport them back home. They theoretically fit into the aforementioned carry on, but... I might take them apart and even split up body parts in my checked in luggage and my carry on. So the torso, arms and legs might go in the checked in bag, and the face, hands and feet in my carry on. Depends. And since they come with pillows I might disassemble the parts, wrap them separately in tissue paper or bubble wrap and carefully stuff them into the pillow. Or I'll buy myself a carry case for them, and just put the carry cases into my carry on. That should be secure enough.

But anyway, I'll probably try out multiple ways to transport them first before I fly, so I can carry only what won't get too heavy, and not have so many bags that I can't pull my suitcase!

 

I recently moved across the country with my dolls. I shipped them via UPS with insurance; as this is how most of my dolls came to me in the first place, I wasn't afraid to ship them that way a second time. They all arrived with no problems whatsoever.

 

Wow guys, thanks everyone for the advice! It's been really helpful. Unfortunetly I'll have space restriction and I really would have liked to bring them with me in the my car but the trunk is going to be holding 2-3 carry-on luggages (I won't be alone in the long drive), last-minute items from the townhouse, and supplies for the long roadtrip. I'll have to check FEDEX and UPS rates though, haven't picked one type of shipping company yet.