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

If you have a BJD carrier, no problem.
When I traveled to a friend I didn't had one and had mine in a usual bag, and he's 70 cm! it was a complete hell to not break him!

 

I don't take my dolls on vacation minus going to Hong Kong since I will be buying them clothes.

I never had much problem with airport security or stuff like that.

I think I prefer not to take them, whenever I have Saif with me, I pretty much perpetually have one hand in the bag he's in to make sure he's okay even when nothing's happening because I have a paranoid personality.

 

When I moved across country I put them in my old very sturdy very heavy blanket box padded out with their doll cushions. Thankfully a friend of mine was driving the van with me in the front, but I was very confident anyway that no way would they come to harm! A big wooden box like this for van moving is really good. I had a bout ten dolls in there and they were perfect when they came out.
I have also moved across country (another time, I have moved alot ) where I carried them in a doll carrier but I was actually very nervous doing this, alot of changing trains etc and finding a place to put the bag. Another time I had my doll delivered to my mums house and went and picked her up when I got settled in my new place.

 

Hi, I was wondering how im going to carry my doll, to go to germany for a trip...and i dont know if they will allow me to bring her with me on the plane or put her inside my luggage(which i really dont want to do, beacuase they throw around your luggage right?). and the scan you bag right? so im worried about it...she's my first doll as well and i dont want to leave her at home either...

by the way, sorry if this has been asked before?, but i was too lazy to go and search every page there is! ^_^;
really sorry~~

 

I did a pretty thorough search about this and didn't find any other topic that related to it. But if there is, then mods, feel free to move/delete/merge this or something..

But to the topic. In January I'm going to York, UK, for two weeks with my class. It's an educational trip, but we will have a lot of free time so we have the opportunity to walk around the town and so on. Since it looks like such a beautiful city I have been thinking about bringing one or two of my dolls to see if I can find any good locations there where I can photograph them, but I'm not quite sure if I should. I haven't been able to make any connections with the other students in my class, so I think I would be quite content with spending my free time there alone and practice my own hobbies, but I'm still not sure if it would be a good idea to bring them at all.

This made me think about the subject of bringing dolls on vacations in general. Is it something people often do or is it something that's frowned upon?

So my questions are:

1. What do you feel about bringing dolls with you on vacations/school trips that has nothing to do with dolls or doll meets?
   
2. Would you do it, or would you rather leave them at home and why?
   
3. Could it lead to any unpleasant experiences or would it probably be all okay?

I find this a pretty interesting subject, so any replies to these questions would be very appreciated!

 

It depends on where the trip is, how much other stuff I have to bring and whether or not I'd be likely to have the time/inclination to do a lot with my doll. I'm not totally against doing so, though. I would not bring a lot of doll stuff with me, and would pack my doll stuff securely and discretely. I think this is a difficult topic to give a firm yes or no answer to, because so much depends on other factors.

 

What do you feel about bringing dolls with you on vacations/school trips that has nothing to do with dolls or doll meets?

I'm all for it. I'm going to enjoy my doll as much as possible, and it's kinda nice to not miss the opportunity to take pictures of my doll all around the world. I travel overseas more than 5 times a year, and am gone almost every weekend traveling my nation, so leaving my doll at home would just be awful. Depending on where I'm going, I'd bring my doll mostly. I probably wouldn't bring her every time, since I go to New York a bunch, and it would just get boring, that and I wouldn't take her camping.

Could it lead to any unpleasant experiences or would it probably be all okay?

You always run the risk of getting them broken, stolen, etc, but if you're a careful owner, traveling with them is very easy. They could be stolen in your hotel, stolen out of your hands, broken by accident and more, but, as always, you could do all those things in your own home too. Sometimes, just because it's your home, doesn't mean its just as safe as somewhere else.

IMHO, I can't wait to take my doll on vacation for 5 weeks to the mountians where I ski. I have made little skis for her and I can't wait to take pictures. 2000 miles of traveling? Easy when you have a hardcase carrier. I have no worries.

 

I want to take a doll in a trip, but I worry for safety.

 

I like to take a doll or two with me whenever I go on road trips, hoping for the chance to stop, set them up, and take some pics. I don't travel extensively, and I have never really had problems. I get the occasional "wit" who thinks that a grown woman is "playing with toys at YOUR age!" is the height of hilarity, but I ignore them, since they are non entities to me.

I actually took a doll with me into Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA, because I needed him available to check for scale for things I wanted to get. Thanks to a doll friend of mine who lives in the area, who brings her dolls in on a regular basis, not a single member of the staff batted an eye when I held up beads and other jewelry making implements next to him for scale checking purposes.

I like the opportunity to see how my dolls would look in different surroundings, and have actually had fun doing so. If I felt that my doll or dolls were in danger, they would stay in my bag, or in the car.

Of course, if I were in a hurry during whatever traveling I am doing, I'd leave my dolls at home.

 

I could not find a topic about this matter...
But I am curious about the possible problems that could occur at the airport if you travel with your dolls and I am talking about your hand luggage, not having your dolls in with your check-in luggage.

I often go between England and Sweden, and have considered bringing my doll with me... But I am afraid of what could happen to it at the airport/security. I have heard of smudged faceups, but also of how they have asked for people to pick them out from the bag. For what reason..? And what happened next?

So, has anything happened to you and your dolls at the airport (I am really just curious about passing through the security though)?
Have your doll been denied to go through for some reason?
What (if you know) would not be accepted to bring with/on/in your doll?

I think that covers it... I just hope you do not see me as silly for worrying about my doll being confiscated at the airport..!

 

I haven´t traveled with my dolls yet (but I have bought a 1/6 to do it recently xD) Anyway, I can share with you the experience of my brother. He bought me Usagi on his travel to Hong Kong on 2007 and had to brought her on his own hands. He preffered to have her in her box to protec her and he brought her safe and safetly, nothing happened to her :p . As a curious note, Usagi helped him to put in the airplanes of Hong Kong and Paris, luggage excess because the counter assistance fell in love with the doll, and asking him to see her, they decided don´t charge it :p he was lucky with her.

 

Whole thread of travelling with dolls

I've gone through UK customs twice a year, every year for the last five, with my dolls in hand luggage and never once even had them ask me to open the carrier. Unless you dipped the thing in cocaine before you packed, there's no reason whatsoever for them to confiscate it or even pay much attention to it beyond the possible curiousity of the person operating the x-ray machine.

 

I've never had the, erm, let's just say guts, to take my doll with me when flying, although I've never had any bad experiences with airport security. Speaking of X-Ray machines, however, I wondered if they'd have any effect on resin? Does anyone know for certain? I'm assuming not, but you never know.

 

I'll be experiencing this in a few days, since I'm going to visit a friend and taking my Zuzu Delf with me. I'm hoping since she's tiny it won't be too much of a hassle.

 

No. And I know so because I work on these machines every darn day.

 

I thought as much! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

Oh darn... No fun for me on the plane then...

Joke aside...
Am I right to assume that it was not your doll that had to be swabbed, for whichever reason, or..?
Because beyond your need to state the obvious lies my desire to know about the deviations - the ones that have had problems!

 

I have known people who when flying into or out of "high risk" destinations like Bangkok or Amsterdam have had their dolls swabbed, but even then, the staff were always very polite, didn't do any damage and I've never heard a horror story yet when using UK or EU airports.

 

yay! I was hoping for a thread like this XD

My first trip to Seattle was this past April for SakuraCon. I made certain I took my girls with me. I've had the similar experience with the odd looks and the rescanning process. I was going through TSA and the agent operating the scanner wasn't sure what the heck he was looking at. A couple more agents came over to see what all the fuss was about. Then they BOTH leaned further into to get a better look at the computer screen! XD

It was also busy so they had to hurry and pass the bag through, I couldn't help but laugh to myself at their confusion. I'll be going back next year, so I'll definitely keep you posted!

 

I have not taken any of my resin companions through TSA yet but I am almost sure there will be a story to share once I do, and I do intend to. Once I do, I am sure to come on this thread and share the experience. I amd not sure that your average TSA employee would have has any exposure to BJDs; althought in that type of job, you expect a person to have seen some of everyhting, especialy if they have been in the job a little while.

This was fun reading!