In mid September 2008, I went on my first live-aboard trip. I talked to plenty of people prior who all gave me advice. I took this very seriously, packing a lot of the stuff I thought I would use, lots of spares and ‘what-if’ items. While I ended up only using 50% of what I packed, I don’t really regret packing anything I didn’t use (except maybe three pairs of shoes).
However, one thing I learned is that when you have that much time to prepare for a trip, you should just ship as much stuff ahead of time as you can!
Posted in Techniques, Trip Reports
Tags: delta, delta airlines, extra luggage, jetblue, luggage, Rebreather, trip
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Tags: delta, delta airlines, extra luggage, jetblue, luggage, Rebreather, trip
11,826 views
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Airlines used to be consumer oriented and were practical about the limits they allowed each travelor to bring with them. Unfortunately, with the new regulations, equipment intensive travelors, such as divers, and even more so rebreather/technical divers, are definitely "paying the price"! If you can find a friend or dive shop whose willing to accept your shipped dive gear in advance, it's ablsolutely the way to go, because it's not only cheaper in most cases, but also pretty much guarantees your stuff will arrive. Airlines appear to be less reliable with bags, than the shipping companies are! BTW, I live in South Florida and am a very active diver, and I'm always happy to help out my buddies and receive their dive gear in advance of their arrival, and often do.
I can attest to that. Adrian has been so helpful lending us gear in our past few trips. I can't thank him enough. He even keeps around a set of AL13 that I purchased and leave with him in Florida.
Fascinating stuff Pocky. Thanks for the pointers, I'll look at this for my next trip.
Anyone here ever used Sports Express? You can get quotes on their site at http://www.sportsexpress.com . It could potentially be even cheaper than other shipping methods if you're sending an enormous amount of stuff and want it done well, especially if you can't be there to do it yourself. I wrote a whole dissertation about shipping huge bikes on BikeForums, some of which is probably relevant here: <a href=”http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php… ” target=”_blank”>http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=302410…
Maybe for oddball items, but for a single bag, economy…Luggage, Large from US -> Bonaire or Caymans is 31x24x12, to 50lbs = $426.55 one way…. Boston -> Fort Lauderdale = $163.66 (One Way)
UPS ground or USPS Priority Mail has to be cheaper and with varying degrees of tracking ability…. Just DON'T use Parcel Post…, a $3500 package (under insured at that) just about gave me a ulcer when it was quoted for ~9 day delivery, took 17 days and the only tracking visibility was from the 2nd day…. At least if you can see the progress, you have a better comfort level its not fallen off the truck or worse, lifted en route…
ok, problem was solved in another incident.