[canucklad]

Ian from HK has given me an idea for a Friday Fun topic, his comment on expensive surprise inclusions into luggage and carrying on-board more than you know you should has inspired me to find out what the rest of us have done in the past……..

See Ian’s comment on the overhead lockers thread @16th December 2016 at 05:44

I’ll relate two stories that come to mind……

As I’m currently working in Cardiff I’m reminded of my eccentric mate who decided to leave us in the pub watching the Sunday football to go shopping instead. He left disgusted at our preference to indulge in some final pints before flying home rather than traipse the fine shops that the Welsh capital has to offer.

2 or so hours later he re-appears, all smug and happy, toting a large shopping bag from an upmarket retailer. His face beamed equally with pride and superiority as he condescendingly advised us of his bargain basement bulk buy of superior Australian toiletries, as opposed to us wastefully drinking our lives away.

Still lecturing like a fanatical Salvation Army recruiter, as we approached the airport I decided it would be a good time to broach the subject of the 100ml rule and the fact that he’d booked a BMI baby HBO fare ………. I shall let you imagine yourselves the next 10 minutes of our lives !!

The other memorable trip, links to Ian’s weighty on-board BBQ bits.
Having been talked into buying not 1, not 2 but 4 large soapstone chess sets from our beach vendor in Kenya, my girlfriend then realised the folly of this as I pointed out the weight restrictions for our flight home.
As a person who religiously travels light I was less than impressed with her solution. Purchase another holdall for the 128 men and their squares, and I’d still be within MY carry on allowance.
Oh and why not, just chuck in a Baobab tree worth of carvings too.
Fortunately the airlines didn’t question why my muscles pulsated like A feeble hulk, or why the beads of sweat on my brow resembled the worst Sunday hangover in a Marrakesh bazaar as I hauled the souvenir shop all the way back to Edinburgh. …….Still, thank god I didn’t have to carry her bag, contents unknown ,but quite sure half of Moulton and Brown was Tardised away in there…Which beggars the question, how do the fairer sex get away with it? And also explains why I didn’t get as much as a “Well done” on arrival back at the house!!

[MartynSinclair]

This is 5 years + ago and perhaps is a confession…..

Coming back from Asia (BKK), I had a load of sticky rice in bamboo in carrier bags… various loose teas…. and some sleeping pills that unbekown to me at the time were class A drugs in the UK…but I did have a legit prescription and an invoice from the hospital.

So going through the green channel.. I was stopped for a random search. My standard behaviour in these circumstances is to put my luggage on the bench and proceed to open the cases, at which time the officer told me no need..

Customs were not at all interested in the sleeping pills… sticky rice…. or T…

Only interested in my duty free allowance….and whether I was over…

Just for the record I am now 100% off sleeping pills (5 years) and was told by my sister in law, who is a pharmacist, that the sleeping pills I used at time were considered in the UK as a class A drug….

[PeterCoultas]

Some years back I’d bought a carpet in Morocco only to discover when it arrived in the UK that it was a rather poor imitation of my purchase. A later visit with the girl friend of the time, and being a rather fanatical hand bags only traveller, I was faced with getting a nice inlay wooden coffee table from Essouira, another carpet (4m x 3m) and my original large backpack bag back to the UK. Surprise surprise there was no problem taking the whole collection onboard. I feel sorry for those who try this approach these days…

[LuganoPirate]

OK, it’s not Friday but I had the joy of this weekend having to re-install Win10 and all my programmes etc!!!

Some years ago, c1983 returning from Lome with KLM and siting in First waiting for boarding to complete, my local agent came into the cabin with a stuffed crocodile, about 5’6″ high, as a gift to take home. Now this was the last thing I wanted but I couldn’t refuse and the kind (but laughing) hostess offered to store it in a locker. About an hour out from AMS she helped me wrap it in duty free bags and collecting my bags off I went.

I was stopped by a female customs officer who asked me what i had, to which I replied “a crocodile!” She laughed and asked me what it really was and I told her again at which point I was led off to a room to wait for a senior customs agent to speak to me.

Needless to say it was confiscated and I ended up paying a fine of 400 Guilders (reduced from 800 as the first Mrs. LP worked in a senior position in the justice ministry). The crocodile was sent to some museum where I believe he is still happily residing today.

[IanFromHKG]

Well, canucklad has already (re-)disclosed the fact that I have taken a barbeque with me on a flight (a large, four-burner affair with attached hob). Just one among other improbable items I have taken on a plane is a fridge.

What is the largest home appliance other members have taken with them?

[MartynSinclair]

For some mad reason, I bought an office chair in Office depot (Florida) and took it as my checked “bag”. Funny thing was, I remember at check in being asked what’s in the box – when I said its an office chair – the agent just appeared / acted as if it was a normal daily event..

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