What to do with vinyl bought on holiday??

[pencilface]

There seems to be lots of jet-setting diggers on here, so thought i'd ask...

In August i'm off to spend 3 weeks driving up the Northern California coast, then visit San fran and Portland, OR - Dead excitied! But i imagine i'll be picking up a buttload of records whilst doing this+++ Previously i've only ever bought a litle wedge abroad that i've stuck in myhand luggage... But we all well know that even pickign up 50 or 60 LPs can weigh a bloody tonne if you have to lug them around.

Do any of you guys do anything specific when buying records abroad, such as post it back to yourself? I've been considering doing this "surface mail" but unsure if that will end up costing a fortune?

Apologies for rambling post...

[Tom B]

I've taken around 100 LPs on as hand luggage - heavy, but they don't take up much space so you can usually get away with it. In the unlikely event that they make you check into the hold it will cost £50 or so (if I remember right) but that's still a hell of a lot cheaper than posting.

I think you have to bear in mind a total limit while you're picking up stuff so you can't splurge too much. Surely 100 is a decent total for a 3 week trip! I've never tried posting stuff - my worry from the States would be that you'd get hit with a huge customs charge if you send a big parcel, which totally defeats the object.

Sounds great - I'd love to do that trip. Maybe one day...

[pencilface]

That sounds sensible - maybe i'll pack a folded up record bag rather than a spas jumper and slowly fill it?

[tjh392]

I've taken around 100 LPs on as hand luggage - heavy, but they don't take up much space so you can usually get away with it. In the unlikely event that they make you check into the hold it will cost £50 or so (if I remember right) but that's still a hell of a lot cheaper than posting.

That's what I did, I spent 2 weeks in SLC and bought a fair few. I managed to get it on board without any problems (I flew with Delta) and it weighed a ton. I bought some more after this picture but you get the idea.

[theeman]

Likewise, I've always taken them on as hand luggage and put clothes etc in the hold. If you have a shoulder bag sling it round your back if you check in at a desk (does anyone do that now...) I've been stopped a couple times but they only asked that I split the records up across a couple of bags so each one'a not too heavy to lift out of an overhead locker, so I take a spare record hunting bag rolled up in the main bag just in case.

[theeman]

Just following up again: there was one time I was stopped and had to put them in the hold. Probably because the hand luggage was a record flight case! If you buy loads then just buy a cheap flight case, pack it with clothes, stick it in the hold.

And be selective. The USA is full of ace cheap records so don't go mad buying every 3 dollar record you see. You gotta carry the bloody things for that 3 weeks never mind the flight! Quality not quantity!

[bennyboy]

Who are you flying with? Just back from NYC, and flew Virgin out there, who were strict on baggage, but flew Delta on way back, and people were getting on with suitcases and bags - so more than the usual one small bit of hand luggage. Seemed to work on the basis that as long as it fitted the locker, wasn't an issue.

Or it's just too difficult to tell Americans 'no'.

[alanmck]

must be in here somewhere...



is that Sie V at the back? anamorphic photo, perhaps...

[francis]

I know someone who has been known to throw all their clothes away in order to fill every last bit of luggage space

[babycart]

I know someone who has been known to throw all their clothes away in order to fill every last bit of luggage space

i remember reading a story years ago about a soul collector in the 70s who spent the final part of his trip going from record warehouses to burger joints, eating as much as possible.
It had to do with the fact that his flight allowed you to carry your own body weight, or a proportion of body weight, of luggage free of charge, and he wanted to pack on the pounds to bring maximum records back.
Sounds like bollocks now I write it down, though. Maybe I dreamt it or it or it was some bollocks I heard in a pub.

[No, LordNo]

such as post it back to yourself?

Ask for an "m bag" at the post office in the US. This is what intl students use to ship books and such back home when they depart. It's very cheap and doesn't even take that long (think I might've paid around $60 to ship 50 or so records and they arrived in 2 weeks.)

[Rich Hero]

Who are you flying with? Just back from NYC, and flew Virgin out there, who were strict on baggage, but flew Delta on way back, and people were getting on with suitcases and bags - so more than the usual one small bit of hand luggage. Seemed to work on the basis that as long as it fitted the locker, wasn't an issue.

Or it's just too difficult to tell Americans 'no'.

I suspect it also has to do with flights routinely being overbooked going westbound (hence the regularity with which you can be bumped) but this being much less common in the return direction. Therefore space is at more of a premium, and luggage rules more strictly enforced, flying one way as opposed to the other. I have no idea what the reason for this imbalance is although Google probably has an idea.

I've simply bought a massive duffle bag, stacked the records tightly, wrapped them with all my clothes and then checked this into the hold, in this situation. I've also carried about sixty records on as hand luggage before. Split across three or four record shop bags. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that approach though.

[alanmck]

[Cochise]

That's what I did, I spent 2 weeks in SLC and bought a fair few. I managed to get it on board without any problems (I flew with Delta) and it weighed a ton. I bought some more after this picture but you get the idea.

Salt Lake City? Land of my youth! Perhaps the Mormons really dig Eumir - I bought a near complete run of Deodato at Deseret Industries in the eighties... Does Cosmic Aeroplane still have records?

On topic- I brought back about 40 lps and 80 45s packed tightly and divided between two suitcases and surrounded by clothes (and 3 kilos of american cheerios, which are far superior to the UK recipe) on a recent jaunt to Fort Collins, Colorado and Phoenix. I had one of those cheap handheld luggage scales and was able to figure out how much my stack was weighing as i went along. I would have paid the extra bag charge on BA if I'd had time to dig further, as considering generally lower u.s. prices and high shipping charges it is always going to be economical to haul them back as extra hold luggage.

[LDJB]

When Fuz did his road trip he had hid records couried back - I think it worked out about $0.50 a record but as you probably remember there were a lot of records - I seem to recall they arrived the day after he did. Best to drop him a PM though.

I've never had any problems bringing back records but mainly as I generally only go for 45s these days - home from Utrecht it's always LPs checked in and well wrapped in t-shirts etc and the 45s carried on.