Transporting Bogu

[mingshi]

Is it easy to bring Bogu and Shinai on the plane now?
Is it safer to bring them in as checked-in luggages (on transit flights)?
What should I be aware of when packing?

Gosh, another 2*15-hour prison for the coming winter holiday!!
:tired:

[nodachi]

I would probably bring the Bogu on as a carry on if it fits the size requirements. That stuff is too pricey for some random airplane worker to say, oh, that looks cool, I think it will "become lost".

I have no clue on the shinai, but I would be pissed if someone stole my bogu (when I get it of course :) ). Don't risk it.

[Ares2907]

Definately check if you are able to take it as hand luggage. If not, take out hefty insurance on it and make sure that it doesn't get loaded without 'fragile' stickers all over it.
I had a bad experience the last time I went to Japan with this sort of stuff - wasn't allowed to take it as hand luggage, they put one puny fragile sticker on and when I picked it up at Narita there was a smegging great hole in the bag and a deep scratch along one side of my do. Not impressed at all.
Not a bit.
To make matters worse, they said that I couldn't prove that they had done it and wouldn't pay. Bastards.
Moral of the story - if you let someone treat your gear like it belongs to someone else - they will.

[saki_wooah]

hmmm for my shinai, I wrapped it with a lot of newspaper and send it to fragile equipment (the plane I was on took the sport and fragile equipment separatly). It was totally okay after. And also, put a lot of tape so the newspaper doesn't come off. Put your name on a paper and stick it with tons of tape too.

[KhawMengLee]

You hear nightmare stories all the time of bogu getting damaged. One of the kendoka here got a new bamboo dou and when it came off the plane he found a nice little crack on the front. He can still use it but its like a dent in a new car...

With the current security blitz you would not be able to bring your shinai on board. Before they were relatively cool with it but now they are just paranoid. Shinai goes in as bagage.

I am planning to put my bogu back in its original shipping box and mark it fragile all over.

[Will]

There was a post earlier about bogu and traveling. Amatsuda had an AWESOME suggestion for loading it on a plane...


Originally posted by amatsuda
You can use a soft Golf Travel Bag when taking your bogu with you on a trip.

In the past, the people at the check in counter were pretty cool about checking in the shinai bag without penalty.

However, Recently the airlines count the shinai bag as one piece of luggage. So on a recent business trip, I wanted to check in my roll-on, shinai case, and bogu bag, the airline wanted to charge me an extra $100. No Way. How the hell am I going to justify that on my expense report?

I now use a PING Travel Golf Bag. Mine is large enough to put in my bogu, keikogi and Hakama, and my bogu bag folded up. I then put the shinai case on top and zip the entire bag up. When I get to the destination, I take everything out and use the bogu bag.

The cool thing about the new versions is that some have compartments and storage areas to put other kendo or non-kendo items. Also, they have wheels so transporting your bogu is relatively easy.

Unfortunately, Mine is an old bag so I doesn't have wheels. So I have to lug that damn thing until I get to the hotel or destination.


amatsuda
mywebpage.netscape.com/sjkendo

[reicheru]

I've checked my bougu bag a number of times as regular luggage and never had any trouble with it, though I sometimes wrap the bogu a bit in sweatshirts or towels or something just to be safer -- saves room in my regular bag that way too. A few times they've put a fragile sticker on it, and fortunately I have no horror stories to report (yet). Within Japan they have no problems checking the shinai as well (though I always get surprised comments from airline personnel not used to seeing a foreign woman with kendo equipment), and I've never been charged extra for the shinai. Those generally go as "fragile." I've only checked shinai once on an international flight, and that was before 9/11. At that time, I was questioned a bit about them, but ultimately allowed to check them without too much hassle.

Rachel

[R A Sosnowski]

I have had the same experience checking Bogu as Rachel. With an extra-latge Bogu bag, I can usually stuff all of my clothing into it when traveling from mid-spring through mid-fall.

For Shinai and Bokken (and Iaito), I use a PVC fishing pole case; they expand enough to hold Naginata when I travel to those events. A few pieces of clothing wrapped around the enclosed items so thay won't rattle provides extra carrying capacity.

HTH.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I just use my regular shinai and bogu bags, never had trouble. My shinai bag is usually stuffed with 2 or 3 shinai plus bokken, so there's no danger of damage - all of those bundled together are pretty strong. The shinai bag and bogu bag do count as 2 pieces of luggage, and the bogu bag is way too big to take as carry on. So if you travel a lot you might consider Arnold's golf bag suggestion.