[tigerlily]

Ok, I know that some containers do go over board, but it also seems to me that airlines loose a lot of bags. I'm debating if I should just send my precious photo albums in the container with the rest of my belongings, it seems easier than carrying them with me along many USA flights and the big one to NZ.

What did you do/plan to do with your sentimental items??

[IanW99]

We shipped all our sentimental items in the container, thought it would be harder to lose a container than a suitcase :laugh

Didn't really have the space in the suitcases and would be difficult to protect many items anyway.

Having said that, we have digital copies of most of our photos which did come with us on the plane and also stored on a web-site so any lose would have been much less important.

So if you can backup the images and keep them separate.

Ian

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

I would agree. Containers are pretty safe (personally I would be more worried about losing a bag on the journey), and you will probably need the space in your luggage for more practical items that might help to ease your few few days/weeks here.

Having said that really small items, say jewellery, would obviously fit in a bag easily.

I think what I'm trying to say is base the decision on practicality - size/weight rather than emotional reasons.

[Familyofmonkeys]

You will find that shipping insurance will not cover things like jewellery, so take in your HAND LUGGAGE on the plane. You could scan in all your photo albums and get it onto disc. Take in your hand luggage and give copies to relatives to extra sure you don't lose any photos if container went overboard or got damp. My mineral rocks were not covered on our shipping insurance but I took my chances with that one as really expensive to insure separately and far too heavy for suitcase.

[Sam B]

We brought the hard drive with all our photos/vids on it in our hand luggage and shipped everything else, including non-digital photos. I was terrified the container would go overboard...

[CjChris]

I had many digitals on my computer, but most sentimental items went on the container. I put a few light-weight special items in my carry on, but mostly my carry-on weight was reserved for things that would be a total pain to try to replace here: birth certs, degrees, qualification assessments, proof of employment records, etc.

Believe me, your bags (whether checked in or carried on) will be a total pain in the patootie because you have to not only drag them through the airport, you have to drag them to the hotel, etc., so you are better off putting "keepsakes" on the container and save your precious luggage space for packing the essentials (clothes, meds, important docs, laptop, shoes, etc.)

christine

[wanderingoregonian]

I set aside about 4 hours to scan in my favourite photos... as in 15-20 minute blocks of flipping through the photo albums and scanning in the ones that I couldn't bare to not have... for me those are the photos I can nearly close my eyes and see anyway.

Then I left the lot of albums in my parents attic. I have to decide this trip back whether to bring some of the with me or keep storing them there. It would be nice (once I have book cases) to put a few photo album in our living room to share with our new friends here.

For those with a hard drive of photos... one thing I did do was buy a new hard drive and a hard drive case (i guess its cheaper this way than just buying an external hard drive) and save a copy there. Ours is smaller than a PDA and could easily fit in hand luggage.

We split our most precious stuff between the container and friends and family in the states... figured we woudl only stand to loss 1/2 that way.

[tigerlily]

Ok, I agree with the consensus, it all goes in the container. I'm trying trying trying to pack light!

[Jim&Karen]

Similar thing here.

I have just bought a scanner to allow me to make digital copies of all our paper photos. I can them make a number of copies on various media and distribute them to the (grown up) kids as well.

They then get a copy to keep for themselves which is nice, as most of the photos are of the kids growing up anyway :)

Cheers
Jim

[Jo Jo]

I shipped virtually everything, but I did take one photo in my hand luggage as I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to it (and a copy just wouldn't have been the same).

[vixxann]

If we were to upload all our digital photos to a website storage type place - can anyone recommend best one?

Or is it easier to store them on a separate hard drive and take that with you? (haven't got a clue how to do that though)

[Jo Jo]

http://www.photobox.co.uk and http://photobucket.com/ are both good.

[james the mechanic]

I would agree. Containers are pretty safe, personally I would be more worried about losing a bag on the journey.

Are they?:laugh

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4251613a10.html

Luckily this container was carrying plant bulbs destined for export.
However it could easily have been someone worldly possessions.
But I think your right, the odds are against it happening.

[alan999]

, it seems easier than carrying them with me along many USA flights and the big one to NZ.

What did you do/plan to do with your sentimental items??

If they are carryable I would choose taking them on board. I did. A little inconvenience at LA but they can't be that big/ heavy or they won't pass as cabin luggage. The small problem of carrying a computer case of documents was nothing compared to waiting for the carousel to produce the items, or waiting 6 weeks fingers crossed.

Just a tip, I used the lockers above the seats during the flights instead of carrying them for the whole flight. :cool: