[CricketLover]

Hello everyone.

I leave in 6 days, so the panic/stress/euphoria roller coaster ride has gone into full swing. (Evident by the fact that I am up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning).

It will also become evident over the next few days as my post become more frequent and perhaps a bit more bizarre.

For instance:

Question of the hour:
If I use SPACESAVER VACUUM bags to pack large bulky clothing and linens in my suitcase, what happens at the airport when customs asks me to open the Space saver bag?

I won't have a vacuum to reduce the bulk again- what will I do with this added volume?? Shall I just heap it all on the Queen size sheet and drag it along behind thru the airport :laugh :laugh

Perhaps I should leave the Space saver bags behind and use them to ship items. Any thoughts??

[veronica]

no thoughts, but a wonderful mental picture

[Nienke]

:laugh me too, saw you dragging that sheet across the airport...

Good luck with those final six days!

[katandbob]

Hello everyone.

I leave in 6 days, so the panic/stress/euphoria roller coaster ride has gone into full swing. (Evident by the fact that I am up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning).

It will also become evident over the next few days as my post become more frequent and perhaps a bit more bizarre.

For instance:

Question of the hour:
If I use SPACESAVER VACUUM bags to pack large bulky clothing and linens in my suitcase, what happens at the airport when customs asks me to open the Space saver bag?

I won't have a vacuum to reduce the bulk again- what will I do with this added volume?? Shall I just heap it all on the Queen size sheet and drag it along behind thru the airport :laugh :laugh

Perhaps I should leave the Space saver bags behind and use them to ship items. Any thoughts??


Yes I was thinking about using these {IE heavier case but less of them to drag around to and from airport}

so any one who has used them please advise us both

PS.....booking tickets for May 30th! :clap

[sizzlingbadger]

I bought some of these thinking that they would squash down the bedding and we would get more in the container, how wrong was I :uhoh

When you suck the air out of them they become really hard and you end up not being able to fold them down any smaller and they become even more difficult to pack, along with being really heavy. When getting the stuff out of the ones I did leave filled without air all the clothes, bedding was really creased. Lots of ironing for me which isn't good plus I ruined a coat.

I would say stay well clear of the spacesaver vacuum bags.

[StevieD]

Sizzling Badger has got it in one! :yes Not designed to provide the clothes crease free, but who manages to pack stuff in a suitcase and not have to iron it?!!

Yes, they are very useful, but they have their limitations, great for storage but not for travelling with.

I too had visions of a big sheet being dragged through the airport, even a handerchief on end of a stick, Dick Whittington style!!!

:laugh

[Smiler]

Oh please let me know when you arrive at wellington airport. This I wanna see. :laugh:laugh

I see alot of peope using some weird kinda shopping bag instead of cases. I'm unsure what they are called but I know you can get them in the 2$ shop (or the £ shop in the UK)

Not at all strong, probably only last one journey, but good if you want to use all your weight allowance.

Good luck

D x

[Karen and Rich Matthews]

Hi there,

Congrats on your news :) We used space saver bags, both the vacuum ones and the roller ones and loved them....the only thing we couldn't do was to open them until we got to NZ.

Customs uses scanning machinery so as long as it's just clothing you put into the bags and no sharp items you should be fine. There is the factor that the bags don't fold up, but then you'd account for that before you put them into the suitcase I guess.

We've been here a week, and are loving Churton Park..let us know when you get here and maybe we could meet along with Smiler...some sort of welcoming commitee??? Hehe

Good luck and remember to pack your flight socks!

K and R xxx

[Carol]

Hi there,


We've been here a week, and are loving Churton Park..let us know when you get here and maybe we could meet along with Smiler...some sort of welcoming commitee??? Hehe


K and R

I'll come!

Hey Karen and rich....Churton Park is spitting distance from me...

Carol

[sweetpea]

At least with me, the problem ended up being weight, not space. So you might find that the space saver bags don't do much for you -- unless you've got a huge family and are entitled to a gazillion pieces of luggage -- and then I'm green with jealousy :-)

I didn't use any space saver bags or anything, just found the biggest allowable box (18 x 18 x 24) and stuffed my duvet in around the breakable stuff. I put my suitcases/backpacks (filled) in the boxes. If you do it this way, don't rely on tape alone - use twine and wrap it like ribbons around a birthday gift. (Learned this the hard way.)

Excess baggage charges didn't end up being that much -- cheaper than shipping via the US Postal Service. If you call AirNZ, they might give you an obscene number - $175 per bag was what they quotes me. When I got to the airport, I was only charged $80. But YMMV.

Anyway, good luck! Make sure you weigh each bag as you go - 70 lbs comes up fast!

Laura