The ultimate travel kit?

[Stu]

4 hours ago, UKDiver said:

Phillipines internal flight. Everything weighed, including the passengers. Weight distribution more important on smaller planes perhaps. Or cutting fuel to minimum!

Certainly on the smaller planes it is an issue. When on Safari flying on a small four seat, single propeller Cessnas they weighed everything so I had to be quite careful. I remember being quite amused seeing two chaps trying to kick and squeeze Mrs Stu’s main bag into the tiny hold under the plane. She is a little more cavalier when it comes to weight limits! 🤣

On a slightly different topic, I recall sitting on the front row of seats on a twin prop plane flying from LA to San Francisco. Before take off, the pilot came out of the cockpit and pointed to me and another large chap on the other front row saying ‘You and you, get down the back of the plane, otherwise we will never get off the ground!’ 🤣🤣

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Does Mrs Stu know you have this much time on your hands? 😁

M

Actually no, because I’m at my parents so she is blissfully ignorant of my kit tinkering activity  

[Roy Challen]

That's a lovely setup whether for travel or not. 

I do travel abroad regularly so if this were my kit:

Tak FC76DCU with rings and dovetail

BBHS T2 mirror diagonal

Baader CoolWedge

Baader 32mm Plossl (finder ep)

Leica 8.9 to 17.8 ASPH Zoom

Nag 3 to 6mm Zoom

Zeiss Abbé Barlow

10x25 Nikon binos (I have cheap Helios 8x21s which serve well enough at this size).

These are what I would take (definitely dependent on what I want to look at).

And my Altair AZ Mini will also then fit in hand luggage. And my chromebook too. Despite what people say, you can always get away with about 10kg hand luggage - give it to the wife! First horizon tripod does have to go in checked in luggage, but possibly my 3LT tripod will fit in my rucksack if I don't need both laptops.

Having said that, my Skymax 90, AZ Mini, and First Horizon tripod are now where they need to be, so, it's now a case of getting my Daystar and eyepiece case there too. Even easier.

[Roy Challen]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Certainly on the smaller planes it is an issue. When on Safari flying on a small four seat, single propeller Cessnas they weighed everything so I had to be quite careful. I remember being quite amused seeing two chaps trying to kick and squeeze Mrs Stu’s main bag into the tiny hold under the plane. She is a little more cavalier when it comes to weight limits! 🤣

On a slightly different topic, I recall sitting on the front row of seats on a twin prop plane flying from LA to San Francisco. Before take off, the pilot came out of the cockpit and pointed to me and another large chap on the other front row saying ‘You and you, get down the back of the plane, otherwise we will never get off the ground!’ 🤣🤣

She is a little more cavalier when it comes to weight limits!

Do our wives know each other? Mine will happily turn up at any airport with 35kg in the suitcase and argue until the check-in person gives up!

And, personally, I think this is why: Before take off, the pilot came out of the cockpit pointed to me and another  large chap. If they have the same luggage allowance, but use up more of the total weight carrying capacity of the plane, shouldn't those that weigh less have a greater luggage allowance? For telescopes and stuff...😉. For small planes, maybe it's different, but long haul?

Edited April 14, 2022 by Roy Challen

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

That's a lovely setup whether for travel or not. 

I do travel abroad regularly so if this were my kit:

Tak FC76DCU with rings and dovetail

BBHS T2 mirror diagonal

Baader CoolWedge

Baader 32mm Plossl (finder ep)

Leica 8.9 to 17.8 ASPH Zoom

Nag 3 to 6mm Zoom

Zeiss Abbé Barlow

10x25 Nikon binos (I have cheap Helios 8x21s which serve well enough at this size).

These are what I would take (definitely dependent on what I want to look at).

And my Altair AZ Mini will also then fit in hand luggage. And my chromebook too. Despite what people say, you can always get away with about 10kg hand luggage - give it to the wife! First horizon tripod does have to go in checked in luggage, but possibly my 3LT tripod will fit in my rucksack if I don't need both laptops.

Having said that, my Skymax 90, AZ Mini, and First Horizon tripod are now where they need to be, so, it's now a case of getting my Daystar and eyepiece case there too. Even easier.

Yes, I would certainly drop quite a bit out if I were travelling by air to keep it more practical, lighter and lower value.

This was an experiment to see what I could fit in comfortably and bring down to my parents on the off chance I could do some observing, which turned out not to be the case but I’m glad I did it anyway.

[Stu]

14 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

That's a lovely setup whether for travel or not. 

I do travel abroad regularly so if this were my kit:

Tak FC76DCU with rings and dovetail

BBHS T2 mirror diagonal

Baader CoolWedge

Baader 32mm Plossl (finder ep)

Leica 8.9 to 17.8 ASPH Zoom

Nag 3 to 6mm Zoom

Zeiss Abbé Barlow

10x25 Nikon binos (I have cheap Helios 8x21s which serve well enough at this size).

These are what I would take (definitely dependent on what I want to look at).

And my Altair AZ Mini will also then fit in hand luggage. And my chromebook too. Despite what people say, you can always get away with about 10kg hand luggage - give it to the wife! First horizon tripod does have to go in checked in luggage, but possibly my 3LT tripod will fit in my rucksack if I don't need both laptops.

Having said that, my Skymax 90, AZ Mini, and First Horizon tripod are now where they need to be, so, it's now a case of getting my Daystar and eyepiece case there too. Even easier.

I seem to recall popping a couple of heavy eyepieces in my coat pockets a few times when checking in with hand baggage that was a little bit over.

[Roy Challen]

20 minutes ago, Stu said:

I seem to recall popping a couple of heavy eyepieces in my coat pockets a few times when checking in with hand baggage that was a little bit over.

Even in summer I wear a big winter coat and fill the pockets to the brims. Wifey wouldn't have it any other way! 

And when it comes to value of items carried on the person; when I went to Kazakhstan at the end of 2011 to propose, in my pockets I carried a £3000+ engagement ring, a £2000 Gucci wristwatch for MIL, a Mont Blanc pen for FIL, £10k cash, and a few £000 pounds worth of gifts for other important in-laws. Walked through all customs check points without a glance from anyone!

And it'll be the same when I move there permanently, if it has significant monetary value, or is fragile (ie. like a Daystar telescope), it comes with me in hand luggage. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Roy Challen

[Ags]

CF tripod, AZT6 head, 50mm RACI finder, Zenithstar 66 and a 20 mm plossl - perfect under a dark sky!

[Highburymark]

Very nice Stu. All bases covered. I’ve just booked a couple of flights for July (U.K. to Spain, easyJet) and the cabin baggage rules have changed - it’s now an extra £30 if you want to use overhead lockers with one of the full size cases that were previously accepted as cabin baggage (which I need for my TV85). And it’s an extra £70 for standard hold luggage - don’t know if all airlines are the same, but the days of ‘bargain’ air travel seem to be well and truly over. 

[Roy Challen]

11 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

don’t know if all airlines are the same, but the days of ‘bargain’ air travel seem to be well and truly over. 

No, airlines are not all the same. Certainly for long haul, which I do all the time, the minimum seems to be 23kg checked in, 8kg hand luggage, plus a 'personal' bag of 5kg ie. a handbag. Trust me you can fit a lot in a handbag!😂.

My favourite airline of the last 10 years was Ukrainian, but Turkish Airlines seem even better. Of course, this is destination dependent.

[Louis D]

In the US, Southwest Airlines still allows two free checked bags and one free overhead bin carry-on bag.  All other US carriers charge for checked luggage and the low cost carriers also charge for overhead bin carry-ons.  If you do the math and need two checked bags and a bin-sized carry-on, Southwest is generally the way to go for domestic flights.

[badhex]

On 13/04/2022 at 22:35, Stu said:

OMG, this is both outrageous and brilliant in equal measure 😂