taking my travel scope through customs?

[scarecrow]

Taking the scope is fine as had luggage but how did you take the tripod. Its just under a meter long and i cant seem to find a bag large enough

[Nick P]

Taking the scope is fine as had luggage but how did you take the tripod. Its just under a meter long and i cant seem to find a bag large enough

Packed in the middle of a long soft sided holdall - probably have to remove the head.

[ollypenrice]

Can anyone recommend a good travelscope? It'll be going from the UK to the Philippines and we're likely to travel on a decent airline rather than a budget affair, so hopefully can take the scope on as hand luggage.

Oooh, sky's the limit! Astro Physics Traveler? Yes please. Or any short, fast and very de luxe apo around 100mm. My Genesis (now Richie's) went on several jollies as hand luggage in a home made box. It was just inside the limit.

Olly

[Ludd]

I had a pretty hostile reaction to my travel scope when I arrived in Dubai this summer. But after a bit of questioning and showing them the lens they were nice enough and apologised for the inconvenience (my family were a bit worried about what was happening to me when I was taken away!). When I saw the Dubai skies that night I realised why they might not be used to seeing scopes - thick soup, with only the moon and Venus visible, temperature hardly dropped below 40 degrees C.

Still, it was worth it when I got to the dark cold skies of Australia and New Zealand; the little 70mm ED (courtesy of Bern at Modern Astronomy) is a keeper!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I took a 4.5" F4.4 Konus scope as hand luggage. The only thing that concerned customs was the counterweight (solid metal does not show ANY detail on X-ray machines, regardless of the exposure). The weight/size was not a problem. By asking the airline before you check in whether you can bring a scope usually sorts the problems out.