Travelling with duffle?

[cowprintrabbit]

I hope this is the right place to put this

I ended up with a duffle bag large enough to curl up and sleep in quite comfortably; now I can't figure out to do with the silly thing. At the same time, the airlines managed to trash the suitcase we normally put our dive gear in - thank goodness the one time it was full of clothes instead!

We don't own regs or BCs, so for us "gear" is masks in their little wetsuit bags, wetsuits, fins, booties, etc. Is it safe to put our mesh dive bag inside the mammoth duffle and check on an airline? Does anyone have horror stories of soft gear bags ending in trashed equipment?

 

[Cacia]

No...we use a big hockey bag and even put the pelican inside it sometimes.

Remember, the beauty of a huge duffel like that, is you can disguise other luggage inside.

I'd put my mask in my regular bag wrapped up in something though. Use the duffel for wetsuits and fins and that stuff. Also...do not be afraid to mix things like laundry or towels or bulky items with dive gear. Don't think in terms of seperating dive gear from clothes, rather, pack fragile vs not fragile.

Anyway, that is what I do.

(also the tighter you pack it, the more secure the items will be)

 

[Damselfish]

We've had much better luck with soft duffels than hard suitcases. Soft bags give and hard bags break. And no trouble with gear in soft luggage, just pack carefully using soft stuff to protect hard stuff, etc. Most of our lights fit in fin pockets, my larger light is wrapped in my hoodie, masks when I check them are in their plastic cases.