Holiday

[dryfter]

Continuing in the abbreviated format..

Good:
Boom festival. So good! Fantastic even! Best festival ever!

Bad - all travel related:
* Outbound flight (TAP Portugal) delayed for more than seven hours.
* Portugese car hire place (Europcar) gave our car to someone else, because we were late. Even though we had paid in advance, and they knew we were gonna be late.
* Running late for the return flight, I somehow managed to end up with my film packed in my checked luggage, and my multi-tool packed in my carry-on luggage. The latter was confiscated at security, but the film bothers me the most. It has almost certainly been ruined, and there won't be any way I can get back all those photos :(
* And of course, this morning I woke up to find this had happened at airports around the UK.

I knew we should have driven..

Comments

[drreagan.livejournal.com]

What's the problem with putting film in your checked luggage?

X-ray

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Effects of baggage x-ray scanners on film (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml)

Essentially: The scanners used on checked luggage are much stronger than those used in the carry-on handbag scanners. Even more so after 11/09/01.

Re: X-ray

[drreagan.livejournal.com]

Hrm, actually before 11/09/2001 it was rare for checked-in luggage to be x-rayed at all.

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

They have to x-ray the film either way if it is in your hand luggage or not - but it might be OK. It's still worth it trying to get it processed...

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

See: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml

The scanners used for big checked luggage are much, much more powerful than the ones used for your carry-on luggage. The hand-luggage scanners will only slightly affect the film on each scan - but the luggage scanners will ruin it on the first pass.

[short-mort.livejournal.com]

I did the same thing coming back from south africa but the film suffered no ill effects. I got X-ray damage on film that had gone through hand luggage x-rays, though.

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

ARRGHH I accidentally left my Swiss Army knife in my hand baggage at Pisa last week (I blame sitting outside the airport all night WAITING FOR IT TO OPEN GRRR). Luckily we were well early for check-in (we had, after all, been outside the airport all night waiting for it to open) and the woman let me go back and check my hand baggage in as well.

Looks like my travelling experience was about the same as yours - being there absolutely ace, getting there and back a complete and total nightmare. Commiserations on yr film/confiscated tool :(

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

I was offered the chance to go back and have the Gerber checked-in, but we were running rather late for the flight, so there was no time to do so :(

It's my fault, but I'm still sad :(

And now with the current state of affairs (no carry-on luggage at all) it means I can't take any film to Germany today! I'm going to take the camera anyway, but I've removed the partially-used roll of film from it, and I'll buy some film in Germany, and hope that the situation improves before I have to fly back.

I'm a bit picky with film though.. I dislike the way tourist-grade film comes out, and airports tend not to stock pro stuff. Meh :(

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Travelling by plane is such a pain in the arse; I'm so driving everywhere in the future!
(Driving from the airport in Portugal to the festival was a breeze.. wide roads in good condition, hardly any traffic, well-signposted routes.. Totally opposite from the UK, although driving on the opposite side of the road took a little while to get used to - especially going around roundabouts anticlockwise!)

[-lexx.livejournal.com]

Ahh well.

Atleast you weren't exploded :D

[juliet]

Clearly you have to do more of a Boom writeup than that :-)

btw, uon & I are going to this (somewhere near Plymouth) on the bank holiday weekend, don't know if you or anyone else is interested? (I have finally cracked & agreed that on this occasion, hiring a car makes more sense than attempting it by public transport, though the car in question is a very small one!)

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

kilinrax, lusciousa and I are also interested in going to that too. We'll probably drive too - it may make sense for us to just hire a single car that fits all of us, rather than two small ones?

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

(Note: we haven't confirmed this yet - but it's likely. Alex was particularly interested.)

[juliet]

Hrm. Single car that fits 5 people (plus kit) for a 5-hr or so drive in anything approximating comfort[0] surely likely to be pretty expensive? I dunno. I do have one booked already so may be easiest just to stick with going separately... (also, when would you be thinking about going down/back?)

I shall consult with uon, though.

[0] Arriving with my knees already shot would be a bit bloody irritating!

[trasharama.livejournal.com]

that is fucking hardcore.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Wish me luck - I'm heading to the airport now, to try and get to Voov in Germany.

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

Hope you got some dosh back from Europcar for the trouble.

The film thing is yet another reason to buy a digital camera and a bunch of memory sticks. Things are really getting ridiculous...

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

mmm, I do have a digital SLR too - but it's too valuable to take to these festivals. Sand, dust, water, jolts and shocks, and potential theft.

A 26 year old Nikon SLR is nearly bulletproof though, and not really of any interest to thieves looking for a quick sale.

I guess I could take a little pocket digital camera, but they aren't really good for anything except happy snaps. And they suffer from the same problems - a few grains of sand or some rain, and they get into trouble.

[gothbabe.livejournal.com]

Well. Trip sounds good. Luckily you aren't having to come back to the UK today.

[ex-nos546.livejournal.com]

You really need to invest in a lead pouch to protect your film (I have two Sima Filmshields I bought years ago and they rock). Make sure you put it in your carry-on, though, else they'll crack your bag open to have a look.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Alas, the next time two times I went to catch a flight, it was declared that we couldn't have ANY carry-on stuff at all.
Not even a magazine to read. They even conviscated my lip balm. So the camera went thru the luggage scanners twice more. gnnnnrrgghh.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Bums. I was about to say: digitise them, if they're not entirely blank I could try throwing them through l33t electron microscopy broken picture fixing tricks and see if it can bring at least something out.