Has anyone had trouble taking fluids in with their bags onto a flight (the bags that get checked in and taken below the deck) as I would like to take some fragrances to the Philippines.. I know you can't take them onto the plane in a carry on bag, but is it still permissible to be included in the luggage?
If you do that Sean, seal in a thick plastic bag and wrap the bag in some bubble wrap and place in the centre of your luggage, preferably in a zipped netted part of your case if you have such. I once took some stuff for some Filipino friends of ours, here near where I live, I made a point of opening it (as should never carry stuff on-board if you don't know what it is) and found out it was fragrances and then made a point of wrapping it that way, last thing you want is broken perfume bottles in with your clothes. If prices are not a problem then better to go for duty free like Peter says, as it's not part of your baggage allowance, also possibly worth delaying until you are on your last segment (the internal flight) so it does not have to become part of your baggage allowance. Not strictly duty free then but possibly cheaper? Unfortunately have never tried this as my destination is always Manila. Anyone else with experience of buying goods air-side on domestic Philippine flights please chip in, I know we can't get duty free or much of a discount on goods on internal flights anywhere in the EU, might be the same over there. Still as you said before Joy could always bring small luggage up to Manila and help with the baggage allowance on the way back down, authentic perfumes can be bought quite reasonably in Manila but you might appear kuripot in that case The reason I am going on about baggage allowance is that the weight of stuff really mounts up fast especially glass and liquids, only takes a couple of bottles of anything to be getting close to a pound of weight. I use loads of tricks to maximise what I can carry, like in the old days I used to have a North Face jacket and I would stick camera lenses and flashguns in the pockets of my jacket, usually you are allowed to carry a camera, KLM won't have a problem with an SLR and your hand luggage can be up to 12Kg so a good rucksack (matching airline dimension restrictions) is essential. Still make the point to keep your camera outside the rucksack and spare lens in your pockets Absolute rule is anything you don't absolutely cannot afford to lose goes in the hand luggage or on your person.
I've got a 'fishing vest', I'm sure you know the sort of thing I mean. Anyway it's like a sleeveless waistcoat affair with loads and loads of pockets. I almost always use to good effect and usually carry between 2kg - 5kg extra stuff. In the 20+ years I've used this I never had any problems at all. Except 3 years ago I had a problem taking an internal flight from Manila to Davao. The security guy was really not happy with me, I kept quite and let my wife do the talking. She told him I worked for UKBA and that I wanted him to call over the Manager. Only then he let me through. But that was the only time I ever had a problem. It's amazing what you can get in some large pockets. I also have some Craghoppers cargo pants with loads of pocket as well. Very useful. Anyways, I've found UK duty free to be extremely cheap (comparatively)
Nice story Fishing vest is probably pretty close to a Photographers vest, I don't have one but essentially it is the same idea Problem with that type of waistcoat vest is that the serious ones you have to be able remove quickly and discretely to put through the X-ray, I'm often closer to the 5Kg end in terms of the stuff I have in my pockets and it's not obvious fortunately. But I can see how a fishing vest would get you past the one place you really don't want to get challenged, the check-in desk, as they are the ones that will stop you going any further at X-ray it's just embarrassing stripping down if you have a ton of extra stuff hidden I might go for something like that in future there are a lot of small things that add up to a lot of weight that could be stored that way! Good hint Peter!
We brought perfume for my mum in manila which was basically Uk priced only to find at Amsterdam airport a massive sale (40 or 50%) on alot of perfumes was happening!!!!!!
That's a good point Stu but I have also been stung the other way, I've bought in the UK when I should have waited till Schiphol, and I've waited till Schiphol when it was cheaper in Britain, those sales are a b*m, sadly it's not easy to find out in advance what the offers are. I've also bought in Schiphol and gone a few days later to a mall in Manila and found the same goods at 30% of what I paid. It's a lottery sometimes Generally I accept the deal I get in Schiphol, often it is good, sometimes not so good but more often than not it's not bad. One of the reasons I am so fond of that route
Just a thought as well but at Schiphol they do two prices on that sort of stuff. one for flying with in europe and a cheaper one if your flying out of europe. Have you tried the airport website? I seem to remember they sometimes post deals on there for shopping. I believe you can also reserve stuff as well.
