travelling w/ a longboard

[tkane2000]

so i'm doing a 2 wk trip to nicaragua and costa rica and was planning on bringing my longboard (9' 4"), but am not looking forward to lugging it around.

few questions:
- is it worth spending a fortune on a wheely bag?
- is it possible to travel by bus or cab or should i just bite the bullet and rent a car?
- should i just rent a board instead?
- what's the best packaging anti-ding technique?

any advice or interesting stories would be great.

thanks!

[N499C]

tkane,

Well, I get to put as much baggage as I like in the jet, anywhere I want. I do fly the Honolulu trip every few weeks and even I don't carry a board.

Save yourself a ton of hassle and just rent something when you get there.

If there's surf and tourists, there will be a surf shack or beach tent to rent to you.

It's $20 an hour at Waikiki for what it's worth.

AD

[tkane2000]

yeah, i've been leaning in that direction recently. I mean, if i can avoid renting a car, paying for shipping and buying a new board bag I could save a lot. although...renting isn't exactly free either, so if i could bring a board and avoid renting a car it might work out money-wise, if not hassel-wise.

we might get a double board bag, that way we'll only get charged for one board on the way over. of course, the bag is $150...

btw, i called Delta, 100 bucks each way...what a rip off.

[N499C]

Just an update from rainy and windy Honolulu.

Board rentals are $10 for an hour and a half on Waikiki if you're a "return" renter! (That would be me)

AD

[SilverShark78]

What part of Costa Rica are you going to? I was just there a couple of weeks ago, if you are in the same area as I was then I can tell you a bunch of great surf spots.

[siqnic]

Renting is definitly the best thing to do! do your research first though. I found that alot of shops rent out realy crapy boards that that built in the 80s and the wax looks like sticky mud. The last time I went to cali I found a shop 100 yards from where I was surfing and I researved a board before I got there! it only cost me 15 dollars a day! So get on the internet, Be crafty with it and do your research. Nothing sucks worse than traveling 2000 miles just to find out they have no boards left!

[SDCali]

Also if you are flying, you may want to check your airlines baggage restrictions. I was checking one airline the other day, and oversize baggage (inc. surfboards) have to be less than 115 linear inches (length + width + height/thickness) so a 9'4" board would be out of the question on that airline. You'd have to have it shipped.