Author Topic: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?  (Read 5727 times)

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sexualhelon

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Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« on: March 05, 2017, 09:35:30 AM »
So, it's been discussed on here as to the best ways to get around baggage fees with a skateboard but how about tips for traveling 3-6 months to a year? I'll be in a lot of places where it's dead weight - the Middle East, India, etc... - but I can't imagine leaving it at home. I posted what I have currently.

I'm thinking for this trip I'd like to keep my backpack setup and add whatever's the most efficient/lightweight bag for carrying a skateboard. The last year + trip I made I got a backpack that was about 30 inches height and took my trucks off and tucked my board in the front so the curve of the nose/tail was facing inwards at the top/bottom of all my backpack contents. That worked and I may do it again but I'm wondering if you guys have any tips or bag recommendations?











essal

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2017, 11:54:25 AM »
A duffel type bag sucks if you have to hike with it, but I use a TNF duffel (a huge one) and my board fits into it with tons of extra room for stuff. It's a check-in size. Assuming that you're going for a backpack, I think your best bet is a proper pack, and you can stick the board on the inside as you explained or if you get one with an expandable outwards load-cell/bever tail, you might be able to jam it into there if you want to be able to get to it without removing everything from your pack.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2017, 08:07:18 AM »
Yeah, definitely don't wanna hike with that thing. I may have to trek through a city with it when en route but plan on dropping it off whenever I get where I'm going. If I get a proper pack that's tall enough to fit a deck in I totally bypass the option of keeping everything carry on - which I'd prefer. Although, last time I was able to actually get this through as carry on but I didn't really fly on budget airlines that trip.

With the trucks off and just a deck attached to the bottom of that grizzly bag, it usually makes it through as a personal item. Really depends on the airline but a deck is red flag central for some budget airlines. Honestly, I'm thinking about maybe even just bringing trucks/wheels/hardware and buying a deck whenever I'm somewhere skating is good.

tkp

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2017, 10:41:31 PM »
I've been rocking an Osprey Far Point 70 for the last few years for traveling. It's a dual backpack setup which is awesome because I can fit all my camera gear in the smaller bag and my sleeping gear / clothes in the big bag. It's rad to be able to ollie up and down curbs with all my shit while skating and have my hands free.

Of course it's a pretty serious bag which carries a lot of gear which everyone may not need. They carry them at REI, so if there is one near you go check it out. They also make a 55 liter version.

The daypack can clip into the big backpack or you can rock it up front. I got a camera pad liner for the daypack. You can clip your board into the big backpack in the back, or get a bungee chord for the daypack. 70 liters is a ton of space, if you had camping gear it could rock it all.

I've seen other people carry on the full bag system, of course they didn't have a board with them... Personally I prefer clipping my board into the big bag and checking that. There are enough straps to firmly attach it to the bag and so far most airlines around the world (except for Norwegian) have been cool with it.





Osprey Farpoint 70 Travel Pack
« Last Edit: March 23, 2017, 10:45:12 PM by tkp »

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2017, 03:34:44 AM »
I've been rocking an Osprey Far Point 70 for the last few years for traveling. It's a dual backpack setup which is awesome because I can fit all my camera gear in the smaller bag and my sleeping gear / clothes in the big bag. It's rad to be able to ollie up and down curbs with all my shit while skating and have my hands free.

Of course it's a pretty serious bag which carries a lot of gear which everyone may not need. They carry them at REI, so if there is one near you go check it out. They also make a 55 liter version.

The daypack can clip into the big backpack or you can rock it up front. I got a camera pad liner for the daypack. You can clip your board into the big backpack in the back, or get a bungee chord for the daypack. 70 liters is a ton of space, if you had camping gear it could rock it all.

I've seen other people carry on the full bag system, of course they didn't have a board with them... Personally I prefer clipping my board into the big bag and checking that. There are enough straps to firmly attach it to the bag and so far most airlines around the world (except for Norwegian) have been cool with it.





Osprey Farpoint 70 Travel Pack


Dude that bag looks pretty good, what is it like to carry all day? Im tossing up between one of those or a Tortuga Outbreaker 45L. I will be checking the bag no matter which one i decide. Im travelling around Europe for 3 months, no camping though. does anyone have any experience with the Tortuga? D

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2017, 03:57:33 PM »
It depends what you want in a bag, really. I think the Tortuga is better suited for the "urban" traveler and it's marketed as such. You can open it like a suitcase, it has tons of compartments, and designed to the exact dimensions of carry on luggage - 35L to fit strict budget airlines, 45 for all others. As long as you don't have it stuffed full the 45 will surely make it on budget one's as well.

Sounds like TKP has a proper use for the little bag that comes with the Osprey but I don't think I would. My day bag is super lightweight and folds up to be pocket-able. Osprey is a good bag just a little too hiking oriented for me, design wise.

I'll add that the main con of the Tortuga is weight - the thing is bulky. The 35 liter weighs about the same as this Osprey and the 45 more. You could try out backpacks at an REI if you have one near you but you'll have to order the Tortuga in order to test it out.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2017, 02:47:16 AM »
Reviving this instead of starting a new thread - sort of along the same lines:

Starting out a year + long trip in January, beginning in Austria. Will be doing it mostly by land all the way to Japan. My question is, considering weather/weight & that I'll be traveling with my wife, how would you think to best carry your skateboard?

I've contemplated a few options:
  • Don't take it at all for the first leg of the trip - Eastern Europe (cold)/India(not much skating to do). Buy everything once we're in Asia (complete + shoes).
  • Only take shoes/wheels/bearings/hardware/trucks. Buy deck somewhere on the road
  • Carry everything the whole trip, un-assembled unless skating. Shoes/trucks in back while carrying the deck or deck strapped to backpack.

The pro of option one is no extra weight but finding skateboard shit can be difficult and/or expensive depending where you are the world.

Option two saves you money, still extra weight, but two free hands without carrying a deck around.

Option 3 is just saying fuck it & keeping everything with me the whole time. I've got an ikea bag with handles that fits my deck & zips up.

I'd just leave the thing fully put together in SE Asia and carry it around like normal. I don't want to do that in winter weather because my main coat is a synthetic down. Don't wanna fuck it up by rubbing grip tape on it.

Speaking out loud here really but curious on you guys experiences with a board in these parts of the world and/or how much you skated when traveling with the lady. We'll be in almost all the Eastern Europe capitals, flying to India, then around SE Asia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, & China for some months. Basically, mostly everywhere I guess.

Jkt

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2017, 08:21:11 AM »
In my experience it's more of a pain to have it given the amount of time you'll likely skate in many places. I'd buy in SE Asia. In Indonesia you can get what you need in the main cities for reasonable price especially if you support local brands. If you pass through Jakarta let me know, I can help out.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2017, 02:28:24 PM »
In my experience it's more of a pain to have it given the amount of time you'll likely skate in many places. I'd buy in SE Asia. In Indonesia you can get what you need in the main cities for reasonable price especially if you support local brands. If you pass through Jakarta let me know, I can help out.

Yeah, in my experience I'd have to agree. Really hard to get into a groove with skating unless you're somewhere for at least a week. And actually, I'll plan on being in most cities that long but considering weather/region I'm not sure how feasible it'll be in the beginning.

I'll say that my bag is around 10kg now (with trucks/wheels/bearings/skate shoes in a packing cube) and 8 kg without. I'm basically thinking is losing the 2kg worth spending $150 to buy all that somewhere else.

How much would you say buying a complete + skate shoes would be in Jakarta? Def. gonna pass through Jakarta! My wife was just telling me today "I'm not going to budge on visiting Indonesia" and I was like "umm, why would you think I'm not down to go there?" haha.

Jkt

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2017, 01:19:23 AM »
Yeah I wouldn't be optimistic about eastern europe in January and February.

I bought local deck last week for Rp. 550,000 (inc. grip) which a current exchange rate would be about US$45. I think an American-branded complete would be about Rp. 1,600,000 ($120), and you could shave a few hundered thousand off if you went for local wood, wheels and bearings. One thing to consider is that choice is often pretty limited. A store probably will have 3-5 brand of deck available, perhaps only 1 type of wheel and 1 bearing. Mostly only 1 or 2 truck options.

Shoes a perennial problem in Indonesia. Sometimes they have them, sometimes not. Vans and DC always available via the offical stores but beyond that it just depends. In all cases they are expensive. A pair of shoes (e.g. adidas) often Rp. 900,000 and up ($66). You might buy a pair to travel with (depedning on how much abuse they have to take before you arrive)

Singapore I think has a bigger range so if you're passing there (even if its just a 4-5 hour layover) you might check it out. But prices would be higher. Skating Bangkok last year i visited Preduce which has good range of local and international brands.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2017, 08:59:06 AM »
Thanks for the heads up. I looked into the costs of this stuff around major cities I'll be passing through (some I already knew from having visited). This skate shop called Motion had a lot of stuff/prices listed on their Instagram from local brands that didn't seem too outrageous. Is Instinct local shoe brand or something?

All this really just confirms what I figured to be true: skate shit can be expensive and/or hard to find outside of the states. If anything, the most worthwhile thing to carry around would probably be trucks/wheels/bearings. I say that mainly because these things last the longest but I do have a strong preference for Bones/Indy. Decks/shoes I'll need to replace a few times on this trip either way so I'm less worried about them.

Basically, I think I'm going to start the trip out carrying everything and if I find myself not skating and/or encountering a baggage fee for for my deck then that would be the thing I toss for the time being. Extra weight sucks but having something like a deck under your arm as dead weight is worse than dead weight in your bag and probably the easiest thing to replace.

On the Eastern Europe front, I'll actually be heading south from Vienna - Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece. Kind of running away from the cold weather depending on how extreme it is but I actually skated in Vienna today. So far the weather's holding up alright.

If anyone's keen to follow - although I don't really have much up yet on anything but my instagram - my website is www.lurkaround.com and all my social media links are on there.

Skibb

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2018, 01:38:31 PM »
Thanks for the heads up. I looked into the costs of this stuff around major cities I'll be passing through (some I already knew from having visited). This skate shop called Motion had a lot of stuff/prices listed on their Instagram from local brands that didn't seem too outrageous. Is Instinct local shoe brand or something?

All this really just confirms what I figured to be true: skate shit can be expensive and/or hard to find outside of the states. If anything, the most worthwhile thing to carry around would probably be trucks/wheels/bearings. I say that mainly because these things last the longest but I do have a strong preference for Bones/Indy. Decks/shoes I'll need to replace a few times on this trip either way so I'm less worried about them.

Basically, I think I'm going to start the trip out carrying everything and if I find myself not skating and/or encountering a baggage fee for for my deck then that would be the thing I toss for the time being. Extra weight sucks but having something like a deck under your arm as dead weight is worse than dead weight in your bag and probably the easiest thing to replace.

On the Eastern Europe front, I'll actually be heading south from Vienna - Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece. Kind of running away from the cold weather depending on how extreme it is but I actually skated in Vienna today. So far the weather's holding up alright.

If anyone's keen to follow - although I don't really have much up yet on anything but my instagram - my website is www.lurkaround.com and all my social media links are on there.

So what's up? Did you end up bringing your board? The Tortuga doesn't seem to have any way of strapping the board to the pack (but looks absolutely awesome in all other aspects), so are you just carrying It under your arm?

botefdunn

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2018, 01:46:11 PM »
if you're anticipating not skating for stretches of a few weeks or more, consider just bring trucks and wheels and buying decks wherever you go. it'll give you a reason to find/check out local skate shops and you can give away the deck to somebody. it'll run you maybe a couple hundred bucks, but you're probably going to spend that on tourist stuff anyway, And it'll be nice not to have to carry your board, plus have a fresh one in the new places.

tkp

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2018, 06:15:25 PM »
Expand Quote
I've been rocking an Osprey Far Point 70 for the last few years for traveling
[close]


Dude that bag looks pretty good, what is it like to carry all day?

It's not bad. Depends on how much gear you have. It's nice to be able to have my hands free when traveling. I do use it for a lot of overnight hiking/camping trips when I'm on the move, hence the reason why a duffel bag or suitcase wouldn't work for me.

Followed ya @lurkaround. Looking forward to seeing your journies on the gram.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2018, 06:18:39 PM by tkp »

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #14 on: January 31, 2018, 12:57:31 AM »
The Tortuga Outbreaker is a beast. It's super solid - but that comes with 2.15 kg base weight - and feels like you could beat the shit out of it without worrying about your stuff inside. At first I regretted not getting the 45L but then I got some shitty packing cubes and opened up a ton of space - probably a third of the main compartment. I spent all of December in Austria visiting family so I was moving around quite a bit. That worked out really well because I had time to play around with my bag/packing.

I ended up getting some better packing cubes & a bag for my board at Ikea along with ditching one pair of jeans. I put skate shoes/trucks/wheels/bearings/hardware in a packing cube. Opened up half of my backpack's main compartment. The Ikea bag I got for my board is similar to one of those blue plastic-y ones but it's the perfect length for a deck & zips up. It's a bit deep but the material is so thin I folded it over with an elastic strap. I loop that through the middle side handle on the backpack. The Ikea bag has two little loops on top and bottom that I attach to some top/bottom loops on the side of my backpack with carabiners.

Maybe that's hard to visualize but basically I've got everything in my one bag - the 35l tortuga - and my deck is in this Ikea bag strapped to the side of it. The nose/tail of the deck curve over the top and side of my backpack when it's attached.

Carrying the skate shit around adds a couple of kilograms - made my backpack go from around 7kg to 9/10. Most of the extra weight comes from everything but the deck. Given that, I figured fuck it, I'll carry the deck around and if I encounter a luggage fee that costs the same as buying a new one I'll give it away to some kid.

I've been meaning to post an updated packing list. I'll link it here once I have it up on my website.

Oh, one crazy thing, when I was debating on costs/weight/carrying my skate shit around from the beginning of this trip vs buying somewhere down the line in Vienna I got a super random facebook message. It was from a girl I met in Krakow over 6 years ago & then hung out with her in Warsaw once more around the same time. She was saying how she met me over 6.5 years ago and at the time she didn't understand my passion for skateboarding but picked up a board a little over a year ago. She said she recently landed her first moving kickflip and that she didn't know if I'd still remember her but wanted to talk to someone about how good it felt haha. That was like, damn, this is a sign to take all my skate shit from the beginning. 

tkp

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #15 on: February 02, 2018, 09:42:32 AM »
That was like, damn, this is a sign to take all my skate shit from the beginning.

Some of the best places I've skated have been in the middle of nowhere.

Krooked antihero

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2018, 03:30:58 AM »
I usually travel with my 55l Deuter backpack, fits 32" board inside WITH trucks on, it's so much easier to take a quick session when you don't have to build up your setup every time.
europe's like the capitol of england and france and whatever

It sucks getting old.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #17 on: February 16, 2018, 12:26:14 PM »


Finally got around to making a post about my packing list if you want to read about it in more detail: https://www.lurkaround.com/gear/2018/2/15/onebagpackinglist.

Skibb

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2018, 02:37:18 AM »


Finally got around to making a post about my packing list if you want to read about it in more detail: https://www.lurkaround.com/gear/2018/2/15/onebagpackinglist.

Don't you feel like you could've gotten away with one bag by just strapping your board to the side of your bag or something? Keeping your hands free at all times ftw.

sexualhelon

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #19 on: February 20, 2018, 11:19:26 AM »
Expand Quote


Finally got around to making a post about my packing list if you want to read about it in more detail: https://www.lurkaround.com/gear/2018/2/15/onebagpackinglist.
[close]

Don't you feel like you could've gotten away with one bag by just strapping your board to the side of your bag or something? Keeping your hands free at all times ftw.

Ha, that is what I do. I only have it all laid out like that for the packing list detail.

ciaran

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Re: Traveling long term with a skateboard - tips/bag recs?
« Reply #20 on: February 23, 2018, 02:15:43 PM »
The Nike SB Shuttle backpack might work for more skate focussed trips where you'd have a spare board, wheels, etc., and having looked over your article about packing light, it might not necessarily be to your taste.  Worth investigating if you can find one, pretty sure they're sold out at this stage.