Advice on taking Christmas presents.

[ultra1984]

Can anyone advise me about the best way of taking Christmas presents when we travel to New Zealand via Changi Airport. Is it best to put them in the main luggage or best in hand luggage. Would it be okay to wrap them?

Thanks

[nickbot]

It's up to you to a fair degree - as long as the gifts don't contain liquids and gels, and fall within the size and weight restrictions of hand luggage, then for fragile goods it may be better to take them by hand onto the plane. Heavier items, or those containing liquids would have to go in the hold. I've carried Christmas presents for the past five or more years almost exclusively in hold baggage, well wrapped with bubble wrap and layers of clothes.

With regard to whether or not you can wrap them, in some ways it's down to personal choice and chance - X-Ray scanners can of course penetrate wrapping and see the contents, so unless you get stopped for a manual search then they won't need to be unwrapped. Personally, I prefer to wrap them at home where I can make a nice job of it, and take the chance that I will have to unwrap them if security/customs checks require me to do so. In reality (in my experience, granted European travel at Christmas only whilst carrying presents), this would be a rare occurance, so IMHO worth the slim chance of inconvenience caused. As some on SQTalk know, I like to be prepared (some may say paranoid!), so I have been known to carry a couple of sheets of wrapping paper to cover this eventuality

Also, bear in mind any restrictions for taking foodstuffs into your destination country when choosing/wrapping gifts.

Hope your trip goes well

[SQflyergirl]

It's up to you to a fair degree - as long as the gifts don't contain liquids and gels, and fall within the size and weight restrictions of hand luggage, then for fragile goods it may be better to take them by hand onto the plane. Heavier items, or those containing liquids would have to go in the hold. I've carried Christmas presents for the past five or more years almost exclusively in hold baggage, well wrapped with bubble wrap and layers of clothes.

With regard to whether or not you can wrap them, in some ways it's down to personal choice and chance - X-Ray scanners can of course penetrate wrapping and see the contents, so unless you get stopped for a manual search then they won't need to be unwrapped. Personally, I prefer to wrap them at home where I can make a nice job of it, and take the chance that I will have to unwrap them if security/customs checks require me to do so. In reality (in my experience, granted European travel at Christmas only whilst carrying presents), this would be a rare occurance, so IMHO worth the slim chance of inconvenience caused. As some on SQTalk know, I like to be prepared (some may say paranoid!), so I have been known to carry a couple of sheets of wrapping paper to cover this eventuality

Also, bear in mind any restrictions for taking foodstuffs into your destination country when choosing/wrapping gifts.

Hope your trip goes well

Excellent advice!

[ultra1984]

It's up to you to a fair degree - as long as the gifts don't contain liquids and gels, and fall within the size and weight restrictions of hand luggage, then for fragile goods it may be better to take them by hand onto the plane. Heavier items, or those containing liquids would have to go in the hold. I've carried Christmas presents for the past five or more years almost exclusively in hold baggage, well wrapped with bubble wrap and layers of clothes.

With regard to whether or not you can wrap them, in some ways it's down to personal choice and chance - X-Ray scanners can of course penetrate wrapping and see the contents, so unless you get stopped for a manual search then they won't need to be unwrapped. Personally, I prefer to wrap them at home where I can make a nice job of it, and take the chance that I will have to unwrap them if security/customs checks require me to do so. In reality (in my experience, granted European travel at Christmas only whilst carrying presents), this would be a rare occurance, so IMHO worth the slim chance of inconvenience caused. As some on SQTalk know, I like to be prepared (some may say paranoid!), so I have been known to carry a couple of sheets of wrapping paper to cover this eventuality

Also, bear in mind any restrictions for taking foodstuffs into your destination country when choosing/wrapping gifts.

Hope your trip goes well

Many thanks for your advice.