Packing Tips for Shred Trips!
An idea triggered by a post I made in another topic, I figured a few of you guys might appreciate a place to share all those little bits and pieces that we pick up while travelling to ride. I’ve done it for 5 years now and take less and less stuff each time. My first trip to the US I maxed out my 2 pieces at 34kg, plus my carryon.
Ideas about potential categories for this, maybe after we’ve got lots of ideas it can go somewhere on the site as a general info section?
Packing before the trip
Airport Tips
Customs Tips
Car Trippin’ Tips
Sending stuff home
Anything else?
Okay, to start I thought perhaps some ideas on packing.
The most important tip is one I try to apply to everyday life “YOU DON’T NEED THAT MUCH SHIT!”
Get some merino thermals and socks, they’re more expensive than the plastic ones (polyprop) but worth it. They go a long time without stinking so you have to take less, which directly translates to more room in your bag to bring back cool stuff from overseas.
Packing stuff - this is what I do:
Boards - if you have the plastic sleeve they come in when new, put them in that. Two will fit in one.
Boots - stuff them with socks, undies, bandanas, anything like that. Then tie them up tight. If they’re empty, it’s just wasted space.
Fold down your bindings and put stuff that’s fragile inside the binding to protect. I store goggles in one and avy beacon in the other.
Wrap it up! - Use a towel or outerwear to wrap the ends of your board(s), then stuff lots of thermals or tshirts into the ends of the bag. Lots of cushioning for the ends that the baggage handlers will slam into the ground.
Helmet - yep, it should fit in the bag, and of course you can put fragile stuff underneath it as well. If it doesn’t, check out the Osprey “Switch” snowboard pack. Fits a helmet inside it and works super well as a carryon bag.
Bag shoulder strap - I pull this off at the airport and put it in the outside pocket. Less stuff to get caught or stolen. Speaking of which, I tend not to put much else in the outside pocket, just in case.
Wheeled bags - just get one. They weigh a bit more, but take less stuff and be glad you have wheels.
I think that’s all I’ve got for now…
Spot on advice. Goggles and tools, I stuff into the helmet, which I stick between the bindings.
Boots and extra shoes / flip-flops in the boot bag, all other clothing I keep in a carry-on backpack.
One board (but then again, I only have one board). One pair of pants, gloves, one pair of thermals, one pair of socks, no frills. If it stinks then wash it after riding and it will be dry by the next day. Also a pack of silica gel can be useful, some stuff is likely to be wet when you pack it.
The board bag, checked in, never weighs more than 20 kg. Keep in mind that baggage allowances on flights that don’t go to Canada or the USA have a lower weight limit.
Wheeled bags are a good idea, lugging your stuff on and off trains and planes will still involve walking at least a km.
I will throw one out there that often gets forgotten or neglected…
Tax back at the airport:
Every country is different in terms of proceedure for tax back, but the following applies to taking goods out of Australia…
Any purchase over $300 on a single receipt (you can have 10 items totalling $301, doesn’t matter as long at the receipt total is over $300) is elegible for tax back at the airport. Tax is calculated at 9.09% of the total amount. The receipt needs to be within 30 days prior to travel (you can even use the goods until you leave).
There is a lot of money to be saved if you are buying boards etc… It doesn’t matter if the board was purchased at half price, you still get your tax back.
This applies to ANY goods bought in Australia.
What you need:
- A normal tax receipt with goods listed, totalling $300 or more on the one receipt. The date on the receipt must be 30 days or less to the date of departure. You need your name and address on the receipt.
- The goods.
- Your passport.
That’s it.
How to claim it:
It is very easy and doesn’t take more than a few minutes.
- If the goods are small and being carried in your hand luggage (carry on), you go through security and immigration as normal. As you pass immigration just follow the signs to the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS). It is usually right there on the way to your departure gate. Pop in, show the receipt and the goods, and they will credit the tax straight onto your credit card or into your bank account (if you want it into your bank account you need your account number and BSB handy).
- If the goods are large and in your checked luggage (boards, boots etc…), you need to have the good sighted by Customs prior to checking in your luggage. As you get to the airport, go straight to Customs Client Services and show them the goods and receipt. They do a very quick inspection to make sure you have the goods and they stamp the receipt that it’s been checked. Check your bags in as usual. As you pass immigration just follow the signs to the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS). It is usually right there on the way to your departure gate. Pop in, show the receipt and they will credit the tax straight onto your credit card or into your bank account (if you want it into your bank account you need your account number and BSB handy).
Problems, and ways around it:
Just say it’s end of season in Australia, there are good sales and you want to buy a sale board for overseas travel in a few months. You want to buy it now because sale boards are selling quickly. How do you purchase the board now and still get your tax back?
Easy… put your gear on layby. That way you have secured all your equipment at the sale price, you have a few months pay it all off, and you get your tax back. As long as the final payment is made within 30 days of travel, the final receipt will have the date of final payment, meaning you’re all good! This way as well, you can keep adding on little items to your layby and pay it all off at the final payment, so you get your tax back on everything.
I know it sounds complicated, but it’s not. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to do everything. If you have any questions just let me know.
Unfortunately Canada has discontinued its GST refund for visitors. My previous board / pants were purchased in Canada, and the combination of end-of-season, exchange rate, and GST refund made it a very good deal.
Great idea for a topic.
As mentioned, get luggage with wheels. Don’t even stop to think about it. You will love it once on your trip.
Many people suggest packing clothing and outerwear around the edges of your board to protect the edges. I’m hesitant to do this as the sharp board edges could potentially shred your clothes, and I’d hate to get ready on the first day to find cut up outerwear. I pack my outerwear in the removable bags that come with board bags. I have a neoprean board sleeve that I put over my decks (slides over the nose and tail clips on top protecting all edges).
Once you have packed everything, take it all out and put half of it away! The more trips you do the less you will pack. Do washing once or twice a week and you’ll be right.
Take the soaps, shampoos etc from out the rooms you stay at. You’ve paid for them in the price of accom and they are handy for further travel.
I don’t know if many people do this, but I always take the binding off my boards when travelling. I’ve seen the way the luggage is handled and I’d hate to get my board out and find a binding screw snapped. How would you get the screw from out of the whole to remount the binding?
Great topic, and good advice,
I agree with stuffing ‘dead space’ with things, like putting a pair or two of socks in each boot.
My Anon goggles fit into my RED helmet, which works perfect.
The wheelie bag is so nice to carry boards in. I can fit a lot of other clothes and bindings, and boots etc.
On the topic of bringing too much stuff, I dont think I’ve broke out of this.
imperfect fitting boots, may require you to bring a back up pair to have the same discomforts every day on end, I’ve brought 2 pairs of boots when traveling for this reason.
An extra pair of bindings? Ive done this on most trips, because the fear of something breaking and not having a back up, only requires me to buy a new pair, at retail (possibly paying too much, and not getting the exact item I want, or not having time to shop around for what I want).
Gloves always get wet, so I bring a few of those, but I keep the boot warmer running on the gloves.
Pay attention to the lining of your board bag. I got the most expensive (becaus eit was largest) in the Burton line at the time, and there was some screw tips that protruded in the design, and they rubbed a few sore spots into a base unknowingly, had I noticed that and lined it even with clothes that were going in a bag somewhere else, I could have avoided this.
One think I find that helps is to try and stay organized with your stuff. Most of us are consistent with, say what we do with out keys and wallet each day when we get home.. well if living out of a bag, still do the came thing, but plan on what that thing will be.
Traveling…. use resources like VRBO.com and shop around. avoid staying at the resort, and just staying in town. I know there are benefits for each, but I’ve fared better in the town. Especially when there are many resorts close by.
Especially in todays economic environment… call and bargain the new price.
I’m sitting in a place right now where my wife called about the $35/night cleaning fee, she said it’s only us two, and we are clean people, so could you drop the cleaning fee… LOL we saves $70, so of course we wont leave the place a wreck for that favor!
Just ask.
Especially those VRBO places, are often owned by individuals not businesses, so they want to rent it out they will meet you with your price.
I tried putting little key locks on my luggage, and had to remove them.
Airports are getting more and more strict on the weight of the bags, so dont find yourself opening bags in the airport to combine things and distribute the weight better… I’ve been there, so it before you go.
I tried putting little key locks on my luggage, and had to remove them.
The airports don’t like that anymore unless they are TSA approved. I use Tamper Tell tags now. They are basically a cable tie you put through the zip tags ‘locking’ them together. The end of the tag has a unique code - there are 2 types. 1 you rip the end of the tag off and keep in your wallet, the other option you write the code down on a card and keep in your wallet. Then when you’re at your destination you make sure the codes match. They’re super easy to remove instead of searching for keys etc. I’ve bought mine from travel shops like Snowgums or RACV shop.
Rather than take a spare set of bindings, I pulled apart my old Missions and made a ‘repair kit’ for my Cartels. One of everything - ankle & toe straps, ladders and ratchets, one of each of all the binding screws, one baseplate (aka the round bit), and a few screws. Duct taped it all together so the screws wouldn’t roll around in bag and I was golden. I don’t think I used any of it on the 2 trips I used it for 
I always take bindings off, I don’t think it’s ever been for fear of breaking anything, I just think it’s easy to pack everything in if they’re loose. Cartels have pretty large highbacks, so they fit in the bag better on an angle.
As for clothing/outerwear getting cut up by board eges, I guess there’s three things that cause me not to worry about this:
1) Most of the time I have the boards in the plastic sleeves they come with
2) I’m lazy, and my edges aren’t often that sharp
3) My quiver is mostly libtechs now, and they don’t have full-wrap edges.
Another travel tip I use - if you’re maxed out on space including carryon, a jacket with lots of pockets can be very handy. I can’t remember which airport I was in but they were actually weighing carryon before security. Which is crap, because by then you don’t even have your checked bags to put stuff into. Thinking quickly I loaded camera, laptop charger, phone & charger, ipod, a book, and a few other things into my down jacket pockets, and my carryon was safely underweight.
The jacket pocket thing also comes in handy for security checkpoints, when you have to unload passport, wallet, watch, belt buckle, phone, etc etc to go through the scanner. Much easier to throw it all into zip-up jacket pockets than stash it in your bag I think. It’s only backfired once when I was fingered for “additional screening” in Utah. Meaning they check all the larger items in your bag by hand and you have an extra machine to go through. It was funny in the end, as I wasn’t allowed to touch the jacket but she had to inspect everything in it:
“Anything in here?”
“Yep, lots”
“where?”
“All pockets”
“This pocket?”
“yup”...takes out phone
“This one?”
“yup”...takes out wallet & watch
“This one?”
“yup”...takes out camera
“This one?”
“yup”...takes out ipod
“Any more?”
“Yeah, one more pocket inside” (by now I’m grinning as she’s all pissed off that her job is taking so long)
It’s nice when YOU get to inconvenience THEM for a change
Ive done a few weekend trips to the snow this year and i cant be happier with my Burton wheelie bag.
I know other brands do the same sort of thing.
I have the double deck and i just pack EVEYTHING into it.
It unzips into two halves.
One side gets my boarding gear. Boots, jacket, pants, and snow bag with beanies, goggles, gloves, snow socks etc.
The other side gets my streetwear. Jeans, shoes, t-shirts, jumpers, bag with undies/socks, bathroom kit.
I have friends who say…... how big is your bag…... not realising it has everything in it.
They turn up with bag for clothes, another bag with ski gear, shoes in a plastic bag, their boots in something else or just carried along as extra.
Then when we get to the snow i just pull it out of the car and wheel it into my room….. done. Time for a beer.
They on the other hand have to do 2 or 3 trips to the car scrounging around getting all their individual stuff.
It also helps me remember everything because i know where everything goes in it, and once its packed its packed.
Saves leaving home without noticing your boots you left behind the door.
Edit found answer
Also if you exceed the weight limit for the checked-in luggage for a wheelie bag, do you just have to pay more or distribute the weight over more bags?
I agree about the Burton Double Deck bag. It’s the perfect size. I use that and the Burton Wheelie Board Case. Never been hit with excess using them (touch wood!).
Yeah I just picked up a Burton Wheelie Gig, looks the goods and I’m sure it’s going to hold everything I need to take, which is mainly.
- 2 board jackets
- 2 board pants
- 1 pair boots
- 1 goggles
- 3 beanies
- 1 152 board + bindings
- 3 sets of street clothes
- Toiletries
Now I think that’s over kill for a 2 week holiday but it all fits, haven’t weighed yet though.
Also if you exceed the weight limit for the checked-in luggage for a wheelie bag, do you just have to pay more or distribute the weight over more bags?
If you can distribute the weight over your bags that’s fine. As long as one particular bag doesn’t exceed the limit. If you think you will be over the limit, pack as much heavy stuff in your carry-on hand luggage. I always carry a lot of hand luggage (sometimes up to three bags). I have done this many times and have never been questioned. Just make sure the person checking you in doesn’t see the bags. If they do just say it’s a friend’s bag and they are meeting you at the airport now to pick it up (you are usually allowed two bags anyway - just tell them one has a computer in it). If they question you when you are getting onto the plane, just say the person at the counter said it was ok. Lots of ways around it…
Wheelie Locker anyone? So good for big international trips.