Is Shipping The Kneeboard The Way To Go?

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:34 pm

I've got a late September, business trip to South America--my first. A few different cities, but I want to include Lima, Peru. Maybe chase down Chicama if there is some swell.

The problem is the board costs. Too complicated to explain, but I must use an airline that would happen to charge me $375 to take my kneeboard to my two cities and then return to SFO. That's really prohibitive! There is an airline, Lan, that doesn't charge but I cannot use them.

So how about shipping to a hotel in Lima, Peru, then shipping it back to the USA? Does that work? Is such a thing usually cost effective compared to flying?

Any other suggestions...

Thanks.

waka · Post by **waka** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:53 pm

Pack a surf mat instead

Shelfbreak · Post by **Shelfbreak** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:15 am

Hi Scott

What a predicament!

If you have on old board maybe you could take that and leave it there - hopefully with a grom you have suitably impressed

I'm assuming this option would cost about half your current estimate.

stemple · Post by **stemple** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:15 am

Scott there are numerous local shapers in and around lima. What about having a board made for you then picking it up. Probably would not save you money but it could make the trip that much more interesting. It may be a good entry into the local scene. Hiring a guide/driver to go to areas outside of San Bartolo is a good idea as well.

red · Post by **red** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:34 pm

There's this thing called unaccompanied baggage that's quite affordable. You have to deliver your board to the airline ahead of time and sometimes pick up from the freight area.
I did this a few times sending boards to contests and bikes between countries.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:49 pm

Gee, parting with a kneeboard I bring down there and not bringing it back? I have four kneeboards and they are just like children to me... Well, more accurately I guess Buddy is their father--that makes me the godparent, I suppose.

Of course, for an excited grom that's always an option to leave something with him/her.

Shaping a board, Syd? I don't think I'd get what I really want. Better to spend the same money on getting my own board there.

Red, interest idea about shipping it separately. I'll call the airline tomorrow and see what they say. Thanks for that suggestion, especially.

No kneeboard bank there in Peru, eh?

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:47 am

Scott,

Lee Pattison's ex-wife is from Lima.
She's very well connected as her family owns Hershey's Chocolate there and her brother is head of a large international bank.
I'll ask her about shipping a board to Lima.
She was a flight attendant for a Peruvian airline at one time as well.

We've mutual friends there, that are importing home decor furnishings from around the world for a boom in luxury property development going on there at the moment.
I suspect she knows or can find out, the best way to ship.
Cross your fingers.

KneeBumps · Post by **KneeBumps** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:05 am

You might also check airport-to-airport shipping, if it wouldn't be too inconvenient.

We use a commercial firm:
http://www.shipnex.com/international-ai ... o-airport/

...and there's lots of other firms that do this.

You'd have to drop the board at your local airport ahead of time and pickit up at the airport in when you arrive.
It's much cheaper than door-to-door express shipping (but a two-hour round trip to and from the airport). Worth at least checking prices, if it's not too inconvenient.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 8:42 pm

Bud...thanks for checking out your connection!

Kneebumps...thanks for the alternative shipping company which I will check out tomorrow!

I called Taca Air Freight today to see if I could ship my board as "unaccompanied baggage" with them (an interesting suggestion from Red). They were quite discouraging, saying I would be given heavy storage fees if I wasn't right there when the board came in to Peru, and that unaccompanied baggage is not allowed at all on any returning inbound flight into the U.S.

But is there a better website than KSUSA for sharing our common knowledge and stoke? I think not. You guys are being a great help.

austo · Post by **austo** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:28 am

I have a board sitting at a relatives place in Bogota Colombia if you happen to be sliding by there.