Transporting sewing machine

[Betty J.]

My sister is flying to Guam this week from Portland, Oregon to care for her daughter and new baby. She'll be there a month and is anxious to take her sewing machine so she'll be able to work on projects. She'd like to either
1. Take her machine and needs suggestions about how to do that or

2. See if she might rent or buy a cheap machine in Guam. She wants to teach her granddaughter to sew while she's there.

We'd appreciate any suggestions from anybody.

[Mary H.]

My inexpensive, noncomputerized, Brother machine made the trip to Chicago, checked with baggage, several times and never a problem. I had a hard carrying case and I put tape around the whole thing is case the latches came loose. I also put other stuff in the case too. Now -- I would certainly think twice or three times before I put my computerized Brother machine on a plane with baggage. Mary in hot, hot MS.

[Mary H.]

If your sister still has the original packaging, why not ship it via UPS or FedEx ? Wrapped in brown paper, postage and insurance. On the otherhand, if her DGD enjoys the lessons, maybe buying an inexpensive machine while there so DGD would be able to complete her project and continue on? Considering the cost of checking baggage, ask her which one would be less expensive. She could easily estimate shipping charges by using each carriers website. I hope this wasn't an overload of suggestions.

Lissette

[Hannelore N.]

We have a member in Guam. Her board name is "Guamquilter". If you go to her profile you can send her a message. I bet she can answer your question about getting access to a sewing machine in Guam.

Lorchen

[Susan B.]

I just had a discussion yesterday with my LQS owner about shipping machines, after all, they are shipped all over the world from the manufacturers. If you don't have the original packing box, are you near the place of purchase? They may have one that you can borrow, or they may just give you one. I, too, would vote for a shipping company as opposed to the airlines...probably cheaper and safer for the machine.

[Susan B.]

If she is going to Guam, I'm going to assume that her family is in the military based there. The BX or PX should have sewing machines there. Tax free, and usually at a cheaper price than in the USA.

Maggie in E. central Illinois

[Anne B.]

I fly with my Featherweight all the time. I have a soft Jean Lyle case for it, which you can see at http://www.jslyle.com/accessories.htm . The machine goes on board with me and I stick it in the overhead bin. It's very light and easy to carry around in this bag.

Although last month in Toronto, airport security took the screwdriver away from me. (I'd flown with it from Vancouver, no problem!) The stupid thing was that they let me keep my incredibly sharp, pointy tweezers, but the large, blunt, slotted screwdriver was verboten.

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

[Mary H.]

Here's a funny one - A guild member said the last time she flew, they took away her toothpaste, but let her take her rotary cutter. Guess they just didn't know how it operated. Mary

[Beth A.]

You should have seen my 79 year old mother in law when they confiscated her toenail clippers from her carryon luggage. Was she ever hot!

BethMI

[Linda N.]

My Bernina has been shippped all over the world but I have all the original packing. It has gone air freight and it has gone by ship to various places with no problems. Your biggest concern needs to be the 110 or 220 power and the 50 or 60 cycle. If the cycle is wrong you'll burn up your motor.