Info for the guys headed to Alaska

[Ovis]

Some info that might save you some hassle at the airport...

Stuff on lighters...

http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_2047.xml

Some info about ice chests from a guy who knows...

Hi folks,

As a long-time employee of "a larger west-coast airline", I want to reinforce a couple of things about coolers, and add some things folks may not have thought of.

As was stated, you can tape your coolers shut (and you should), but you cannot put ice in them. Gel ice is fine, as is dry ice. If you use dry ice though, you cannot use more than five pounds per package (per cooler, in other words), and you cannot tape the cooler shut! Dry ice releases carbon dioxide, which can cause a sealed cooler to sorta explode.

That said, my advice is to simply fill the cooler with rock-hard frozen stuff. Why put a frozen gel pack in there, when you could put one more package of frozen halibut instead? A friend of mine was recently here and we boxed up his fish in waxed fish boxes lined with crumpled newspaper. The fish came out of the freezer at 8am and he arrived at his destination at 12pm Alaska time. That's 16 hours out of the freezer, folks. When it arrived at his home it was still frozen hard. So... if you're traveling to the west coast or thereabouts, you may not need a cooler at all. Just waxed fish boxes, which you can pick up at Fred Meyer or Carr's/Safeway in Anchorage. Pick up a roll or two of 2" tape to seal them and you're good to go. When you check in, let the air carrier know you have frozen fish inside, and ask them to put "freeze" labels on it. That way if for some reason your stuff is bumped, it will be put in the freezer enroute (if the airport has one; Anchorage does).

Be sure you don't exceed the 50# limit per bag. If you must, consider mailing your gear to yourself to avoid excess baggage charges on the return trip. It's a hassle, but doable. The post office is located right next to Anchorage International Airport and it never closes (even on holidays).

Best of luck!

Hope this helps!

-Mike

 

[T Bone]

Thanks Jim! This cool, wet weather we're getting is firing me up!