What are your tips/stories on travelling with kite gear and excess baggage etc?
Travelling with kite gear can be a huge pain, especially if you’re not familiar with the airlines baggage policy. When booking your flight it is extra important to check out the checked baggage policy before hitting purchase. Often it can be worth it to pay a slightly higher ticket price in exchange for a more reasonable checked weight allowance. Then at the airport know exactly how much weight you have and what it should cost you. If you can, prebook the extra weight you’ll need and have proof of it.
How do you deal with angry or ‘less than helpful' check in agent?
Smile, smile, and keep on smiling. And then if they really screwed up your travel itinerary, write a complaint to the airline afterwards giving details about the trouble you experienced. Often you’ll get miles or a credit.
What have you had to discard in order to keep your bags underweight?
Hair products mostly. As scary as that is, it is often the easiest ‘heavy’ thing that can be replaced. Although most times I’ll just cram my carry on’s full or make enough of an inconvenience in reorganizing my bags that the check in person lets it slide.
What do you take on every trip? (What can you not do without)
Macbook, Kindle, Yoga mat, a variety of Sensi Bikinis, Raw sunscreen, Naked Nutrition protein.
Funniest/Worst travelling experience?
I’ve definitely had things go wrong while traveling but it’s often just the usual song and dance. You know, missing bags, delayed or cancelled flights, having to turn back around due to engine failure. Nothing that seems too remarkable to me now.
Travelling can be painful but what makes it all worth it for you?
You never know what’s to expect once you arrive. I absolutely love seeing new places, meeting new people, finding new kite spots, etc. Getting from point A to point B can for sure be a hassle but once your rigging up at that new (or favorite foreign destination) any of the travel woes are quickly forgotten.
Have you ever thought you were going to die on a plane/boat/ferry? Tell us about it.
Two summers ago I spent some time travelling around Northern Germany. I was with Manuela Jungo, Marit Nore and Malin Amle and we were invited to take a catamaran trip up to Copenhagen, Denmark for a week. After the first 24hours the swells were 9ft with wind gusting to 40kts. We broke some rigging and couldn’t walk on deck without being clipped in for fear of being thrown overboard. I’m not sure I thought we were going to die but there were times where we definitely felt less than 100% that we would make it back to shore in one piece.
Worst/Best Food experience?
I think anyone who has done any sort of traveling to foreign countries has the usual food poisoning stories….I’ll spare you the details.
Best place you have travelled to and why?
Hood River, Oregon, Union Island, Grenadines, Los Roques Venezuela, Perth, Australia all top my charts but recently I did a trip with Craig Cunningham to Watamu, Kenya and we had a blast. On the water and off, we had a truly epic trip!
Worst place you have travelled to and why?
Probably the catamaran trip to Denmark for reasons described above.