Traveling with Scuba Gear and Meet me in Asia

Hey Everyone -

I wanted to ask for some tips with traveling with scuba gear as well as see if anyone wants to meet up along my travels. Here is my itinerary -

Japan - March 1st thru March 22nd - Tokyo, Nagano and Nagoya, maybe I will see Mt. Fuji but it is too cold to climb.

Vietnam - March 22nd thru April 1st - Ho Chi Min City and Hoi An and motorcycling up north.

Bali, Indonesia - April 1st thru April 24th - Diving most of the time of the time.

Manado, Indonesia - April 24th thru May 5th - Staying with 2 Fish Divers and diving the whole time

Palau, Micronesia - May 5th thru May 15th - Staying with the Dancer Fleet live aboards and diving the whole time

New Delhi, India - May 15th thru May 29th - Would like some advice. I would love to visit the Dhali Lama's compound and see the Taj Mahal

Kathmandu, Nepal - May 29th thru June 9th - Climbing the mountains

Back to NYC.

There are a lot of well traveled individuals on this forum and if you want to meet up in Bali and help out a "green" traveller such as myself and share some laughs it would be great.

So I have a big bag of gear - fins, mask, regulator, bcd etc and then a bag on wheels with all of my camera gear. the problem is that I have to drag all this crap around from place to place when I obviously don't want to. So I am thinking of getting a storage locker at each place (if they have them... which I doubt a lot of places will). I need some suggestions as to how to cope with all of this baggage!

Thanks so much for the help! I can't wait for March 1st!!!!

Maybe send all your scuba gear back from Palau? (the US Post Office has a reliable service from there). I would say courier out your dive gear to Bali to meet you there, but we got stung with a huge import tax bill when we did that (almost as much as what the gear was worth). An alternative to avoid import tax is to send it via the postal system and the good news is that apparently the Indonesian postal service does arrive eventually....

Narita T1 & 2: Used them before. Less than $10 a day piece (from what I remember) You may also want to consider checking if your hotel will do it, especially if you are staying in Tokyo on your way out. Trains are the best way to get around the big island

Vietnam: HCMC: Left my big bags at the hotel since I was booked on the way out as well. Just went lightweight around Vietnam.... camera bag and a small suitcase. Merino wool t-shirts don't smell even after being drenched in sweat!

New Delhi: Also left at the hotel since I was booked for a night before flying out. Agra (Taj) is best done by train there. I suggest staying the night in Agra so you can get the dusk/dawn light over the Taj. If you're a greenie, you can hire a rickshaw (human power) to get around. BARGAIN and watch your stuff! OH YES: DO NOT GIVE THE STREET KIDS MONEY!!! Watch slum dog millionaire for the harsh realities of India. It's very real and stupid tourists will break down and feed the machine. Don't be one of them!

Kathmandu: I think you'll find this the most chaotic airport of your trip. Remember to pay for the VIP service where you rest in the lounge while someone goes to pick up your bags and handles all the immigration, customs etc for you. You need to book in advance for someone to meet you. Just make sure your hotel arranges transport so you won't get hassled by the transport crowd outside and your VIP guy too! Keep your Indian Rups. They can be used pretty much everywhere in Nepal. Bring a monopod or a lightweight tripod.

Good travels!

Thanks so much for the help! I had some people tell me that hauling luggage around will be difficult and finding a place to stash my unused gear will be tough as well. This gives me some hope!

I will definitely take your advice and let you know how it goes. Can't wait to be under the waves again.

I should add that you better CALL to check if there is left luggage at each airport. With the security alerts, they sometimes shut down the left luggage facility for fear of bombs etc.