I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately since I’ll be taking a journey half way across the world next week. At first the idea hadn’t really crossed my mind because I was so caught up in the idea of going to China that my brain hadn’t processed it, but I realized something.

There are doll stores in China.

There are doll stores in China in the cities I’ll be visiting.

At first I had myself convinced I’d just take down my doll’s measurements to ensure I could buy an appropriate outfit for him, but the more I think, the more problems I come up with. Here are the issues.

1. Language barrier. I know a little Chinese, but it’s far from what you’d consider acceptable. While I could indeed give them a sheet with the measurements, I feel that it might be hard to communicate what I wanted to do with them. Now all this is barring they don’t speak any English, which might not be true at all.

2. After paying all that money, it could still go wrong. This is my biggest fear, really. I shell out a chunk of change for some pretty outfits because I don’t have to pay for shipping. Low and behold? It still doesn’t fit. Things like that happen. More specifically, they happen to me. For my SD girl, this isn’t a big deal. SD is a very standard size, but anything bigger than that, (*cough*myotherdoll*cough*), everything could go wrong.

3. If I don’t bring one with me, there’s a very good chance I’ll be taking one home no matter what… I probably need to avoid that happening. Avoid spending my food money on resin. As much as I’d love to have another, impulse buys are a bad idea.

These three reasons considering, I might end up hauling a doll across country with me. At first I wondered just how crazy everyone would consider me, but then I thought… Who cares? I am crazy.

So, if you’re planning to take your doll on a plane/ out of the country, here’s some helpful tips from what I’ve gathered:

• Bring them with you in carry-on. It’ll be easier to keep them safe and… A lot easier to explain them. Lord help TSA if they x-ray your luggage and find a midget hiding out amongst your underwear while you’re not around.
• Make them comfortable, but not too comfortable. You’re gonna want to find a way to protect them, either with a reinforced bag (many doll sites have carrying cases, here are Dollmore’s), or some hella good padding. Now, I say not too comfortable because if you wrap them up too heavily, chances are security will ask you to unwrap them. Faceplates may be mistook as liquid containers, but if it’s gently wrapped, it won’t be hard to prove otherwise. You might also want to consider protecting the hands, as doll fingers enjoy long walks on the beach and occasionally snapping off. My plan is to wrap my doll up in a blanket, turn his wig inside out, and place it in a ziplock bag during transit.
• If at all possible, see if you can stuff them under the seat during takeoff and landing. While you may just have a light doll in your bag, someone else might have a lap crushing 15 inch alienware laptop in their bag. Of course, if you made sure your dolls transport was padded, there might be little to worry about, but the old proverb ‘better safe than sorry’ will always come back to haunt you when you fail to heed it’s words.
• Could you just… Carry them with you? Apparently you can, if that’s what you’d like to do~ The problem being that you might still have to put them up during takeoff and landing.

These are the biggest tips I’ve found for the plane ride, but as for the travel in and around the country on foot, I think it heavily depends on the place. China is a place with lots and lots of people. As my Chinese teacher explained to me, it’s pretty much packed and crowded everywhere. For this reason, I’ll be keeping my doll safely in its bag 90% of the time I’m walking around. Most likely I’ll only take him out in my sleeping quarters or at the doll stores. I unfortunately won’t be able to update on the situation while I’m there (China has blocked WordPress) but as soon as I get back, I’ll be happy to share the undoubtedly awesome experiences and pictures~