A variation on the usual travelling with poi

With me going overseas and the like, I've been checking out the past threads on taking poi on planes (I'm a good girl and did a search ) and now it's all well and good for my fire poi...

but reading about people who had their juggling balls sliced open for drugs or seeds etc made me wonder if I'd be pushing my luck with getting my practise poi overseas? They are basically just balls of sand tied to shoelaces, but (as I'm sure you can all relate!) I am really attatched to them and I couldn't stand it if they were torn open in front of me!

So what do people thing? Make myself another set so that if they are confiscated, it doesn't matter?

Surely you could put them in your big luggage, the one that you don't take on the plane so you can't use them as weapons to hijack the planes with if they were that worried...! Um...but that's only for dangerous things...I'm not too sure about the drug issue. Can't you just put them in your main luggage and just not tell anyone? They'll only be cautious if they see the poi infront of them..

But then again, I'm not very familiar with overseas customs, the furtherest I've been was from Melb to Proserpine! (QLD)

How much are the practise poi worth?

They don't cost much in money, but their worth is in them being my first set of poi.

Maybe you could bluff them and actually write on your pois they have drugs in, then security will think "well no-one would put drugs into a container that had drugs written on it!" and they wont search them!

I have heard of people having problems coming into Australia as we have fairly strict quarantine laws. I am almost certain they wont let sand back in. I think foot and mouth is still considered a risk. They will take shoes and wash then as you come through customs if they have mud on and you come from a high risk area.
I think you will get them over ok but not back into home.

I suggest you get a pair of longish sock to take with you. Once at your destination you can pour some dried beans or peas into the ends tie a knot at the bottom and hey presto new practice poi. When you are coming home you just untie the socks, empty out the beans/peas and feed them to the birds. That way you don't have to worry about them at all as they are after all only socks in your bag.

i reckon go with your idea of making some new ones...it sounds like effort, but if they cut them open it won't be your fave practice poi & if they don't cut them open, you'll have a new set of practice poi!!! it's win win really!!

Not sure on the details for this. Maybe Bovril monkey knows cause he mentioned something abotu this a while back when looking to stuff his balls or something.

My better halve and I spent and hour and a half getting our luggage unpacked bit by bit, residue samples taken from our bags having the empty bags x-rayed and all sorts or horribleness... not sure if it's just blind luck or what.

I think I'm going to be in a similar situation. I'm traveling to Oz in about March and my sock poi are full of rice which is considered bad over there isn't it? I think Skulduggery is right, I'll just take some harmless socks and buy a bag of beans or something when I'm there.

I wouldn't go travelling with anything that's very important to me... cos you can be guaranteed you'll either lose it or it'll get broken (or destroyed in an airport ).

Depends how sad you will be to see them go.

why not just leave them and take sock poi with tennisballs, the balls don't matter if they r cut.
if they arent heavy enough as u r used to sand, cut them and fill them with sand when u get there and empty them before u leave. keep your precious ones safe.

Hi Rouge.

I'm presuming your travels will include Australia? (that's where you are now?).

If so, then yeah I'd be a bit cautious about what your poi are made from.
I've known people have their juggling balls taken off them whilst entering Australia- not so much because of the possibility of drugs, but the possibility of seeds in them.
I'm not completely familiar with the laws on what you can and can't take into Australia, but I'm almost 100% certain that any sort of seeds are out of the question.
As Gnor mentions, I think they're also pretty strict about sand.

I'd definitely recommend then idea of using long socks, and stuffing them with rice when you get to your destination.

Let us know what you decide.

oooh, nice sig, where can i get a lemonade ray gun?
sorry i know...

ummm, yes sorry, sock poi!!!

Bovril said he had his huge fluffy purple cone poi ripped (literally) open in front of him so they could cut open the juggling balls to see what was in them (turned out to be millet)... so even if they contained something that's permitted, I'd be wary of taking a well-loved practice set in case customs decide to 'make sure'.

Yep - the NZ customs bloke saw them when my rucksack went through the x-ray machine.
He then asked me to take them out of my bag, pulled a penknife out and cut the poi open to get the juggling balls from inside - millet isn't allowed into NZ, they have an understandably strict biosecurity policy.

I don't know where else would do something like this, but I'd recommend making another set of poi using plastic beads, or something else that's completely inert and definatately not going to get stopped.

Grrr... I hate airport security!

I try to hide my poi stuff because it's easier than trying to explain it. I use my chains for bag straps, finger
loops for zipper openers and wicks for delicate item cushioning. If the wicks have fuel on them you have to
put them through checked luggage so it's best to go with fresh ones.

To date, I have never been stopped for anything I was carrying and the security guys have never been the wiser.

That's the best idea I've ever heard yet mtbeer. When people look at poi all together you may as well be holding a four headed alien, no one seems to have any inkling. But making them into separate parts is genious!