Travel and Vaping Travel to Germany and then Namibia

[VelezCaroco]

Hello,

I have a work trip to Namibia this weekend. I'm from Europe so I will get a flight to Frankfurt Germany and then the connection flight to Namibia.

I will probably pack most of my vape gear on my checked baggage (A cheap mech mod batteries juices and rebuildable gear (khanthal and cotton)) and I will only carry and ego and an evod on my hand baggage along with a small bootle of juice.

Any advice's when traveling to these country's? Is vaping legal on Namibia?

Do you think I might encounter any issues with airport security? What can I do to avoid them?

My concern is that even an ego might seem strange to the people that scan the baggage, also I'm sure stranger things have been packed in checked baggage but should I be afraid my checked baggage to be retained for further inspection since I'm packing the batteries and the mech mod?

I already checked the air flight company's policy's but there isn't much info on e-cigs.

 

[Steamix]

German security is pretty familiar with vaping gear. Went in and out through Frankfurt last 3 months ago, no hassles. But better to take all batteries in handcarry, liquids exceed that funny 50ml rule in checked baggage. No idea about the legal status of vaping in Namibia, though.

 

[Jaguar G]

I went through Frankfurt on my way to Zurich and man did I mess up. Flew from DFW to Frankfurt where I had to change planes to get to Zurich. I have a Phidias (see below) box mod with a 18650 battery, 510 atty, push button switch, and a sealed feed bottle. Going through TSA security at DFW I removed the bottle from the mod and put in an empty to go through the x-ray in my laptop case. I changed the full bottle back into it after security and vaped at the airport and on the overnight flight.

After landing in Frankfurt I go through passport control and then go through security a second time for the flight to Zurich. Well, after being on a plane for 9 hours I was a little brain dead and forgot to take the juice out of my Phid. It was all assembled and in my laptop case when I put it on the belt for the x-ray machine. Oh - My - God!!! You would have thought I was smuggling some new explosive device through security. As I walked over to where the x-ray belt comes out and allows travelers to pick their life up after security, I immediately remembered that I didn't take the juice out. I looked at the x-ray screen and saw five security people looking and pointing at the Phidias. The nice lady helping folks get their belongings looked at me and I said "e-cigarette" and she immediately understood and shrugged her shoulders, went to the monitor and got into a conversation with the rest. It didn't seem to help, as she came back over and shrugged her shoulders again and stood there.

All this time, there were folks waiting to get their bags off the conveyor - and it just kept not moving. They brought over more people, zoomed in, pointed, talked and nothing else for 45 minutes. They pulled my laptop case out of line and swabbed it and took the swabs to another room. The ran it back into the machine and looked some more. Finally after the explosive swab came back negative (thank the Lord I hadn't been to the gun range lately!) they finally brought out my laptop case and the guy opened it in front of me. He carefully took the battery out, then started to pull the drip tip off but I said it just unscrews and I took the atomizer off for him. He told me "we don't know what it is - it could be TNT" to which I basically laughed but agreed not to carry it on next time. I told him I carry it on in the US all the time, and he basically said that US security is a joke to which I replied German security is not a joke. We shook hands and I went on my way after nearly an hour. I was fairly happy and amused the whole time and that probably diffused the situation, but they were quite serious. Just thought I would share.

My Phidias (which was safely packed in my checked luggage on the return trip)

 

[Jaguar G]

On the way back to Texas, security at Frankfort ask me if I have a camera in my carry on. I did, a Canon DSLR. He tells me to follow him, so I do. We go to the little room where they took the swab they did on my laptop case on the way in, and have me take out my camera so they can swab it. I do, they swab it, run the test, and send me on my way. I ask, "you don't see many camera at the airport?" to which I am told a random number of cameras are tested every day. Oh well, off I go.

Funny part is, my coworker was traveling with me through both of these adventures. He tells me "I am never traveling with you again." I told him I didn't blame him.