Bring Your Own Beach Chair?
 

The posts about reserving pool chairs brings to mind another "seating" question of sorts. Has anyone ever checked their own beach chair on a flight for a beach vacation? I am considering doing this for a Hawaii trip and my husband thinks I am crazy. I have a great adjustable reclining chair and a bad back and would prefer it to the chairs available for rent. We usually drive around to different beachs and I hate just laying on a towel.

If you have such a condition and you know you would use the chair, go for it! We have checked in boggie boards that were readily available in Mexico, but the guys wanted to bring theirs. The deal was "you want to bring it, you carry it!" For the boggie boards, the airline provided cardboard packaging to prevent damage. That's something you might want to consider if you are set on bringing your chair.

Why not ship the chair to your hotel and ask them to hold it till you get there?

My wife and I have brought our own beach umbrella to caribbean resorts. No more fighting Europeans for the shady spots! Though we do get lots of people asking where they can rent one.

Good idea K9, especially since I know my husband would subscribe to the "you bring it, you carry it" deal from seetheworld! I tried to use one of those dinky rental chairs last summer and I wound up having a unfortunate incident that involved a sloping beach, a couple of Mai Tais and my big bottom...I tried to get up and I wound up bottoms up in the sand. To make matters worse the man behind me started yelling "mayday, mayday, man overboard"!!! Needless to say I was quite embarrassed and stayed in the water until the beach cleared of any witnesses!

Mary2go, would you mind telling me what kind of reclining chair you have? I'm looking for one to carry along on our trip too.

I brought my own beach chair to Hawaii once. I just put it in a box and counted as one of my check in bags. They won't guarantee what condition it will arrive in, but mine was fine.

Bcala, I have a Rio brand chair. I bought it at Chicks sporting goods in So. California. It has 5 different back positions so it's great for reading or relaxing, including laying completely flat. I can't wait to use it in Hawaii in about six weeks!

Mary, I don't think you're crazy for wanting to bring your own beach chair with you. I once took my bicycle with me because I hate those rental bikes you get when you're on vacation! The airline had no problem with it and it arrived in good shape. Your chair should be easy.

I think that is a great idea, especially after reading all the threads (and from personal experience)about the beach chairs all being taken at 5AM...I bet it will fit into a flat bicycle box the airlines have...have fun !

Last time, we just bought one at our destination. We were at HH, the rental prices were outrageous, so we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of chairs and umbrellas. They were cheap enough that we left them there.

That was what I was going to say. Just go purchase one at a local store and then leave it. That is what we do when we are on a vacation that requires flying. So much easier than worrying about actually getting a chair when we head to the beach.

I was going to buy one and leave it but I want a "recliner" and I am afraid it would be hard to find. I think I will take it as check in luggage because we are going to two islands. I will let my husband grumble, I am sure lugging it around will entail less whining than me not having a good chair!

Here is greener view on the "Buy it -Leave it" approach. Hawaii is made up of islands. We have limited resources and limited space. Waste disposal is a serious problem, and we are looking for solutions, like should we/can we ship our garbage to the mainland?

Please, please, please do not come to Hawaii, buy beach chairs and then trash them or, worse, and I see this all the time, abandon them on the beach. If you are staying at a condo, try wait until you get the condo and see if there are chairs there. If there are, use them. If there are none, then buy some and leave them in the condo for others to use. If you are at a hotel and buy chairs, see if you can find someone to take them when you leave. Ask the staff if they want/need them, ask other guests who are arriving, give them to someone on the beach.

If everyone who visits here leaves behind beach chairs and tennis shoes and all of the other "disposbale" things I read about on this list, can you imagine how much quicker our landfills will be filled?

Practice malama `aina and the islands will be here for you to continue to enjoy in the years to come. Trash paradise, and we all loose.

I would never toss it! I would either ask another guest to use it and pass it along or give to the hotel and hope they would pass it on. I usually do this with the magazines and paperbacks when I travel too.

Sadly, giving it to the hotel will probable amount to it being tossed in the trash. During the Maui Film Festival I heard about stacks of chairs left behind at the Kea Lani by filmgoers that were trashed. I can't image any of the upscale resorts recycling chairs.

I just reread my sentence and it made me laugh. While I can only assume that some of the filmgoers were trashed, it was the chairs to which I was referring.

You were probably right the first time!!!

That's a great story Mary and a wonderful reason to bring your own chair. It reminds of a similar incident that I had while wilderness camping. Wearing a very heavy backpack while hiking up a steep hill, I felt nature's call. Hoping to spare my shoes, I wisely (HAH) decided to face uphill when I hopped off the trail to accomplish my urgent task. As I somersaulted backwards down the hill with my nether regions exposed, the lilting sound of my husband's laughter rang through the woods. We are still married but it was touch and go for a while. Bring your chair!

Shaz, thanks for the laugh! I am glad things like that happen to someone else besides me. I am known to family and friends for my klutziness, and I usually have some "incident" on nearly every trip I go on!

I have a zero gravity recliner that I brought with me on vacation - heavenly! I kept the original shipping box and taped it in the box really well and checked it with the rest of the luggage and it did fine.

The only problem you may have is - is this special chair compatable with beach sand or will it sink into the sand? I have used my recliner on pool decks and solid surfaces, but never on beach sand. Little portable beach chairs are very easy to carry - I saw many when I was in Puerto Rico recently and most people had them in shoulder totes.

While I do not think anyone is crazy for bringing a chair with them on vacation..I do not understand the need.
I understand pillows and even sheets, but beach chairs?
My husband gets a glazed look in his eyes when he sees all the clothes I am bringing on a trip, if he saw me carrying a beach chair , I am afraid he would cancel the trip and send me to a nice Home somewhere for The Unable to Travel Too Far ..
Isn't it a nice part of travel, to use different chairs, tables, beds and see things that are not in your house or town?
Isn't it part of travel to use things that you do not have at home? That is the way to discover new chairs, etc.
Thanks :)

Well, Scarlett, if you are fortunate enought not to have a physical ailment such as a back condition, then I suppose you wouldn't understand why Mary would like to bring her chair.

seetheworld,
actually, my husband has the back problem, but that is irrelevant.
I understand that some people have special needs, but I have yet to see someone travel with their own beach chair.
So this post made me curious, do a great many people carry them to Hawaii and other beachy places? I have been to Hawaii, Jamaica, St Martin, the Bahamas, and I have never noticed this before. Just thought it might be a new phenomemon ..

Scarlett: It probably is not a frequent occurance for many to bring a chair on vacation (unless it is a car trip or a health consideration), but then it is not always possible to know and see what people pack and take along with them. I would imagine that there are a lot more bizzare items brought along on vacation!

True true, seetheworld :)

I have to say that I appreciate no one pointing out my pathetic typo...
phenomenon :D

phenomnimon LOL

I use the chairs around the pool with no problem, and I "discovered" the little rental beach chair last year and it wasn't very stable (at least for my back problem). I wouldn't bother to drag it along if I didn't have a back problem that has ruined a couple of vacations. I will be packing light since it is a beach vacation so we won't have more than one piece of luggage for the two of us. We both enjoy the beautiful beaches of Hawaii so we try to mix sightseeing with a stop at a different beach every day so that means no chairs, just a towel. My husband already thinks I am crazy but we are going there to celebrate 25 years of marriage so I guess he is used to me by now!

Congratulations Mary...all the more reason you should be nice and comfy on your trip!

Hand raised.

I have taken my beach chairs on vacation with me before.

On a trip to South Beach I packed two beach chairs and a collapsable rolling cooler along with my clothes in my suitcase. Came in very handy and glad I did.

On the flip side, when tourists come here, buy cheap chairs, coolers, and umbrellas and abandon them on the beach or by the trash recepticle, we locals ALWAYS take them.

I can't tell you the times the beach chairs and umbrellas come in handy.

The cooler thing is getting out of control.

I can see in Hawaii where this would be a problem with waste disposal.

I would also like to take a moment to thank all of my out of town guests for the plethora of attractive beach towels they have left me/forgotten.