[Leica] Taking your own film overseas

[Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>]

Further to the recent discussion about taking along film on overseas
vacations, I thought a friend's experience might be instructive.  He recenly
went to Maui for 10 days.  He bought film here in Ottawa, then left it on
the plane, from whence it promptly disappeared.  So he had to buy film
locally.  Here's his story:

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Hi Paul,
I left here with 30 rolls of film; 20 Provia and 10 Velvia. The cost was
about $15.00 CDN per roll with processing included. I lost these and I
purchased 10 rolls of Provia and 10 rolls of Velvia at the astounding cost
of $13.50 CDN per roll without the processing which in Canada is about half
the cost of the film ($7.50/roll). Also, I bought *all* of the guy's film in
Maui and he wasn't going to get stock replaced for 2 weeks!!!

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So the outcome was that he paid $450 in Canada for 30 rolls with processing.
To buy the same quantity there, then bring it back for processing would have
cost him about $650 CDN.  Now I know that $200 extra on a 10-day trip to
Maui isn't going to kill anyone - but it's noticeable.  And the risk of not
being able to get what you want is real.

Paul Chefurka