Travel Atomizer for Perfume
Part of the fun of beer tourism is bringing home a bunch of trophies you can’t find at home. This is especially true when you’re traveling overseas. Unfortunately, this complicates the process because of limited space and complex airline regulations regarding weight and size allowances. The solution? Build a beer suitcase. To be fair, this isn’t my idea. It was provided by a friend who has a friend that makes them. He gave me the rough idea which I translated into action and this post.
Here is your supply list:
1. A hard sided suitcase with approximate measurements of 12″x18″x28″ which is a total of 58″ dimensional inches. Most airlines have a maximum size allowance of 62 inches. You can try looking at thrift stores, but I bought mine at a discount store (Ross or TJ Max).
2. Grey packing foam. I brought a 108″x48″x1″ sheet at a packing/shipping store. For a few extra dollars they cut it into 12 18″x24″ sheets.
3. A good utility knife with an extra blade or two.
4. Contact cement (get a few small bottles or a larger one, more is better).
5. A sharpie.
6. Velcro
7. Cardboard
8. A tape measure or a ruler
Construction
1. Figure out the size of the largest bottles you’ll be bringing home. I was going to be bringing home a mixture of 375ml and 750ml cork and cage finished bottles. I took the dimensions of these two bottle sizes and made a rectangular cardboard cutout of each one. I figured any other sized bottle would fit in these spaces.
2. Take the card board cutouts and figure out the best configuration. For me, and I imagine this will be true for you, I had 10 375ml slots on one side and 2 375ml and 6 750ml bottle slots on the other side. This should be the same for 12oz and 22oz bottles. This configuration allows you to bring home a full case of beer. The other great thing about this setup is that the total weight (beer, foam, and suitcase) is just under 50 lbs. For most airlines, this is the maximum weight before the airline starts charging you extra.
3. Use the sharpie and cardboard cutouts to trace your slots onto one of your foam rectangles.
4. Use one of the foam rectangles as a cutting pad (you won’t need it later). Cut along your sharpie lines in clean, slow motions. Always practice safe knife techniques. It’s much harder to take a cork out of a beer if you’re missing a few digits.
5. Once you have all the bottles slots cut out, place the cut piece on top of a new piece. Trace the rectangles onto the new place through your cut holes. You can go ahead and trace it onto one more piece.
6. Cut out all the slots on the other 2 pieces. You should now have 3 identical pieces.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 with 3 more uncut pieces using your other configuration.
8. Take 2 uncut pieces and place one with each set of 3 cut pieces. These will form the base for each stack. Take one of the cut pieces and trace the outlines of your bottle slots onto the base so you have guidelines for putting down contact cement on the base.
