So, when I went on holidays recently, I decided to treat my fountain pens to a trip as well. I love my fountain pens (I took both to be fair to them even though my red one is my favourite [don't tell the other!]) and I intended to do some writing whilst abroad so it seemed like a good idea.
It wasn't.
For a start, I'm not sure what the protocal is for bringing a fountain pen through airport security, but I thought 'Better safe than sorry!' and decided that they were liquids. So I had to stand at the side of the security lanes, fishing out all my spare ink cartridges (I seemed to have overestimated how much writing I was going to do because I had 7 cartridges for a week's holiday) and shoving them into the little platic bag along with my pens. At least they weren't in 100ml containers (that would be a big pen...). Once I was done messing about with my pens, I placed it gently in the basket, probably to the confusion of my fellow passengers and the security guards. Fortunately, my pens passed security (yay!) and were free to continue on their way. Which is great because if they'd taken my pens off me, I would have been really upset!
But the saga of the travelling pens doesn't stop there. I innocently believed that my fountain pens would be fine, safe and sound in my hand luggage in the cabin. But, to my dismay, when I opened my bag midflight after sudden inspiration, the ink had somehow leaked out of the pen and gone everywhere (luckily, it was still in its bag). I don't really know how (pressure changes?) but I gave up trying to mop it up. The ink was everywhere. My biro still worked but it just wasn't the same. My fountain pens were effectively abandoned.
So a lesson to all fountain-pen-loving travellers out there. If you must bring a fountain pen, keep it nice and safe in your check in luggage! Otherwise, you too may have to go through these traumatising events
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