To (e)Board or not to (e)Board

Hello and welcome to a post-Independence Day Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac by way of Winnipeg. Today is July 5th.

I’m going to preface what follows with an assurance that I do indeed love my husband. There. Now that I’ve said it, I can begin.

I’m typing this in the comfort of my hotel room in Winnipeg, where I’ve spent the last 2 1/2 hours doing my final pack and re-pack. Now, if you thought that this should have been done at home, you are correct. However, for this year’s trip to Czechia, my husband gave me a special mission: to bring our nephew’s electronic skateboard.

“Can you bring the e-skateboard?” he asked me while he was packing for his departure two weeks ago. No problem, I answered, because I trust my husband. He’s the kind of guy who scours the internet for the highest-level intel. So, if he says I can check a bag with an electronic skateboard, I’m going to believe him.

Until about 2 1/2 hours ago, when I started to do my online check-in.

“Hey!” I said, to College Kid 3.0 via SnapChat, feeling a mild amount of alarm when I noticed on the app that small lithium battery operated vehicles are not allowed in the cabin or on the aircraft. “Does this include e-skateboards?” He assured me it did.

“Wait, Mom. What kind of battery does it have?”

“I don’t know. I left it all wrapped up.”

“You should open it up and see what it is.”

I really didn’t want to peel off all of that packing Saran wrap. You see, my husband and I have an agreement. When he asks me to do favors for him, the ask is supposed to be straightforward with no strings attached. It’s his job to assure me with his ask that there is only one task - in this case, check the e-board as a bag to CZ. Peeling off the layers of plastic wrap to dig inside and figure out what kind of battery the board has, is not part of the agreement.

I considered, for a moment, leaving the board as is, SnapChatting my husband, and waiting for his reply. But then, I thought, well, I’ll see what I can figure out, you know, just in case I don’t hear from him between then and when I need to head to the airport.

A side note here - I’m leaving my car at the hotel while I’m travelling, so I REALLY need to know what the deal is with this e-board battery BEFORE I go to the airport and find myself stuck with a no-can-fly piece of luggage.

I started screenshotting searches about lithium batteries - “The key factor is the battery’s wattage (Wh), with most airlines allowing batteries under 100 Wh in carry-on baggage.” Does “most” include Air Canada and Austrian Air? Some sites said yes, some said no.

With my multi tool left at home, I took the thin, recyclable wooden knife from Tim Horton’s to the tight, sticky plastic. I hacked. I sawed. I complained to College Kid 3.0, who was already on to a new topic, having discovered lost cameras with forgotten photos from 2008. “Hey! It’s me!” he shrieked at the 2-year-old pic of himself, while I hacked and sawed and plucked the plastic off bit by bit. I could feel the regret with each hack and saw and when I got down to the board, I was not rewarded with an easy view of a battery. No, it was two boards - one wood, one metal - attached to one another with some bubble wrap stuff shoved in the fox hole between the two pieces. What had I gotten myself into?

What should I do, what should I do, whatshouldIdo????!!!!

You know how kids get themselves in predicaments sometimes by starting something like trimming their own bangs, or taking one lick of frosting on the cake, and then they trim more and then they lick more until, to they horror, they realize they’ve created a disaster that mom (or in this case, dad) is for sure going to notice?

Yeah. That’s me.

“You should just message Dad and wait for his reply,” the CK 3.0 counseled, as he continued his nostalgic jaunt down memory lane, now in year 2010 of the photo treasure trove.

I dumped out all the other things I’d packed in the e-board duffel bag, then gathered all the bits of plastic packaging and the board itself and stuffed it all back in the bag. Next, I proceeded to figure out how to repack all the things I wanted to bring (including 4 pairs of shoes, because I’m apparently going through a cute shoe phase) into ONE backpack and ONE carry-on. Just in case.

At this point it’s 1:30 AM Central Standard Time and 8:30 AM Czech Republic time. I had hoped to have heard from him by now, but, knowing how he likes to sleep in on Saturdays, I guess I’ll have to wait.

In the meantime, I’ve got a solid Plan A - leave the e-board which may or may not have a lithium battery with it (now that I think about it, I didn’t notice any wheels either…) - and a potential Plan B if I get the green light from the hubs in the next 7 hours.

Wish me luck!

TO BE CONTINUED…