Dubs' father is a commercial fisherman. He was very kind to give me a Japanese-style rope-covered glass float, the old-fashioned kind that was commonly used with fishing nets. Nowadays, most people just use plastic floats.

It was rather large and I had to carry it everywhere by hand. It was really hard to handle along with my fishing rods and luggage, but I did not want him to lose face if I refused his gift. Fortunately, our flight home was not full, so the stewardess strapped it into the seat next to me like any other paying airline customer!