

The man who posted himself to Australia - breitling
http://bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31700049

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mherrmann
He went on to become a drug smuggler [1]. Given his talent, I suppose it was
an obvious career choice.

1:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Spiers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Spiers)

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reilly3000
Some other ways to get around for cheap: [http://www.vergemagazine.com/travel-
intelligence/budget-trav...](http://www.vergemagazine.com/travel-
intelligence/budget-travel/76-15-ways-to-travel-for-free-or-at-least-
cheap.html)

I looked into hitching a ride on a C-130... not nearly as free or fun as you
might think. You can if you are a journalist (or blogger!) and want to write a
positive piece about the military.

In light of this story I will no longer bitch about coach. But travel does
suck, and I can't wait for quantum transport to be a thing.

~~~
GigabyteCoin
>I looked into hitching a ride on a C-130... not nearly as free or fun as you
might think.

Can you elaborate on that at all? The link you posted doesn't mention military
hitchhiking, which sounds interesting to say the least.

~~~
chiph
Before you pursue this further, ask someone who's spent hours sitting in one
of the nylon seats on a C-130. Decidedly uncomfortable. Go for a C-5 or C-17
instead.

~~~
rdl
C-5 will just end up broken down on the runway for days. Take the C-17.

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zkhalique
I wonder where the box was stored during flight.

I have read many articles that stowaways face a delicate balance of
hypothermia and their body shutting down the need much breathing, thus able to
deal with the thin (unpressurized) air. Sometimes it works out in their favor,
sometimes not. If they survive they wake up dazed and confused.

This story doesn't sound like that. Why?

Here is a kid in a wheel well:
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609270/BREAKING-
NEW...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609270/BREAKING-NEWS-16-year-
old-boy-survives-UNHARMED-flying-California-Hawaii-wheel-well.html)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-
well_stowaway_fli...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wheel-
well_stowaway_flights)

Perhaps the boxes are stored in a place where people and animals can easily
survive?

~~~
david-given
The wheel well's on the outside of the pressure hull, while the cargo hold's
on the inside, so is pressurised. Or at least so I gather. It may not be
heated very well, mind.

Some random searching on the internet shows that the temperature of a cargo
hold is about 10°C, and on at least one model of plane is (partially) heated
by waste air from the cabins. Allegedly there's a flight deck switch which
redirects the waste air overboard, which causes the temperature in the hold to
plummet. This is known as the 'puppy snuffer' switch...

------
bobajeff
Great story. Sad little addendum at the end though.

~~~
damian2000
That was a long time ago though - he's been out of jail for 20+ years.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Spiers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Spiers)

~~~
kalleboo
I'm not sure if that Wikipedia article helps make things any less sad:

> In 2011, Spiers's daughter Jane was convicted on counts of manufacturing a
> controlled drug, and one count of doing so for sale

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andrelaszlo
That box could have been quite a macabre birthday present for his daughter...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-
YiaWDgB4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI-YiaWDgB4) (The Velvet Underground
- The Gift)

------
jmilloy
This strikes me as a nice little hack of the system, and I'm glad that it
seems like in this case the attitude was "no harm, no foul". It's not a
particularly elegant hack, but that's one thing that epitomizes hackers to me:
use what you know and have at hand to make it work.

------
barking
Not only did he acquire drug convictions but his daughter went on to get one
too.

I wonder if she was the same daughter who's birthday it was that he was trying
to get back for.

------
amelius
The biggest problem nowadays would be the X-ray check, which could turn out
quite unhealthy. And then perhaps air pressure and temperature.

------
brittonsmith
It's amazing that they could have the following sentence: "Built to Spiers's
specifications, the crate allowed him to sit up straight-legged, or lie on his
back with his knees bent." and then have that graphic where his torso takes up
nearly the whole 5ft length of the box. That ridiculous graphic seems
unnecessary given that that sentence explains just how he fit into the crate.

