I recently bought a Pilot 823 from Stanley Lyndon, a FPN member in Vellore, India. I had always wanted one, and I'm putting myself on a pen-buying diet until the LA Pen Show in February - so it was a last splurge. As we emailed back and forth about the pen and the shipping, we also talked about how much we both love India - I told him I wanted him to wave the pen around in the air before packing it so it could soak up lots of that ineffable Indian atmosphere.
The DHL shipping was going to be a little high, and Stanley asked me if I wanted him to put in anything else from India. First I asked for an autorickshaw, but he pointed out that that wouldn't exactly fit in the package... So I asked if he could find any interesting inexpensive pens - all of Hari's great posts with their detailed photos have peaked my curiosity.
The package arrived yesterday - two days from Vellore to Los Angeles!! - with FOUR pens inside: the Pilot (which I love and which is just as smooth as everyone's said), two Camlin eyedroppers and a Hero button-filler. (He had also bought a botle of Bril ink, but they wouldn't let him ship a glass bottle.) And along with them, the sense that I have a new friend halfway around the world. By the time the package had arrived, Stanley and I had been discussing our lives (he's a doctor, I'm an artist), cities we love, politics, while we tracked the package on DHL's website. This is why I love FPN - everyone's is so friendly and generous with each other that it's a real pleasure. Thanks for setting up such a great site!
Tom