Traveling with Camera's
Hey Everyone! I hope this last week was a good one for you. This week I want to talk about traveling with your camera. More specifically flying with your gear. Now I am no expert and its been a wile since I've flown but I'm getting ready to take a trip and by the time this blog comes out I may have already come back. I'm taking a trip where I'll be flying and will have to go through TSA so I'll give some tips that I learned from their website. Security , Security , Security, You'll have to go through it . So getting prepared will make this experience more comfortable and less of a hassle. Doing a little research can make this as unpleasant as possible.
Carry on Backpack
My camera gear. I have narrowed down what I'm going to bring so my load won't be too heavy for the airport and for me to carry. I am taking with me on the plane one body and three lenses, batteries for the camera and a Gopro and batteries. Your batteries must be on your carry on luggage and not
in your checked bags. You should have a way to separate the batteries so they will not bump into each other and make a spark of some sort. I have cases for all of my batteries both Camera and Gopro. In my checked luggage I'll have a backup body and one lens and my tripod. I have a small travel tripod that will fit into my checked luggage barely.
I will have in my carry on backpack also my iPad mini an external hard drive and my RAV-Power file hub. I will have an 10000mah back up battery also to charge cell phone and such. All electronics larger than a cell phone will have to be taken out of your bag and placed in a bin and go through x-ray machine separately. The way my bag is made I can take out the camera and lenses out all at once with the removable organizer and put into a bin then I just need to place my iPad and external battery in. Hopefully this will work. We'll see. Other things that you will have to separate out of your carry on is any liquids. All liquids must fit into a Quart Zip Lock bag and cannot be over three ounces. They have a 3-1-1 rule. No more than 3oz. containers that will fit into 1 quart zip lock bag per 1 traveler. Any liquid larger will have to be in checked luggage. Then also your shoes and belt will have to
go into the bin.
Checked Luggage
As I said before my backup body and a lens and tripod will be in this bag. Of course all my clothes and extra liquids. Also extra shoes, trekking pole, hip belt strap for my camera bag, and a 2 liter water bladder. This bag is scanned and can be inspected by TSA. If they do inspect they will leave a card in your bag saying it was inspected. Only TSA approved locks can be used that have a universal master key that they can use to open the bag and inspect. Only about 10% of bags get inspected.
Identification-New rules about Identification were suppose to be in effect but due to the Covid pandemic this rule has been pushed back to 2023. It would say that your ID issued by the sate like your drivers license will be The REAL ID cards. Or Federal Government ID cards will get you
into places like airports and federal buildings. Me being retired military It doesn't effect me much but the next time I get my license renewed I'll get the REAL ID with it.
Whats not allowed? Well there are lot of stuff but basically nothing sharp or things that could harm someone. You can Check with TSA on exactly what you can bring or not bring.
If you plan ahead and do some research you can avoid fumbling around and make the security screening process not too bad. Make sure you check with the airlines your flying on what size weight of the things you are bringing on the airplane. Because there are weight and size restrictions on what you can bring. The big message here is to plan , plan , plan. So enjoy your next trip and get outside and shoot!
