Traveling with your Camera Gear and Luggage Overseas by Cynthia Fleury

My goal in packing was lightweight since I would be doing my own lugging.

On the Plane

I had 3 pieces of luggage and my travel vest which carried quite a bit of equipment.

  1. Stowed- 22 ” suitcase to check
  2. Carryon 1-laptop case to carry on one of my shoulder or in my hand. See below
  3. Carryon 2- equipment backpack on my back. Intent is to carry 1 of everything so that if luggage is lost, your trip isn’t ruined. See below
  4. Wear- travel vest loaded with misc. equipment. See below.
  5. Wear- Lightweight microfiber pants with zipper pocket and pant leg. The zipper pockets are storing cash, 1 credit card , passport, health insurance card, and international phone card in the event that phone doesn’t work.
  6. Wear- Shoes with removable insoles (Merrill hiking shoes) to put an extra credit card and your debit card. Use

Travel Vest (Scottevest)

Vest that holds batteries, flash cards, one charger for each battery type, allen wrench, screwdriver, lens cloths, 3-4 lens cleaner packets, hand wipes, glasses, sunglasses, phone, nail file, chapstick, Advil, polarizers, small flashlight. (Scottevest has 17 zipped pockets for women and 22 for men. The men’s Scottevest will also hold an Ipad and the new Ipad will fit in the women’s travel vest. ) Front outside zipped pockets may be used to put a lens, lens cover, polarizers etc. The pockets on the outside also assist in changing camera lenses on the go.

Equipment (Travel Photography Only-Nature Photography requires something else)

  1. 1 main DSLR 2-3 batteries.
  2. 1 small mirrorless or 4/3 camera lightweight camera (walk-around camera for city shots) with 3-4 batteries.
  3. One of the cameras should have a telephoto lens with focal length that goes out to 300-400 mm.
  4. Wide angle lens for each camera.
  5. Macro lens unless one of the other lenses does macro work as well.
  6. Polarizers, Neutral Density Filters, Flash cards, Sensor bulb, Camera Flash.

Laptop Case

Must hold hard copy of travel documents, Ipad/tablet, travel books, 1 charger for each battery type, 1 adaptor, 1 converter, phone/ipad charger, a backup drive (Seagate portable expansion drive ), a card reader, a power strip, and a mouse if you need it.

In 22″ Suitcase (total weight 35 lbs)

Note that a light suitcase with no inner pockets such as Eagle Creek works well and is really light. Separate inserts for each type of clothing also works well (inserts REI or AAA). Roll clothing tightly and stuff in these packages/pouches and you really can fit twice as much in. Note that lightweight travel clothing should be used since it dries overnight. Cotton takes 3 days to dry.

  1. 4 days light underwear (microfiber) that dry overnight.
  2. 4 days light microfiber shirts.
  3. 2 pairs light microfiber pants with as many zipper pockets (for passport, cash, credit card, visa etc.) as possible and one with zipper leg if it gets really warm. (wear one and pack other in pouch 2 or in zipper liner.
  4. 2 pairs shoes or one pair shoes and one hiking boot. Make sure there are removable inserts in the shoes so that an additional credit card or debit card can be placed beneath. If your wallet is stolen or if one credit card doesn’t work, you have a second chance. (wear one and place second in outer pouch of suitcase).
  5. 1 sweater
  6. Rain jacket with hood
  7. 1 pair of lightweight night clothes that dry in 12 hours.
  8. Light Tripod- Feisol CT3441S with the photo clam PC36NS ball head.
  9. Toiletry pouch for shampoos, conditioners, laundry detergent, clothes line, sink plug (some sinks don’t have plugs).
  10. Small toiletry pouch for toothbrush and paste and whatever you use everyday.
  11. Electronics pouch for more chargers, converters, adapters, camera flash, A A batteries, alarm clock or (phone APP with alarm), nightlight, hairdryer, curling iron, electric shaver (guys) etc.
  12. 1 daypack that can hold 1-2 cameras, lens, water and snack.

Other items

  1. Before you go on trip, be sure to have an international phone card, travel insurance for non-refundable expenses on trip, sufficient currency to pay tips, ground transportation, carts in airport.
  2. Ipad with copies of travel documents, credit cards, insurance information, passport, drivers license, travel books, mapquests, . Also consider Apps like- Translate (written translator), Translator (talking translator), Berlitz iphrase, Around Me (tells you restaurants, gas stations etc. nearby and shows way to get there), Maps, TPE (sunrise and sunset at locations), FlyDelta, World Clock, Flashlight (converts your iphone and ipad to a flashlight),, and Dropbox for downloading files to the cloud.
  3. Use debit versus credit card to get cash to avoid high fees.

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