Taking a camera travelling advice...

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supersammy

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Right - I've come to a cross roads in my life. No longer have a wife, and am young enough to do something silly. So have decided to spend £15k travelling for anywhere between 3-6 months. I know that is short change in comparison to what many of you spend on camera kit, but should be enough to have an amazing time.

So the question is, what is the protocol with taking a camera. Obiviously there is a weight issue, but what I really wanted to know was:

1) Will they try and charge me VAT when I come back or between countries?

2) Have any of you had any problems carrying bulky DSLR's with big lenses aborad? I'm thinking about going to the USA and also all over Asia and Africa.

3) Any other advice you can think to throw at me.
 
This falls under number 3... But take a change of clothes, undergarments, and any necessity items on the flight as carry on or in your carry on... That way you're covered for one to two days if your bags go missing :)
 
StephyB said:
This falls under number 3... But take a change of clothes, undergarments, and any necessity items on the flight as carry on or in your carry on... That way you're covered for one to two days if your bags go missing :)
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I think after 6 years in the army, and three tours I am covered in that sense. But thanks :)

And by that I mean I'm used to being a filthy tramp.
 
Carrying heavy items onto the plane: Buy a bag that fits all your gear, but is small enough to get into the hand baggage size check trolly things... then just practice carrying, lifting and handling it as if it weighs nothing and no one will question it.

VAT? Why should they? They'll only do that if you buy it overseas. I'm assuming you're talking about taking gear you already own... so no, of course they can't charge you VAT. You've already paid it. If you plan on buying gear over there, then yes, it's liable to VAT upon return, and import duty. If you have already owned it for months out there though, how will they know unless you declare it? It will just be a camera bag with your gear in it... gear that's months old. If you try and bring it back in it's original boxes, then yes, you'll get clobbered for VAT and duty.
 
supersammy said:
I think after 6 years in the army, and three tours I am covered in that sense. But thanks :)

And by that I mean I'm used to being a filthy tramp.
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:lol: no offence intended! And I see your point, found that the majority of people don't think of that... :)
 
StephyB said:
:lol: no offence intended! And I see your point, found that the majority of people don't think of that... :)
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You're right... I never think of that. :) Guess I've been lucky so far. I get told this time and time again... but end up adding another lens where I could easily squash a few pairs of socks and a spare pair of undies.
 
supersammy said:
So have decided to spend £15k travelling for anywhere between 3-6 months. I know that is short change in comparison to what many of you spend on camera kit.
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Short change? It's about £14,000 more than I have ever spent!


Steve.
 
I've never had issues travelling to these. I was concerned about Africa as both us were lugging two bodies and 3-4 lenses but they didn't even blink. Only thing I found odd was China, where you have to remove your camera from your bag to go through security each time. I have found since travelling with a camera backpack it doesn't tend to get searched or swabbed every time at security.

Advice wise, take plenty of CF cards, and if you can someway to back them up, even to SD cards given their price and store them somewhere else. And a few spare clothes as has been said.
 
Backups. That's all. I had pretty much all my kit nabbed from a locked locker in LA today, all my photos and video are safe cos they're all on hard drives in rugged cases, buried in each bag that I've got with me. Now just a job for my insurer.
 
Make sure you keep your baggage (both hold and hand) within size and weight allowances. Contrary to advice given above, some do check handbaggage weights and make you get it below their limit. It's fairly easy to get the bag through - take a couple of heavy lenses out and put them in a fleece pocket while they reweigh the bag then shove 'em back in after the weighing! On the subject of that fleece, get a cheap one to wear before/during/after flights. So many times we've seen people get off their flight from warmer, sunny climes in T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops in the pouring rain and cold! The fleece won't keep you dry but you may well be glad of the warmth... It can make a handy pillow or blanket during the flight too.

Take a photocopy of all your kit receipts just in case. Obey any signs that prohibit photography - some places, the police etc carry (and use) firearms.

If you're going to be travelling in a fairly civilised manner rather than roughing it all the time, keep transferring your photos to some form of backup - an external HDD is a good idea and take some trusted optical disks too - you should be able to blag some computer time to do the transfers and burn some backup disks. Might be worth burning 2 copies and posting one copy home - overkill? Maybe but that's better than losing 4GB of photos! As suggested above, take loads of memory cards - while they're not free, they're cheaper than doing the trip again to try and capture the moment you missed! Check card prices in places you plan to visit - you might save a few quid but (as always) beware of fakes!

Remember that you don't have to snap everything - brain memories are as important as photographs (and when you get back, whittle the selection for public consumption down as far as possible. It was bad enough in film days to be subjected to people's holiday snaps and there tended to be less than 100 of them!)

Most importantly, have a fantastic time!
 
Oh yes, as the guy above me said.... Don't live through the lens. Key rule. Enjoy it and don't stress about pictures.
 
Icelandic air loves weighing hand baggage (and let me on with 9-10kg), never had issues with anyone else but taking out the camera and using pockets can be a good plan - any kind of walking trousers with a ton of pockets that doesn't take a week to dry like jeans is a good bet.

Most airlines also give you a bit of leeway on check-ins. Air NZ summed it up best, we say 20kg, we allow 23kg, and above that we charge for amount - 20kg. ie: 23kg is fine but 24kg will be a 4kg charge. That said I've gone through other airlines on 25kg without them batting an eyelid.
 
Never had any problems with taking a camera abroad or returning. What I do is have a camera bag which goes as hand baggage in the cabin. Yes it goes through the ex-ray machine or physically checked.
Anything that looks new just take a copy or a receipt of purchase incase your worried but as I said I have never had any problems and I have been to china-america (several times)- egypt- brazil- and several european countries all without being questioned about my camera gear.

My advise is respect what you are allowed and not allowed to photograph in any country, if in doubt and can't talk to anyone due to language problems, all I do is point to the camera and then to what I want to photograph, then give a thumbs up. You either get a nod or shake of the head or a hand wave denoting yes or no. The universal language of signs works well . Usually a handshake acknowledging the response goes a long way.

In Egypt some idiot tried to take a photo where signs clearly said no photographs, he was quickly arrested and marched at gunpoint to a room. They have 3 types of police force there, military police- civil police and tourist police who mix in with the crowds and it was the latter that grabbed this guy. So DO check if in doubt is the best advise I can give

Realspeed
 
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supersammy said:
Right - I've come to a cross roads in my life. No longer have a wife, and am young enough to do something silly. So have decided to spend £15k travelling for anywhere between 3-6 months. I know that is short change in comparison to what many of you spend on camera kit, but should be enough to have an amazing time.

So the question is, what is the protocol with taking a camera. Obiviously there is a weight issue, but what I really wanted to know was:

1) Will they try and charge me VAT when I come back or between countries?

2) Have any of you had any problems carrying bulky DSLR's with big lenses aborad? I'm thinking about going to the USA and also all over Asia and Africa.

3) Any other advice you can think to throw at me.
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All I'm going to say is go for it, the beauty of travel is that you can leave all responsibilities behind. If you have come to a point in your life where you want to go out and see the world, take it and run with it. If you want to see Asia you could do 6 months for around £5k easily inc flights (I did 5.5months for just over £3k). Obviously Europe and the US would be much more expensive but £30 a day would see you comfortable in much of Eastern Europe and North Africa.

From all my travel experience I have never had an issue with VAT/Import duty. It's possibly because my kit doesn't look mint condition. If you are really worried about it, it doesn't cause any harm to photocopy the receipts and keep them with you insurance docs etc

The only problems you will have with carrying big lenses is weight limits in your hand luggage and extra weight when you are exploring. I would say try and restrict your camera gear to no more than 8-9kg if you are looking to travel across continents by land. Speaking from experience anything more will just end up left in the hotel.

Last piece of advice is to enjoy it. The best part about travel is meeting people and engaging into cultures you may never have the chance too again. Take your time and don't try and rush, be flexible and allow your itinerary to change with your moods. If you like a place, stay and enjoy it, don't just move on because you have too.

Finally don't go out looking for experiences whilst travelling, all the best experiences I have had when travelling have come about from chance happenings and these are the most organic and the ones you will remember for the rest of your life
 
jacob12_1993 said:
From all my travel experience I have never had an issue with VAT/Import duty. It's possibly because my kit doesn't look mint condition. If you are really worried about it, it doesn't cause any harm to photocopy the receipts and keep them with you insurance docs etc
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I've mentioned before that I had a problem with Peru - there's a limit of one camera per visitor.

I had a long night in customs after a very long flight. Even longer when I tried to leave (briefly I paid a bond for the extra camera to be refunded on exit. It seemed like nobody had ever tried to get a bond repaid before.)

@Dave - srsly? You were robbed in LA? Sucks :(( I do what you do - everything goes on a small 2.5 drive that goes in a couple of plastic bags inside a zipped pocket that's on me all the time. Even in London ;)
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've mentioned before that I had a problem with Peru - there's a limit of one camera per visitor.

I had a long night in customs after a very long flight. Even longer when I tried to leave (briefly I paid a bond for the extra camera to be refunded on exit. It seemed like nobody had ever tried to get a bond repaid before.)

@Dave - srsly? You were robbed in LA? Sucks :(( I do what you do - everything goes on a small 2.5 drive that goes in a couple of plastic bags inside a zipped pocket that's on me all the time. Even in London ;)
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Yeah forgot to mention that there are country by country regulations. Not just on cameras too, Chinese customs are hot on your carrying water for some crazy reason!

Oh and yeah carry all your photos on two hard drives but keep them separately in different locations. Also if you can take a small net book to transfer images, Internet cafes in Asia are either riddled with virus, slow and useless or don't work at all!
 
Take more memory cards than you'll ever think you'll need. Depending upon where you're travelling, some out of the way places will look at you like you're insane if you want to buy anything bigger than 512mb...
 
jacob12_1993 said:
The only problems you will have with carrying big lenses is weight limits in your hand luggage and extra weight when you are exploring.
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One little addition to that, if you're carrying a camera bag that's just within the general allowed size for hand luggage (55x45x25cm I think) then just be aware that it might not actually fit in the cabin of certain aircraft. If you're on a widebody or mid-size plane like an A320 or 737 then you're absolutely fine but if you're hopping around slightly more out of the way places that operate smaller prop aircraft then a big bag probably won't fit in the overhead bins or fit under the seat in front. In these circumstances they usually put your bag in the hold on top of the already loaded main luggage and give you it back at the end of the flight as you disembark. This sounds bad but I've done it countless times and it's never been a problem but if you're a little paranoid about putting your gear in the hold it might be worth trying to avoid routes with tiny planes or take absolutely the smallest bag you can get away with. :)
 
I travel a fair bit. I think it was six foreign trips last year. Rule One for me is:

Don't take more than you need.

Usually, I take a FF body, 24-105, 70-200, fast 50mm prime, flash. That's it, kit -wise. Batteries, cards, chargers, lap-top, portable HD. That all fits into a back-pack and comes in under the weight for most airlines. Remember that allowances vary. Check all of the ones you'll be using, and pack for the smallest/lightest allowance. Unless you have some must-shoot that can only be done with a 400 f/2.8, don't bother to take it. I almost never take a tripod. While everything valuable and fragile fits in the pack, I don't want to haul that around all the time, so I take a smaller day pack that travels in my hold bag (you can fill it with socks and knickers so it won't take up much space). I can leave a lot back in the hotel or locker and only carry what I need for that day.
 
I think it was Peru or maybe Ecuador who have a crazy form prohibiting more than 10 memory cards too. I used to backup SD to SD before it went netbook/tablet and had quite a few.

On taking photos of people this can be a big no-no in many places. South America they'll want paying, Africa the same except the police/military who will at best force you to delete it, they're more likely to destroy the card/camera. Bear in mind the traffic police have AKs in Kenya..
 
The world ain't all puppies and kittens, but I suspect the OP knows that already.

Personally, given the cash I would buy a camera that doesn't look expensive (like the Fuji X100), but still gets decent images. Maybe tape it up a bit, make it look like a pile of ancient cr4p. This on top of the advice of memory cards and backups......
Remember there are countries where your camera is worth more than your life.
 
^^^
This is wise advice.
 
Lyonspride said:
Remember there are countries where your camera is worth more than your life.
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...and from my experience it is these countries where you are least likely to encounter problems, there is probably just as much (maybe more) risk of being mugged in London than say the capital of any country in SE Asia. Not to say you won't get mugged but the amount of tourists with DSLRs on the beaten tourist trails of the world mean it is very unlikely you will stand out at all.
 
Nod said:
Contrary to advice given above, some do check handbaggage weights and make you get it below their limit. It's fairly easy to get the bag through - take a couple of heavy lenses out and put them in a fleece pocket while they reweigh the bag then shove 'em back in after the weighing!
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I have done this many times with Easyjet.
 
jacob12_1993 said:
...and from my experience it is these countries where you are least likely to encounter problems, there is probably just as much (maybe more) risk of being mugged in London than say the capital of any country in SE Asia. Not to say you won't get mugged but the amount of tourists with DSLRs on the beaten tourist trails of the world mean it is very unlikely you will stand out at all.
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I have lived in the UK all my life and have never known anyone get mugged/robbed in the street. Not saying it dosent happen but I do not know personally anyone it has happened to.
But Saigon and Phnom Penh I know quite a few people it has happened to. You just have to be very aware when you are in SEA as it does seem very safe once you first get over the culture shock but as nice as these people are there are plenty of them that will try and rip you off or rob you. My girlfriends parents are both from Saigon and they would tell you exactly the same thing.
 
JonathanRyan said:
@Dave - srsly? You were robbed in LA? Sucks :(( I do what you do - everything goes on a small 2.5 drive that goes in a couple of plastic bags inside a zipped pocket that's on me all the time. Even in London ;)
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Yup, a guy checked into the hostel with what we assume was a stolen or fake passport, and cleared out three lockers somehow, mine included. D800, 5 lenses, iPad, MacBook pro and passport. Not ideal, to say the least...

These things happen - but make sure you've got good insurance, and make sure that you will always have access to money, and your data backed up securely, and if something does happen, you can sleep just that bit easier.
 
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From sorry personal experience, don't forget your battery charger!
 
WilliamC said:
From sorry personal experience, don't forget your battery charger!
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Possibly the best advice so far!

If taking more than one battery powered device, consider a universal charger like the Hahnel UniPal plus (which will charge almost any LiIon rechargeable pack of 4.2V or 8.4V or a pair of AA(A) cells.)
 
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