International travel with your gear

[brucelee]

Has anyone here done any traveling abroad with your gear, including tripod? I am going on a Summer Semester Abroad in May and will be flying to South America (Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina) for 2 weeks and am trying to figure out what to expect. I am already planning on carrying my bag as carry on because I am paranoid about other people handling my stuff. Anything I need to be particularly careful about?

[kelly andersen]

When I fly my gear is with me, I never check anything but clothes. It's next to impossible to collect on airline insurance and they treat everything like a football, you can buy new clothes but try to buy new gear if something happens to it at the airlines, I dont have that kind of money.

[DragRacingTV.com]

be sure and check the regulations for carrying batteries.

[OUTLAW PHOTO]

Havn't flown since 9-11, : ( the last time I did, they x-rayed my 70-200 and thought it was a bomb, almost shut down the whole friggin terminal. I'll never forget it.

[BC3xx0]

Down there they shouldn't bother you to much about it. Just play the part of a student abroad who has a bunch of camera stuff, and not a professional photographer. I have done quite a bit of international travel where I had to carry tools and rarely got any question and it was odvious that I was there to work. If you have an absolute ton of equipment (if you can carry it on then it can't be what I would consider a ton), the worst thing they can do is make you buy a work permit.

Canada was the hardest country to get into for me.

[brucelee]

Down there they shouldn't bother you to much about it. Just play the part of a student abroad who has a bunch of camera stuff, and not a professional photographer. I have done quite a bit of international travel where I had to carry tools and rarely got any question and it was odvious that I was there to work. If you have an absolute ton of equipment (if you can carry it on then it can't be what I would consider a ton), the worst thing they can do is make you buy a work permit.

Canada was the hardest country to get into for me.

It definately is NOT a ton. Every bit of it fits in a LowePro back pack. I will be getting atleast 1 more lense, hopefully 2, before I leave.

The thing I am most concerned about is trying to figure out what to do about the tripod. The backpack has straps on it to attach the tripod to but I didn't know if they would allow me to just carry it in the open like that, or if it was even a good idea, or if I need to pack it with my clothes.

I will check into the batteries as soon as I know what airline we are flying on.

[BC3xx0]

I pretty much had the same set up. I was able to get on a few planes with the tripod as a carry on, then one time on the return trip from st louis they wouldn't let me carry on. I just put it in the suit case from that point on so I wouldn't have to go through the TSA flavor of the day rules anymore!

[brucelee]

I pretty much had the same set up. I was able to get on a few planes with the tripod as a carry on, then one time on the return trip from st louis they wouldn't let me carry on. I just put it in the suit case from that point on so I wouldn't have to go through the TSA flavor of the day rules anymore!


That's probably what I will do. I was just wondering about other peoples experiences. I will actually be toting 2 bags; one will be a book bag with laptop and other crap I need for my "classes" the other will be my camera gear, THEN my checked luggage. I sound worse than some women.