Airlines Adventures 2007, Tips for the Traveler
A photojournalist friend of mine who travels quite frequently advises:
(1) Carry on ALL valuable camera and computer gear, that will allow you to shoot the assignment, should your luggage wind up in No-where land,
(2) Wear a big coat with lots of pockets. Airlines (US domestic) can limit you to one carry on and a personal bag, but they cannot limit what you wear on your body. My NorthFace jacket will hold many pounds of small items in its many pockets. (This tip can help with getting stuff through security lines also, since you have to take off your jacket for x-rays).
(3) get to the flight early and don't be the last one to board, all the over head bins will be full causing you much misery,
(4) know your rights should your baggage be delayed for several hours or days, check the airline websites for their policies,
(5) check out sites like: www.flyertalk.com, where you can learn from the road warriors and hear them complain in chorus(!),
(6) don't forget the iPod and a paperback book, and your sense of humor...
Share your tips here...
Re: insurance
Speaking about insurance, Premier Class just signed up as a sponsor, so they might be worth checking out as they are obviously interested in our industry... (I have no experience with this company!)
Re: Airlines Adventures 2007, Tips for the Traveler
All this talk about loss equipment, got me looking into insurance options. I plan to start a small home business and will definitely need insurance. It seems companies like The Hartford have AARP Home Business Insurance Plan or Allied Insurance, a member of Nationwide Insurance offers a Home Enterprise Program. These plans include; Business Liability Protection, Business Property, Unlimited Income and Relocation Expenses and even Protection for Valuable Papers. The other options are; Commercial Inland Marine Policies which seem to come with membership to PPA or NANPA and All-Risk Personal Article Floater that are replacement policies. Obviously, you can't always get what you want but, can I get just what I need? Bottom line I have about $5000 (Nikon D200 +)in off-site assets and about $8000 (workstation, printer & software) on-site. Any suggestions on how to stay operational no matter what may occur?
Devlin
Re: Airlines Adventures 2007, Tips for the Traveler
Hello all,
well, I believe it's the data that needs most attention. These days I shot digital only and work with MacbookPro (just can't sit still long enough for a desktop machine ;-)
On the subject of staying operational:
Personally I do not belief in insurances. They either do not pay or it takes ages (which is as bad).
So I would always keep that much money accessible that I need to buy the gear to run my business (if only on a reduced level).
If that's not possible, make sure you know where the next reliable rental house is, well, the next three actually (in case the gear you need so desperately is not available). But don't forget to put aside the money for the deposit (or have a CreditCard with sufficient limit)
My backup strategy:
- Store backups at (at least) two different locations (bank vault, parent's house, ... ) and replace/add to them in very short intervals.
- My current projects will also be stored online (use a special folder that gets copied automatically onto your server whenever something changes)
- As I travel with my MacbookPro the whole internal drive will be cloned to an external 2.5" drive regulary (but always before I travel). Besides having yet another backup, I can also boot from the external -just in case.
- I have enugh smaller cards on me to cover the whole project. The cards from the camera will be copied to a hard drive as soon as possible and not be formatted until there are at least three copies at various locations.
Sounds complicated but can be fully automated (again, use special "watched" folders that automatically copy the contents to the location you desire: External HD, burn DVD, upload automatically the next time you're online).
On travelling:
- I make it a habit to fit everything I will need in a bag that I can take onbard (MacbookPro, ext. HDs, Camera, 2 Lenses, a small VR head, Gitzo Traveller tripod - fits all nicely in a bag no flight attendant will complain about). Depending on the time of arrival (and location) only the basic personal stuff will be carried onboard. Lost clothes, etc. can all be bought elsewhere when the rest of the luggage (if any) gets lost.
- I find out in advance if there are any rental houses for camera/lens/computer gear at the location (in case something needs to be replaced). Or at least if here a post office or other facility where an overnight shipment can be received.
It all sounds far more time consuming than it actually is - belief me.
Just my 2 (euro-)cents
chris
Re: Airlines Adventures 2007, Tips for the Traveler
What a great subject to discuss here. I have been traveling a lot in the past 6 months and I aggree 100 percent. When I travel with just my pano gear I have a LowePro back pack that fits under the seat and I also have a rolling case that fits in the overhead bins that contains my computer and additional gear like drives, lenses, 2nd pano head and other stuff. I check one bag that has my clothes and tripod wraped up in padding. Now when I travel shooting both Panos and Video it becomes a bigger pain in the butt. I carry on both cameras, video camera with lens in a bag and my pano computer gear in the rolling bag. I check 3-4 other bags and bill the excess bagage charge to my client.
Of the extra bags I have my
1) clothes
2) video tripod case and a few other long thingys
3) misc. video gear and a LCD monitor
4) lighting stuff, small kit for shooting interviews and grip gear.
The down side to traveling these days is trying to get insurance to cover your gear. I recently tried to get some equipment insurance just to cover theft and loss but every broker I talked to had this tied to a large package that included Liability, car, office and misc coverage but these packages are from $1500-4000 USD. Mike did suggest an insurance package from the News Photographers Assoc. I may do this in the near future.
Cheers
Robert C. Fisher
QTVR Photography/Cinematography