Travelling with a lot of gear?

[tiger82]

http://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-loss/all

 

[Don Haines]

Good luck trying that on international flights......

 

[mrzero]

Given the recent arrests of baggage handlers and TSA personnel for theft, I don't know that flagging your baggage as containing a firearm would be much help.

 

[tiger82]

Supposedly, it gets locked at TSA insistence

 

[fatmanmedi]

when I'm traveling i send all my gear via insured courier i normally send it to the hotel that i'm going to never had a problem with it.

Fats

 

[expatinasia]

when I'm traveling i send all my gear via insured courier i normally send it to the hotel that i'm going to never had a problem with it.

Fats

Fats, may I ask please, what cases you are using when you send your stuff that way? Pelican? And are you sending lenses as well that way?

Thanks.

 

[Dylan777]

Have you seen "Locked-Up-Abroad" series?

Make sure your high-end camera gear is insured. It's win-win situation

 

[fatmanmedi]

when I'm traveling i send all my gear via insured courier i normally send it to the hotel that i'm going to never had a problem with it.

Fats

Fats, may I ask please, what cases you are using when you send your stuff that way? Pelican? And are you sending lenses as well that way?

Thanks.

Ok, i first pack my gear into the bags that I'm going to use for the trip, mostly it's my four Billingham 550 bags that I use, but there are times that I have to use my two pelican 1730 cases. If it's a video shoot then I use the two pelican 1730 and the two 1660.

Once the gear is packed then the cases are then packed into double walled cardboard boxes, for the Billinghan cases the boxes are filled with polystyrene chips and silica gel packs, for the pelican cases i just use the cardboard boxes. the are then shipped via either FedEx or UPS to whatever hotel I'm using.

When I make the booking for my hotel stay I let them know that I'm sending my stuff to them via courier and to place the cases into secure holding at the hotel, so far every hotel that I have sent stuff to have worked with me on it, I've stayed at 2-5 star hotels and not one has had an issue with it.

The only luggage that i carry on is a backpack (I use an Osprey Exos 48), that contains 4 days of clothes, toiletries, my laptop and my Leica M Monochrom, Noctilux-M 50 mm f/0.95, Summilux-M 24 mm f/1.4 and my Summicron 90 mm f/2.

Big items like lights and light shaping tools i hire from local suppliers where possible, when it's not possible, I box my kit and sent it the same way as my camera gear.

In total it costs me around £200 to send my camera gear each way and an extra £150 for the lighting, not cheap but it's worked for me in the last and it's the best way to move expensive gear n the future.

My gear is valued at around £120,000, so sending this way looks expensive but is much cheaper in terms of insurance and knowing that the gear will be there when you turn up.

Hope this gives you some idea of what I do to make sure that my gear arrives safely.

Fats