Packing for lots of travel

[Mhabrow]

I'm going to be on a show for almost 6 months, alternating travel and shoot days, with flights every week.

 

I was curious what packing solutions are out there. Currently for small travel shows I have a lowepro dslr backpack which I find sufficient for mics, transmitters, cables, tapes etc. and a pelican 1510 for my 552 mixer ( but the 664 is just too big to put it in sideways, which i have now) and a long case for boom and stand.

 

Usually I strip my mixer for travel and always carry-on, but I want to limit the amount of tear downs I have to do.

[studiomprd]

Hello, and welcome mhabrow: " a pelican 1510 for my 552 mixer "

I guess you might want a bigger case..?

there are lots to choose from...

[Mhabrow]

I've thought about it, but I couldn't find anything hard case that was carry on compliant

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[Max Hirtenstein]

i throw my mix bag under the seat and all the other expensive bits go in a 1510 in the overhead compartment

[Mhabrow]

i throw my mix bag under the seat and all the other expensive bits go in a 1510 in the overhead compartment

I always get weird looks when my mixer is out in an airport, especially in smaller rural ones, I try to keep it inside a case.

 

I work for MBC occasionally ( middle eastern broadcast company) and people tend to judge a book by its cover, especially when that book is a white guy with a metal box with antennas coming out of it surrounded by a crowd of people speaking Arabic

[Constantin]

Well, I've travelled with cameramen before who had their camera on the plane as a carry-on. Without any case or bag. So why not a mixer?

Anyway, nowadays I'll take my bag completely set-up and ready to go as carry-on plus all Np-1 batteries which can't be checked. Everything else I put into a Samsonite standard travel hardcase. It's sturdy enough. I have a packed backbag in there to which I'll add the batteries once we have arrived. The Rycote WS-4 is in there too. The suitcase also holds my boom, Ambient QX560. Quick to psck and unpack and ready to go in minutes

[studiomprd]

mhabrow: " hard case that was carry on compliant "

hard case & check it them --at production's expense

of course production also covers insurance.

for carrying on, soft cases are more appropriate

 

-- sent from one of my personal computing devices, using a web browsing program...

  can you tell which ones..?

[Max Hirtenstein]

I always get weird looks when my mixer is out in an airport, especially in smaller rural ones, I try to keep it inside a case.

 

I work for MBC occasionally ( middle eastern broadcast company) and people tend to judge a book by its cover, especially when that book is a white guy with a metal box with antennas coming out of it surrounded by a crowd of people speaking Arabic

forgot to mention my dead simple workaround- black backpack rain cover over the whole mix bag. much less suspicious.

[Rob Lewis]

Airlines are cracking down on carry on size. If it has wheels like the 1510, there is a good chance you will have to gate check it(no biggie). I carry my rig on. The only breakdown I do is take the antennas off the receivers.

I have a black backpackers rain cover, Small size I believe that acts as a wrap for the rig. Its plain and does not draw attention, because the camera snake and all external Cables are all tucked inside it. No one knows what it is. Looks like a bag with a shoulder strap.

[Wandering Ear]

I usually carry my bag on with a carry on pelican for batteries, tx, mics, and check the rest. I like to have at least the bare minimum of gear needed to shoot carried on in case my luggage is delayed or lost. Insurance will pay for it, but not get the shoot done.

[Max Hirtenstein]

I usually carry my bag on with a carry on pelican for batteries, tx, mics, and check the rest. I like to have at least the bare minimum of gear needed to shoot carried on in case my luggage is delayed or lost. Insurance will pay for it, but not get the shoot done.

exactly, i bought a ktek travel boom that fits perfectly in a 1510 for just this reason. 

[codyman]

I've never been on the road that long before, but what I've done in the past is:

Carry On:

* Mixing bag built (but covered to protect) as my overhead bag

* Backpack (forget the brand) that has compartments usually for camera stuff but this is where I put mics, batteries and such

Checked:

* Big suitcase for my personal items alongside backup gear / misc cables / things that if were lost, I could still soldier on without

 

I like to make sure that I have a kit with me that I carry onto the plane and if worse case scenario happened and my checked bag got lost, I could still roll sound at my destination.  It's getting tougher and tougher to do this now though that these airlines are nickeling and dime'ing everyone with carry on sizes and all the goofy things they're doing.

[Boomboom]

What I personnally use for air travel is pictured in that older thread:

I check the sound bag with all the cables and BDS system rigged in the bag (but have a spare kit in carry-on) and I keep all the expensive parts with me. For long trips I have a 12' pole in a big case checked in the plane but still carry a very short one with me. Bottom line: if they lost my checked stuff, I'd be able to start the show with workarounds for a day.

You'll find quite a bunch of info about that subject on this forum (As I realized trying to dig out that old thread)

Cheers and enjoy your journey!

[videomantis]

I wrote two blogs relating to travel that might help you. Pardon the construction on the website...

You can find part 2 on this site as well from that page!

http://www.videomantis.com/travel-gigs-part-1/

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[Lhunfeld]

Definitely thinktank airport security (v2). It's the only carry on that fits my Aaton cantar + receivers. Next to that enough space for some cables, np1, transmitters, ifb etc

[Larry Andrews]

Carry-on luggage dimensions are well stated, but compliance with that requirement does not mean they will allow you to carry the case on the aircraft - at least in the passenger compartment.  The smaller regional jets are the ones where they have given me the most trouble.  

 

Checked luggage is subject to search when it is out of your sight.  Things go missing from checked luggage from time to time. Additionally, it is handled very roughly.  Possibly some of you may have seen the documentary done by American Tourister a few years back wherein they exposed the fact that it was actual gorillas that tossed the luggage around when out of sight.  

 

Checking expensive items such as a Lectro 411 and the lapel transmitter offers opportunities to lose them.  Photographers who travel have the same problem.  The last time I traveled, they tried to separate me from my Nikon D800E, 70-200mm, 35-70mm and 16-35mm lenses.  They told me to check my legal sized carry-on at the gate.  I walked down the gate way, slipped past the crowd of people checking luggage and managed to get it on the plane with the case.  I found that they were correct; it would not fit in the overhead.  Fortunately, I managed to get it most of it under the seat in front of me.  I had to place one foot along side the case and the other foot on top of it. 

 

The area for opportunity is our clothing.  We can carry whatever fits in our pockets.  Many photographers who travel wear a Domke photo vest on the plane. The numerous huge pockets will be empty if the carry-on case gets through.  But, if airline personnel will not allow the carry-on aboard, the lenses and other expensive and/or fragile items are transferred to the pockets of the vest.  The camera and one lens may on a neck strap. 

 

A Domke photo vest, or a similar correspondent's vest might offer a partial solution for some of you.  Its a good place to carry your tickets and passport.

[Jim Feeley]

 

 

The area for opportunity is our clothing.  We can carry whatever fits in our pockets.  Many photographers who travel wear a Domke photo vest on the plane. The numerous huge pockets will be empty if the carry-on case gets through.  But, if airline personnel will not allow the carry-on aboard, the lenses and other expensive and/or fragile items are transferred to the pockets of the vest.  The camera and one lens may on a neck strap. 

 

Well that's an interesting idea. Thanks. Though it might take a couple minutes to convince TSA you're not a bomb.

 

[johnpaul215]

Dealing with half your kit as carry-on every week for 6 months might get pretty old. That said, I have carried on my Nomad in the bag with the receivers and transmitters in the bag. The expensive essentials. TSA wasn't phased by it. Of the last 6 flights I made, only one got an inspection beyond X-Ray. This was all inside the US though. Not sure where you are going. 

Do you really need a 664? The thing is a beast. A 633 or Maxx would fit in a 1510, and would pay for itself on a 6 month shoot..... and your body would be happier. 

Another thing, those 1510 cases are not always valid carry-on if you end up on a small plane. If you are going to tiny airports, that might be an issue. 

[Martin Kittappa]

If you use the Lav bullet, then don't do what I just did and forget to put it in your check on. I put my Leatherman, screw drivers etc in my check in, but I just forgot that the lav bullet was in a little pouch on my mix bag with my expendables. 

 

Because of this, I recently had the unpleasant experience where TSA in the interests of security, made me take apart my entire rig so that they could scan them all the components individually. I asked that they just take the rig as whole to the swab machine, but no dice. They insisted that all wireless receivers and transmitters, my comtek transmitter, everything had to be unconnected and scanned individually.   resulting in grumpy people in the security line behind me, and a half hour rebuild of the ENG rig at the airport.

 

Not only that I spent ten minutes having to explain to the supervisor that the lav bullet is only a weight to help with mic chords. At least they decided not to confiscate it. I don't know wether that day that particular TSA agent was just being difficult or wether the lav bullet kicked him into security overdrive, but lesson learned for future travels

[fieldmixer]

"TSA, in the interest of keeping themselves busy" that should read.

[chris_bollard]

Dealing with half your kit as carry-on every week for 6 months might get pretty old.

That's why I pack everything in pelican cases now. Better that than turning up to find its a smaller plane than advised and finding your kit doesn't fit in the overhead.