How do you take your gear with you on vacation?

With a vacation comming up ahead, i started wondering how to take my gear with me. I have everything listed in my sig in a standard tamrac backpack. But i know how the personnel and machinery at the airport handle checked in luggage. I've seen them loading a plane before, just throwing and shoving the bagage in and trough the plane.

Should i take it with me as handbagage? Is that allowed?

When I go on holiday, I take all my gear in a Lowepro backpack with no problems. I don't understand why you should ask 'is it allowed'?

Definitely hand bagage. I don't know your rucksack, but as long as it fits withing the size regulations, you should be fine.

Your kit at the moment looks like what I'd take too. Chuck them into a camera bag and carry it on, shouldn't have any issues.

Never check your camera equipment. My rule is that the camera gear goes where I go.

Most US domestic flights allow one carryon item and one personal item. Last month, I took my gear in my new LowePro ProRunner 300 backpack and had no issues at all going through security.

http://products.lowepr​o.com …unner%20300%20A​W,2182.htm

Somewhat relatedly, since US airlines have started charging for checked baggage, many people are carrying larger and larger carry-on bags to avoid the fees. Turns out that these larger bags take up more space in the overhead compartments on many of the planes, so fewer of the bags can be put there. My advice is to try to get on the plane earlier in the boarding process so you will have an opportunity to store your gear overhead instead of under the seat in front of you.

Travel first class, you get a greater carry on allowance, and better food

I work at the airport (not for the airline). I would never, ever, never ever.... again NEVER EVER check in my camera gear even if it were in my Pelican case! Not only are the bags treated like a bag of trash, but there are many thieves that handle those bags!!

Instead I carry all my gear on board and it stays with me 100% of the time! Well, not all because it will not all fit in my backpack.

I don't even like taking my 70-200 f/2.8L IS on trips because I don't trust people & don't feel comfortable in foreign places. With that being said, I will be carrying my 50Dw/10-22mm & 450Dw/50mm or 18-55mm to Puerto Rico in the near future with my newly purchased Cotton Carrier (in the mail as of now). I am most likely going to leave the battery grips at home as well for lighter weight & to avoid looking like the gear is that expensive.

BTW: Nice looking Photostream!

JJD.Photography wrote in post #10316642
I don't trust people & don't feel comfortable in foreign places.

This sort of thing is said so often on the forum and it always makes me laugh.

We all know that the US is the worlds safest place, especially if we watch CSI - New York, Miami & Las Vegas, Criminal Minds, Law & Order SVU, COPS, America's Dumbest Criminals and America's Hardest Prisons

Yep, take it in a backpack as carry on. Just read the policies on lithium batteries as there used to be a restriction on carrying them with you. However, that has changed I think. Maybe the rule was you couldn't carry them in the checked luggage. A moot point perhaps, but check into that. I use a Lowepro Dryzone backpack that is 100% waterproof. Depending on where you are traveling, a nice thing to have perhaps. All my gear in my signature fits into it with cleaning kit, batteries, filters, etc... Very nice, but not cheap. However, when it rains, I am not running around like a wet rat worried about my gear getting wet.

Excellent timing for this thread as I have been deliberating over this myself. I have the think tank airport carry-on bag and it is well padded and strudy. I travel to Pittsburgh regularly and only one flight is a 737 and so I usually end up on a smaller plane. The bag has the airport security lock. I take it through security and I give it to them at the entrance to the plane and I watch them put it on and it is at the doorway when I get off. I am not happy with this so yesterday I got a Domke shoulder bag that will fit under the seat. My backpacks that holds enough is a very tight sqeeze in the onverheat and too stiff and bulky for under the seat so I still take one so I have it to use during my trip. I use is as my purse with my jewelry, meds etc.

I read the battery info on the airlines website and wrap them seperately in bubble wrap. But I have gone through with them loose in a pocket in my case. No comments were made either way. I have had no problems in the US or Canada with the batteries.

No way I'd check it. I use a regular backpack and carry on. I think -- think -- I've finally learned to travel lighter so there should never be an issue with possibly having the carry on turned into checked baggage (because it's too big or takes up too much space). After a few trips in which a lot went unused, I think -- think -- I've also finally learned that I don't need all my gear, just the bare essentials.

JJD.Photography wrote in post #10316642
I work at the airport (not for the airline). I would never, ever, never ever.... again NEVER EVER check in my camera gear even if it were in my Pelican case! Not only are the bags treated like a bag of trash, but there are many thieves that handle those bags!!

I'll second that.
A few years ago a fellow photographer flew from Adelaide to Sydney.
His 400/2.8L which was in a Canon case went as checked luggage and somehow ended up in Alice Springs. That was OK. At least they knew where it was. All good.
They put the lens on the plane to be forwarded Sydney on xyz flight and this too was all good.
The plane landed in Sydney, my mate goes to pick it up but...No lens. Somewhere between Alice and Sydney (at 32000 ft) it disappeared - and was never seen again. This was nearly 10 years ago.

Ok, thank you all very much... Carry on it is... I dont fly too often, so this will be a whole new experience.

JJD.Photography wrote in post #10316642
BTW: Nice looking Photostream!

Thank you very much!

neil_r wrote in post #10316680
This sort of thing is said so often on the forum and it always makes me laugh.

We all know that the US is the worlds safest place, especially if we watch CSI - New York, Miami & Las Vegas, Criminal Minds, Law & Order SVU, COPS, America's Dumbest Criminals and America's Hardest Prisons

Well, now, wait a minute.

The specific statement, "I don't trust people & don't feel comfortable in foreign places" is not a statement about the places, it's a statement about the speaker.

My photo equipment is never placed in checked baggage for domestic or international air travel. Too much uncertainty is involved. I've always had it in a carry-on bag. This bag is either placed under a seat in front of me or an overhead bin. Over the years because of this procedure I have not have any misplaced photo equipt...never!