So, Lucy came across a post by another photographer, Janice Yi and how she manages to pack light for trips. I thought that it was an interesting topic as I have been looking at ways to pack smarter for trips.

As Janice mentions, packing light for travel is easier said than done, especially for a photographer. I remember how I totally overdid it on one of my first trips to Asia. Not only did I have a large check in luggage for clothing, I also brought a large backpack for my laptop, DSLR, and 3 big lenses along with flash. And, you know what? Having the equipment with me became such a hassle and affected my enjoyment of the trip itself. The camera wound up staying at the hotel simply because it was such a pain carrying everything around. I would like to think that I have gotten wiser since then when it comes to packing for trips. So, this is going to be a quick post on what I packed on my 24 day honeymoon, here we go.

So, the default travel kit for me is a backpack that I can use as a day pack and a 4 wheel carry on sized roller. Lucy and I typically share one so thanks to my friend Ron for lending me his roller. There is much debate about using a roller or a big back pack. For me, I swear by the roller, it’s much easier on the back and as long as you keep the case small, it’s fine going through turnstiles and gates, the 4 wheel is also key for this.

Other than the clothing I have on currently, this is the clothing I have in a packing cube. Although not as cold as it is back home now, it does get a little chilly here in Europe. So, I kept layering in mind. If I needed to (thankfully not) I could wear up to 6 layers, which includes 2 jackets. The other bag is for toiletries. The trick (which I have not properly demonstrated in the photo) is to roll the clothing rather than folding.

When it comes to equipment,  this is where I usually have a tougher time to decide, I was originally going to pack the following:

If you take the flash and the transmitter away, it’s a pretty minimalistic kit no? Well, in the end I took the following.

The biggest change is that I decided to take my macbook air instead of my tablet. Call me old school but as much as I like using a tablet, I find it limiting when it comes to content creation and browsing quickly. I have not fully embraced the concept of having a separate app for everything, including websites and those of you who know me, know that I am a tab hoarder. As I am writing this blog post I have 15 tabs open! So when it comes to browsing, it’s just better on a laptop for me. Hopefully this will change when the tech becomes better.

I usually bring a card reader on trips, but this time I bought the Transcend Wifi SD card. Why? For Instagram of course!!! With this, I can easily access the photos from my Fuji x100s on my iphone!! The added benefit is that I can also transfer them to my laptop wirelessly for blog posts. With that said, the latter is not the best solution. Still toying with it to get better results.

The flash and the transmitter, is not something that I plan on bringing to every vacation. It’s just something  that I have been meaning to play with. Without being too technical, it just lets me have a flash in one spot while letting me shoot somewhere else. I have not used it as much as I would like but it has come in handy a few times.

Lastly, this is something that I bring that is apparently surprising to some of my friends. Tell me if I am being weird. So every time I travel somewhere that that requires an international power plug, I bring one all in one adapter and a power bar from home. As you can see already, I bring quite a bit of tech with me, all of which needs to be powered so a power bar is a perfect way to ensure that everyone gets to power their devices all together.  

In any case, I hope this has been informative and maybe a inspiring for you to pack less on your honeymoon or next getaway. Let me know if you have any packing or travel hacks! Have a great weekend!