The Traveling Photographer: A Cautionary Tale
I was reading through the Ultimate Travel Photography Checklist over at Single Serving Photo and it got me thinking about a travel photography mishap that happened to me last year. I wanted to share this story with you as a warning when you travel and, perhaps, get some tips from you on how I could have avoided this.
Last year, in June, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Ireland with my father and brother. On the way back from Dublin, I had a connection in London’s Heathrow Airport. I had two carry-on bags, as is customary in the US: my backpack with my laptop and my camera gear:
- Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
- Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens
- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Lens
- Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM Lens
- Canon Speedlite 580EX
- Remote wireless shutter release
- Miscellaneous accessories, filters, and cleaning equipment
A lot of stuff worth a lot of money, right?
Well, unfortunately, the European Union only allows 1 carry-on bag per person. Unless you’re a woman, of course, and you can carry a purse, too. A purse that is, of course, around the same size as my camera bag. (Sorry ladies, but this infuriates me.)
Anyway, in Dublin, they tell me I have to check one of my bags. I resist but there was nothing I could do. I decide to check the camera bag because, ultimately, my laptop (and all the information and photos on it) is more valuable. I check it at the counter for “special” and “fragile” items.
Lo and behold, I get to Washington, DC and my camera bag is nowhere to be found. I file a missing baggage report with United Airlines and go home. After two days of them not being able to locate the bag, they tell me to file another report complete with receipts of what was missing. However, in very small print on the form is a disclaimer that says, essentially, “Please note that we are not responsible for the following items:” which is immediately followed by a list of anything that could have any value at all. Computers, cameras, jewelry, you name it.
So, instead of going down this path, I just call my insurance company. Wait, let me stop right here…
If you don’t have insurance on your camera equipment, stop reading this and get it NOW!
OK, where was I? So, I call my insurance company (I had added all my equipment to my renter’s insurance as scheduled items on an all-risk policy) and file a claim. They collect the airline baggage info and tell me they will pursue it but they don’t expect to get very far. Within two weeks, I received a check and went out and upgraded my camera to a 5D.
They never did “find” my equipment. My suspicion is that a baggage handler somewhere has a pretty sweet set of camera equipment right now.
So with a trip to Paris coming up for me in April, I wanted to ask some of my readers how they’ve traveled through the EU with their equipment… Two carry-on bags for a photographer seems pretty standard, right? A bag with a laptop and reading material and a bag for camera stuff.
Have any of you traveled through the EU with your equipment? Did you check your equipment? How did you do it and still manage to avoid enriching a random baggage handler?
Tags: baggage, eu, european-union, insurance, ireland, travel
