Packing for London

As I sit here at Halifax International waiting to board, I think of the first day of 2013 as that was the last time I had been to London. Lisa and I spent a few days there, and on January 1, we boarded the train to Paris. London was my first European destination, and I look forward to returning to the city later tonight. This London trip came together quickly as I just booked this last week. As I had the luxury of free time, I wanted to take advantage of it and look for somewhere to visit and explore. So here we are, my first solo trip since New York back in June last year.

As anyone who has travelled in a plane can understand, direct flights are miles better than anything that involves a connecting flight. You save hours in your travel, and that’s not even considering the possible delays with a connecting flight, and if you are checking luggage, a connecting flight becomes a whole other worry.

In Halifax, for Europe, we are quite limited in where we can fly directly, but luckily, London is one of the few destinations we can fly to. London seems to be a year-round offering, whereas Frankfurt, Germany, also pops up.

I’m not checking a bag for this trip, so being strategic with what I bring is paramount. Along with chargers and cables needed for what is listed, here is what I am bringing for gear and accessories:

Camera Gear

• Fujifilm X-E4 with 3 batteries

• 35mm f/2 and K&F Concept 43mm Polarizing Filter

• 18-55mm f/2.8 and K&F Concept 58mm Polarizing Filter

• 58mm CineBloom Diffusion Filter (10% Diffusion)

• 4 x SD Cards (3 x 128GB, 1 x 64GB)

• Thule Aspect Backpack

Miscellaneous

• Travel Adapter

• Headphones

• GoPro with 2 batteries and chest mount

• MacBook

• 1TB WD Portable Hard Drive

• Orange Travel SIM card with 8GB of data

• Think Like a Street Photographer by Matt Stuart

I’m using a soft duffel bag for everything else I need, including clothes and necessities. I could bring a carry-on, but even small carry-on luggage you must wheel around can be a pain. Having a light bag over my shoulder is better for this. Regarding staying connected, I have always gone with the Orange travel sim cards. I’ve used these numerous times throughout Europe, and they have proven great. Easy activation and excellent service so far.

Looking at the packing list for the gear above, one thing that might stand out is that it includes only four SD cards, which you may think is insufficient. Although I feel it will be sufficient storage for a week, I can easily pick one up if not, as I will be in a major city. There should be no issue finding a place that sells SD cards. That is one thing about travelling with the 5D Mark II. Besides the size and weight disadvantage, if I needed another CF card while travelling, it could be difficult to get my hands on one, and it would be more expensive.

After each day of shooting, I plan to back up my photos to the 1TB portable hard drive, and I will leave the files on the SD cards for a second backup. Never delete your files from an SD card until they are backed up 2-3 times. I’ll also review the photos in Lightroom on the go, but I will not do any final processing until I arrive home. After Portugal last year, I took the time on the train travelling from Porto back to Lisbon to review and rate photos, giving me an idea of what I have and how I potentially wanted to process the photos. I’ll probably do the same on the flight back to Halifax. And finally, to fill the travel time, I have the latest podcasts downloaded and my Spotify playlists saved on my phone. That should keep me occupied for the six-hour flight across the Atlantic.

Boarding soon. See you when I get back.