Planning a Vacation with Film

The days seem to get longer, the weekends rush by and my temper sours, it is time for a vacation.  A time to get some distance from my problems and focus on something completely new. For me this usually means travel, as I have been fortunate enough to have ample opportunity to do so. 

Everyone plans their vacation differently, some go for the spontaneous trip, I have always envied those people, and some go for the carefully planned trip. I am obviously the latter. I am happy to leave ample time for spontaneous events, so long as they are well planned in my itinerary!

So how do you plan a vacation when taking film?  Twenty years ago this was not a question, you would toss your film camera in a bag with the roll that was already in it, arrive at your destination and pick up film in any of the millions of places around town. Nice, simple.

These days finding film is not easy. As you do a search on the internet you will find all kinds of conflicting information about X-ray, hand carry, insurance and so forth.  I thought I would simplify it down based on traveling with film for the last five years all over the globe.

• Put film in your carryon and do not worry about the x-ray. So long as your film is rated as ASAISO 800 or less you are good to go. You can ask for hand check but frankly there is no point. Toss your film in the bag and move on.  You can try the lead lined bags for film (I have two) if you are really worried.
• Take your expensive gear with you on the plane.  Do not check it with your bag.  Also you should take a change of clothes with you in your checked bag.  Nothing worse than having a delayed checked bag and nothing to change into.
• Insurance...if you are worried about losing it leave it at home.  Keep your wits about you. The place you are going is not safe....just use that assumption.  Do not travel alone if possible but if you must stick to well traveled areas with lots of people.  If you want insurance you can get some but it is expensive and requires a police report if something goes wrong.  
• I take two bags for my gear.  The first is an Airport AirStream ThinkTank bag.  Yes it is expensive but worth double what it costs.  Well built, offers great protection and has built in locks to keep your stuff safe.  This makes it easy to travel through airports. The second bag is a Retrospective 7 from ThinkTank.  This is a bit less expensive but just as good.  I like it because it blends in a bit better than most camera bags, is easy to carry and offers good protection.  This bag goes in my checked luggage empty until I arrive at the vacation spot.  The roller stays in the hotel and I use the Retrospective as my daily carry.
• Cleaning gear should be fun.  I take a large microfiber cloth to wipe off my gear after each day.  This is the outside portion of my gear.  I have a smaller microfiber cloth for my lenses with a blower.  That is it.  No liquids at all.  If you must take something wet try the prepackage wet wipes made by Zeiss.  They are great.
• Take the gear you want to shoot.  I know the virtues of traveling light, but for me this means four cameras.  A vacation is to be enjoyed and if you enjoy cameras take a few with you.  I will leave some in the roller bag, well locked, and just take one or two with me for the day.  The next day I will switch.
• Inside, outside and ISO.  Go into a church and the lighting is awful, step out into the street and it is bright.  With digital it is easy to adjust but with film, not so much.  Two solutions that I have found works...First option is to take a digital camera and use it in the darker areas leaving your film for outdoors.  Second, take two film cameras.  One with film set at EI1600 and the other set and EI400.  
• Film and flexibility.  I try to keep my film choices to a minimum.  I usually carry two ISO films, a 100 and a 400.  My new philosophy is only to take HP5+ film.  I can pull this to EI 200 or push to EI 1600 and even 3200.  So one film type can be adjusted to meet the light of the day.  
• How much film to take?  This is a very simple question to answer...as much as you are going to shoot!  I assume that I will shoot 2 rolls a day but average only one.  I usually start shooting a bunch and reduce as the trip goes on.  2 rolls is a nice average.
• Can you buy film on the road?  It depends where you are going.  I try to take all my film with me but I will ALWAYS but a roll or two if I see it for sale.  My reasoning is to support film but buying wherever I see it.  
• Photographic journals are a very good idea especially when shooting film.  Take a few notes of what you shot on which roll.  Not necessarily every picture, but in general terms it would help.  Write down the EI, what you were trying for and where you were.
• Use the journal to note the images you want to take.  These are the captures you are hunting for.  Then mark the roll where these images were captured.