Okay, I admit that getting to travel around the world leading photo workshops is pretty cool. I really enjoy spending a weekend or more helping a bunch of nice people learn to shoot better pictures, and quite honestly, they help me find good pictures too.

The downside to doing all this is the packing and travel. Over the years I’ve learned some tricks to make that easier, and I’m still learning them. My latest is at the end of this story. Today I was making final preparations to leave to lead a photo safari in Africa for Pack Paddle Ski (www.packpaddleski.com). I also lead a number of trips for the American Photo Mentor Series (www.mentorseries.com). The challenge on any photo trip, whether it’s for a weekend or a month, is to balance your personal needs (clothing, books, entertainment) with your needs as a photographer. The last thing you want to do is travel a long distance (at sometimes great expense) only to find you really (REALLY) need that one little gadget or extra lens you left behind. With that in mind, I try to travel light when it comes to clothing.

It’s important before packing to check what the rules are for luggage on the airlines you’ll be using. This trip is all on Northwest/KLM, which allows for two checked bags up to 50 lbs., one carry-on of up to 40 lbs. and a “personal” bag like a briefcase or computer bag, purse, etc. I had a friend who got stuck with $400 in excess baggage charges returning home from anoverseas trip by a greedy gate agent, so I now carry the rules (printed from the website) along with me.

The trip to Tanzania will last 11 days, and should be warm throughout. I like to dress as comfortable as possible for the plane flights (three totaling nearly 20 hours, plus 4 hours of layovers). So my travel outfit will be jeans, comfortable walking shoes, t-shirt, cotton long-sleeved shirt and fleece pullover (makes a good blanket or pillow if needed).

My first piece of luggage will have two pairs of lightweight travel pants and five lightweight long-sleeved shirts. I’ve told everyone to expect to see me in the same outfit more than once! Five t-shirts, plenty of underwear and socks and large sun hat rounds out my ensemble. One additional pair of lightweight shoes is in the luggage as well. Add a small pouch for toiletries and one for extra medicine. This bag also holds my Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod in its own padded case and a compact umbrella (more for sun than rain). Total weight, 35 lbs.

I always (ALWAYS) take my camera gear on the plane with me, at least the important stuff. I generally prefer a backpack style bag, which will carry my laptop along with camera gear. In addition to the computer, this bag will carry three cameras (Nikon D2X, D200 and D70S), chargers for the D200 and D2X (what if my other luggage doesn’t make it?), 12-24mm lens, 17-55, 70-200 and my favorite old lens, a manual focus 400 3.5. There will be two TC-14 converters (the 400 uses an older style), an SB-800 strobe, electrical adapters (in case the other luggage gets lost…), power brick for the laptop, 75GB firewire drive, polarizing filter, remote release cable and 25 GB of CF cards (Lexar 4GB and 1 GB cards). Also tucked in here is a copy of my passport, which will can a lot of time and trouble if the original (that I keep on me) gets lost or stolen. This bag weighs in at 36 lbs., within the 40 lb. carry-on allowance.

The third piece of luggage is a small roller bag (Accessories 01 and 02) with all the extra stuff. That means a 220-volt powerstrip, sensor cleaning gear (blower plus brushes from Visible Dust and cleaning fluid from same, www.visibledust.com), TC-200 (2X) converter for the 400, Lens Baby 2.0 for making artsy photos, 55mm macro for closeups, extension cord for strobe, bug dope, toilet paper, jeweler screwdriver set, 12 DVDs for backing up images, DVD marker, extra camera batteries, two Lexar external card readers, more battery chargers, heavy-duty zip-loc bags to fill with rice for steadying the camera on the windowsill of the Land Rovers, large garbage bags for covering gear during dusty car rides, rain gear (as much for cool nights and breezes as for rain, since we don’t expect to see much of that) and a good paperback book (Independence Day by Richard Ford). This bag only weighs 24 lbs.

Last is my personal bag (Personal 01 and 02), which is a fanny pack that I’ll use while shooting in Africa. Inside it are the things I need for the flights, such as water, toothbrush and floss, medicine, sleeping pills, earplugs, eye shades, Carmex, notebook and pens, iPod, hand sanitizer, paperback book (a Nevada Barr mystery!), D200 manual (I only got the camera yesterday) and a travel pillow. This one weighs in at about five pounds.

I also carry a small traveler’s pouch which I wear around my neck, under my shirt, that holds my passport, money and itinerary.

Okay, I’m all ready to go. In fact, maybe too early. I told you at the start that I learn something new on every trip. This one is to triple-check my departure date. My wife kept saying I was leaving on Saturday, but I was convinced it was Friday (today). So I went to the airport, to find out that, once again, my wife was right. Back home I went, which was a good thing. One more night with my family, and a chance to write this story. Check back with www.bluepixel.net in a couple of weeks, and I’ll post a story on our experiences, and some of the photos we’ve shot.