The “joys” of business travel?

[John Baumchen]

We always ship the gear out a week in advance via FedEx. What a joy it is not to have to handle and look after multiple cases of gear at the airport.

[Tim Wilson]

[John Baumchen] “We always ship the gear out a week in advance via FedEx….”

I forgot to mention this. Shipping in advance is great. We’ve also used priority mail for extra clothes, books, or other doo-dads to make the airplane stuff easier to deal with.

Everything has always come through fine.

[Steve Kownacki]

There’s many threads in this forum on billing, rates and all the “unbillables” we deal with, this current thread has me asking: If you ship out your gear ahead of time, are you billing for the time to pack it up? I do. And what about the fact that you can’t shoot anything else in the meantime, are your jobs profitable enough to permit this? Is the fact that you own the gear (no salt spreading intended https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/17/868789 ) are you being nice and just “throwing it in” for your convenience?

I’ve changed my billing habits from $1200/day for X, and separated the amount of the rentals and associated crew. This is much easier to budget on a spreadsheet when assembling custom packages. And you can add in those extra days for rentals when in transit.

PS- I’m a user of $80 rolling, hard plastic golf club cases. Line it with foam and you can put stix, 2 stands, 2 small lamps and other junk in there for easy transport – keep it to 80 pounds though or the airline will rape you.

Steve

[Tim Kolb]

[Steve Kownacki] “PS- I’m a user of $80 rolling, hard plastic golf club cases. Line it with foam and you can put stix, 2 stands, 2 small lamps and other junk in there for easy transport – keep it to 80 pounds though or the airline will rape you”

Agreed…those hardside golf club cases are great.

Keep in mind as we’re having this discussion…I’m not sure all the carry-on hassle is TSA-borne. I think since the checked luggage fees kicked in, some travelers are almost unbelievably inconsiderate as to what they carry on. I’ve seen one person fill a whole overhead segment by themselves. (I at least check my clothes even though I know they’ll get delayed at least 30% of the time…)

I think the airlines are getting sick of having to pull of the luggage of the last 10 people to board because these business travelers have a compartment swallowing roller bag and a horseblanket coat taking up the typical overhead space that should serve 3 people.

Half of all these problems could be solved if anyone would stop and think of someone beside themselves when they travel.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Mike Cohen]

we too use those rolling golf cases.

They are however not intended to hold 80 pounds of golf clubs, so check the rivets and hinges after every trip. Also, the light stands become a projectile and can poke holes in the top of the case – a piece of plywood cut to fit will extend the life of the case.

Be sure to check your luggage tags as in this case, ALL bags look alike. Nothing worse than getting to a location to find you actually have golf clubs.

That being said, 9 out of 10 times, the rental car bus driver, hotel clerk, taxi driver and fellow passengers will ask you where you are golfing, or if you had a good game. Best thing to do, to avoid getting hammered with questions about how to set the clock on a VCR and how to download YouTube videos is to lie and say “great game.” In fact, research the local courses.

Finally, when you hand off your heavy gear or carry-ons to the TSA folks, be sure to thank them for doing a great job. They seem to appreciate being acknowledged. When my bag gets hand searched, after the usual questions like “are you gonna take my picture?” or “that’s one heck of a camera, do you work for ESPN?” (being from central CT, there is actually a good chance of working for ESPN) – I say “keep up the good work” in a very sincere way.

Because seriously, when it comes to security, I say better be safe than sorry. I’m just surprised velcro shoes have not made a comeback.

Mike

[Matt Townley]

Nick – I know this is a slightly old topic, but just saw this article on lifehacker and it made me think of this thread.

Not sure how much it would help for the dropping concern, but maybe for the getting lost part…..Anywho, I liked the clever thinking.

[Bob Cole]

Really. If you include so much as a starter pistol in your checked bags, you MUST declare it. The TSA then monitors that luggage very carefully.

Or so I hear. Check out https://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-loss

But here’s the problem with this great idea. Now that this “secret” is out, every photographer on earth will pack a starter pistol. Then, everybody with any jewelry will follow suit. THEN, TSA will say, “We can’t afford to pay special attention to all these starter pistols.”

And then, you’ll have to buy a real pistol.

Then, an Uzi….

But Nick, it oughta work for a little while. Me, I’m off to WalMart.

re: carry-on. Carry on camera/batteries/tape, always, whatever it takes. I know that Southwest used to have a special policy for “video journalists.” Early boarding, don’t worry about the big camera case. Don’t know if that still obtains; I never tried it, although it was on their website.

re: just-in-case. You can line up a grip who could, in a pinch, find enough equipment to see you through, just about anywhere in the U.S.A.

re: FedEx. Not expensive, if you can ship far enough ahead to use their economy categories. The last time I did this it was $250 for three very heavy cases one way Baltimore-Orlando (when I needed three-day) and $110 back, for the same cases (five-day, I believe).

Reason I did it: at last the odds caught up to me last year, and Southwest lost my luggage until I was on the way BACK from the shoot.

Best strategy if you must check luggage: travel a day ahead of the shoot, and never travel on the last couple flights of the day. If your luggage gets held up, and comes in on a later flight, that isn’t such a tragedy, unless there’s no later flight.

Good luck, Nick.

Bob C