Carry On + Personal Item?

DawnC28

Hi!

I've been through all of the paperwork for the tour, and it says only that our checked bags are limited to 44pds. and 62", and that we can bring one carry-on (back pack sized) up to 15 pds.

My husband's camera gear won't all fit into a backpack! Are we allowed to bring a personal item as well - this would be a camera bag? When we travel commercial, this is allowed, but I can't see anything about this on the site or in our travel documents.

Thanks so much! We leave Tuesday, and are so excited!

British

Several solutions here, first, you can carry some of his camera equipment, I do think a small camera bag will be allowed. I always carry a small backpack and a small handbag (what an American calls a purse, to me, a purse is what you carry your money in)
Also, do you really need so much camera equipment? There are many posts on the forum that mention that all those different lenses are not necessary, because of the chance of getting dust in your camera. Also, by the time you change a lens the animal could be gone. Finally, on the Elegant South Africa tour you either see no animals for ages at the Sabi Lodges or you are literally right next to them, rhinos, leopards, lions, zebra, elephants and so on, so you don’t need telephoto and those are the shots that are likely the ones you want to blow up or put in a photo book. On our most recent African trip we had an elephant wrap it’s trunk round the roof bar of our vehicle. On every African trip we have had animals right next to the vehicle, lions, rhino, many elephants, zebra. Those are the photos we print. I use an old camera of my husband’s, he has a newer one with one great Tameron lens.

DawnC28

Thanks for the reply! We have two camera housings, one that will have a long lens, and one that will have a short lens, so that he can switch back and forth at will.

Plus, I am bringing my own camera, which isn't as nice, but I still want to take my own pictures!

This is why we have so much equipment! LOL

AshvEd

We were on the trip last September and I swapped lenses while on safari while stopped with no issues. Just took great care in making the switch. Most of the time I used a 24-300 mm zoom lens. On the flights from Cape Town to KNP to Johannesburg to Victoria Falls and back to Jozy, I had a medium size backpack and spouse had a small rolling luggage piece and a handbag. One of our fellow travelers had a huge camera gear backpack and it was allowed onboard. What is allowed seems to be at the discretion of the gate agent. Smiles and thank you go a long way and our Tour Director was very helpful. This trip is amazing.

AlanS

My suggestion is for your husband to take an honest look at his camera bag and contents and downsize for your trip. Manufacturers really don't consider size and weight when designing large camera bags. They really have too much structure and padding. I'm guessing he has one or two older, smaller, camera bags in the top of a closet somewhere that will safely hold both cameras/bodies, lens cleaner/wipes, and spare memory cards and batteries (1 for each). Everything else- charger(s), cords, tripod(?), external flash, reflectors, filters, etc., etc. can be packed in your suitcase or, in many cases left home (like a folding tripod.)

Use your small (backpack size) carry-on for your camera and personal items both of you might need on game drives/preserve visits/on/tour flights (tissue/TP, lip balm, bug repellent, etc.) and if there is room, include some of your husbands smaller camera accessories. We do that for "to" and "from" and on-tour flights, except, on the "to" flight, we also add magazines, iPads, and a few emergency clothing items.

Another thing to consider is to wear a safari/photo type jacket/vest, one with bajillion pockets, and load the pockets up with as much misc. camera stuff as possible.

DawnC28

Thanks for all of your replies. We called Tauck direct and they said that yes, a purse and camera bag are allowed on all flights. Hope they know for sure!

He decided to go with a camera bag as a personal item. If needed, he can cram it into his backpack and wear his sweater and jacket that he packed, although it will be over the 15 pd. limit then.

Leaving tonight for London! Can't wait for this trip to start!

DawnC28

We're just back! What an awesome trip!!

Just to clarify, we were able to have a backpack and personal item on all flights. They were all commercial flights on bigger airplanes, and we did not have to gate check anything.

Thanks for the help!

ShelleyG

Tauck told me that I could take my small lightweight rollerboard up to 15 lbs. plus a personal item which could be a small backpack or pocketbook that can fit under the seat. Does this sound correct? Does the 15 lb. limit have to also include the personal item?

British

No, does not have to include the personal item on this tour. Some airlines enforce the 15 pound rule so that if your carry -on falls out of the overheads it is less likely to damage someone. It’s quite a common occurrence believe it or not. In fact, last year, an idiot opened up the overhead above me with gay abandon mid flight and his bag fell out and hit me on the head. Maybe that is why I am so wacky these days, it was heavy, it really hurt me.

Sealord

That does explain a lot. (;-)

The only airline I’ve been on that enforced the fifteeen pound rule was Iberia. And they did not disalow the offending rollaboard, they just charged me a ton of money. It still went into the overhead compartment ... all twenty-five or thirty pounds of it. That would make you a bit silly. (;-)

British

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PaPaJim

Just got back from the Sept 7 departure of South Africa: An Elegant Adventure. Some things I learned. We flew from Capetown to Kruger and Kruger to Johannesburg on an Airlink Embraer 135. You can check out the aircraft on seatguru.com or the Airlink website. The overhead bins are SMALL and only one one side of the cabin. You are limited to one 44 lb checked bag, and basically as many carry-ons as you want (we had 3). How do you do it? First, they didn't weight any of our carry-ons so don't sweat the 15 lb limit. (we had freaked over the 15 pounds and 20 inch size - even removed the wheels on our carry-ons so they would be 20' instead of 22". DON'T DO THAT! 'You carry all your carry-ons out to the airplane and give it to the attendant who will give you a tag # then they put it in with the other luggage - no extra charge. When you land, as you exit the plane, they will have your carry-ons outside the aircraft waiting for you to pick up. We flew from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls and Victoria Falls back to Johannesburg on British Airways Boeing 737. Since flying from South Africa to Zimbabwe and back are considered "international" flights you are allowed a 50# checked bag instead of 44#. Don't spend a lot of money on camera equipment if you don't already own one. Most people on the tour used their cell phones - you get close enough to the animals that you don't need the 300 mm lens that they suggest- I used a Canon PowerShot SX370 HS and my wife used her cell phone. Accommodations are terrific and meals are gourmet quality. Fantastic trip.