Hey everyone! I’m sharing some of my travel work & tips and tricks as I feel it definitely encompasses the ‘EPIC’ travel category and sharing information is important for the community. I really like some of the knowledge shared so far, here’s a few things I’ve learnt along the way.
Plan Your Trip in Advance
Where are you going? Know that the Northern Hemisphere is opposite to Southern for seasonality. Watch out for Monsoon / Rain Seasons in tropical areas.
Brush up on the country’s culture, do’s and don’ts you can find these easily in something like a ‘Lonely Planet’ guidebook or online.
Network with other forum members or people you know that have been before and could give you advice, anything to save you time.
Buy a data sim card in the country you visit or make sure you have a data plan abroad so you can easily navigate a ‘maps’ app whilst driving around.
Dress and pack accordingly to destination. You can see what I take abroad with rationale here : www.kit.com/mananddrone
Traveling with a Drone
My top advice is to make sure you own a set of ND Filters, what are they? They basically act as sunglasses so will help with keeping sun glare off water and helping us achieve a 180 degree shutter speed. As a rule of thumb I’ll always shoot a shutter at double my frame rate for more of a cinematic feel.
Research the locations you plan to shoot, check whether you need permission and clear your ideas with the local authorities before flying.
The Golden Hours are always a nice time to drone as you will see some nice colours my favourite is the morning during sunrise as there’s hardly any people around. Bright Sunny Days on Islands are great as the colours will be vivid just make sure you have your ND / Polarisers.
If you’re flying abroad you should declare your drone upon check-in, they may want to inspect the Batteries as will the security team. Use Lipo safe carrying bags for added security.
Getting to our Locations
Now that we have powerful tools such as Google Maps we can plan our destination hotspots in advanced. I like to use ‘Google My Maps’ for things such as route planning for Iceland. It’s great because you can add photos and descriptions and share with others. I usually do this for every country I visit, here’s an example map I’ve created : https://goo.gl/LXD4WS
If I goto a developed country I will almost always hire a car to get about having researched good prices beforehand online, all companies will want a credit card so make sure you have one of those. Very few care hire companies will accept just debit cards and if they do be prepared for a big pre-authorization charge.
If the trip is around 4-6 months then I would consider buying a car and selling before leaving. I’ve found this to be fairly straight forward and have done this 3 times already, the internet and local adverts at supermarkets or hostels usually help. Word of Mouth is also my favourite so get networking.
Timing & Conditions
If you shoot enough material odds are you can pick something usable out of it. If I goto a country for 3 weeks I’ll shoot lots of footage at different times of the day over the duration and perhaps only 30-40% of it is usable for what I want to share. I personally love shooting Golden Hours such as before, during & after Sunrise / Sunset.
If you want to shoot such conditions make sure you give yourself enough time before to arrive on time without rushing things, give yourself plenty of time to setup.
There’s plenty of other opportunity other than ‘Golden Hours’ to film or photograph, a good photographer should be able to produce masterful shots at any given time of day. If it’s super bright - great! Start using those ND’s Filters.
Weather plays a huge part in whether or not we can fly. I always use the best local forecasting website which is dedicated to that country. Using something like BBC weather or Accuweather will not be accurate enough for me. If it’s above 40 degrees C you might want to take caution as things could overheat in such temperatures. Anything Colder than -10c could play havoc with the drone’s batteries so always be aware of temperatures where you are.
Electricity on the Road
Perhaps you’ve planned a big trip which features remote locations but you only have X amount of batteries. Have you thought about how you’re going to recharge your equipment? Solar Power isn’t really going to cut it unless you have a huge panel setup. If my mode of transport is car I will utilise various car charger devices or a power inverter. Some drone batteries are too juicy for basic currents drawn from the dc port so do your research to evaluate. So far I’ve used a full-sin wave 300w Powerbright inverter off various vehicle’s dc port and it’s worked fine for Phantom3, Mavic Air, Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Batteries, anything more seems to be too much. If my work is more serious I will do a recon of nearby cafes, campsites or service stations where mains electricity is likely to be.
Generators are another option but are quite noisy so I would only suggest using something like this if you’re very remote. My preferred choice would be a large power bank such as a GoalZero Yeti, which should see you achieve several drone battery charges.
Don’t forget to bring travel adapters with you as different countries will have different sockets. I have an adapter that adjusts for anywhere you can check here : https://amzn.to/2ILQn2p
Insurance
I will always take-out a travel insurance policy that covers me for medical incidents and lost baggage etc, this is very important and I always recommend this. I’ve been to tropical countries on numerous occasions where even the slightest of cuts can get infected and require hospital treatment. The same goes for severe food poising and similar liabilities. Again read the terms & conditions thoroughly so you know what you’re buying. I’ll always go for the ZERO excess option and add-on additional adventure packages such as emergency helicopter lifts from certain altitudes if hiking is on the cards, know the altitude limits and policy restrictions. Having said this, some countries have reciprocal agreements with other countries for things like medical accidents or emergency such as countries of the EU, Australia, New Zealand & UK so bare that in mind. If you aren’t a North American resident and plan on traveling to USA or Canada then you should definitely consider insurance as medical costs could be very high.
Packaged tours and holidays might include their own insurance so you might want to clarify this before you book anything.
All of my equipment is insured on a separate worldwide policy. It covers me for 365 days for only £330 per annum with up-to £10k worth of camera gear including laptops and expensive cameras / drones. Always read the terms & conditions thoroughly when choosing your equipment insurance, if somethings not to your liking you can usually talk with your representative and see if they can work something out with you. Anyone residing in the UK can PM me for more information on this.
Dress & Prepare for the Conditions
Be prepared to dress for the occasion. When I travel to countries with alpine regions I have to bring all my tough outdoors gear. If i’m in Sub-Tropical or Tropical environments then it’s much easier, I’ll just pack the shorts and T-shirts.
If you're out on a long day-trip you might want to consider meal & snack preparation the day before. I'll always carry some extra energy bars & fruit around as you never know.
If I'm doing a big hike I'll want at least 3 litres of water and tablets that can purify a water source incase I'm caught short, other than that I'll always carry a bottle of water around with me.
RGMGFitness Posted at 2018-7-9 14:07
Dude! You just CRASHED this contest! Great stuff....hard to compete against such great content and quality...top notch!
Cheers buddy appreciate the kudos! Thanks for checking it out!
Beautiful video of a beautiful country. You are very good and this is great work, mate.
I live in NZ and aspire to shoot the kind of video you do - but sadly my Mavic Pro descended into the ocean with 10% battery. As there is no NZ based support or repair facility - I sent to Australia, and for 6 months have been trying to get it back, without success. They wont repair and I have to pay $$ to get the broken drone back (under warranty..) I would advise if you are in NZ to wait until there is NZ support before purchasing DJI. Great tech, but God help you when it breaks.
This happens sometimes but, I guess it is not from the device, it might be from network service, some told me the same issue similar to yours, I use that opportunity to link him to a site last week, and thereafter he got a result, that would amazing if you will give it a try. Check it out. https://testelium.com/
Once was in New Zeland. For more familiarity with the sights of New Zealand and nature, I used the services of car rental https://www.carngo.com/car-rental/new-zealandhttps://www.carngo.com/car-rental/new-zealand
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Cheers buddy appreciate the kudos! Thanks for checking it out! 
