I have always made an effort to travel light however, my trip to Germany and Ireland in 2007 was the first time I officially traveled as a filmmaker. I took with me my Panasonic DVX100B, full sized tripod, mini tripod, one full sized high wattage light, 15″ laptop, and a whole host of other gear I never used. It was the first time I’d carried a large suitcase as well. The suitcase needed to be large enough for my full sized tripod to fit collapsed. That’s still a pretty big bag. I didn’t like it at all.

So now I’m planning what looks like a trip to Singapore and Thailand and I have to travel light. Here are some of the issues I faced on my last international trip.

1. I worried about overweight baggage fees every time I had to catch a flight. At my home airport, I had to run to a gift shop, buy another bag, and transfer some items from the large bag to the new smaller bag to avoid paying $80 in overweight baggage fees. Later, I ended up having to pay $250 Euros on my trip from Ireland to Frankfurt because of my overweight bag. That was almost $200 Euros more than the actual cost of the plane ticket! **The airline was Lufthansa which does well on long flights (I flew from the US to Frankfurt with the same bags with no charges) but does not do well on short flights (I guess you have to travel damn near naked on short flights).

2. I had to lug around a heavy bag and my backpack. I did plan ahead with this as best as possible but the reality is, my bags were heavy. The smaller bag I had to buy at the airport fit on top of the larger bag and the large bag had wheels so I could just pull them around but again, the bags were heavy and I felt like I was running a marathon anytime I had to move them. I also stayed in a 3 story hotel in Germany with no elevators (yep I was on the top floor), and a 3 story B&B in Dublin with no elevators of course (and on the top floor again). So it was quite unpleasant trying to get my bags up and down the stairs. My backpack was also heavy because in it were my Panasonic DVX100B, 15″ laptop, batteries, tapes, microphones, etc.

3. I drew too much attention for my taste by using my fancy camera and carrying around my tripod. This by far became the biggest issue for me, although I had no idea I would be bothered by this prior to this trip. This is more of a personal preference if you will. I know many filmmakers who have no issues with drawing attention while they film, it comes with the job. However, I do not like this at all. For me there are some safety concerns as well as creative concerns. Some things to consider… I was grilled at the airport in Frankfurt about whether or not I’d filmed anything when I went to the Reeperbahn. My camera is always thoroughly checked at the security check points. This means pulling out all your gear for everyone at the check point to see (Not very safe; especially when they do it while you have to take your shoes off and on and you can’t glue your eyes to your stuff).

A funny thing… I was carrying around my tripod in it’s bag while in Dublin and I was riding the buses a lot. I got on this one bus and the driver asked me “Is that a gun?”. I had to laugh, it did look like a rifle bag. But what was really interesting is that the driver was serious but he didn’t seem at all concerned if it were a gun. Funny those Irish folks are. :)

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On the plane to Ghana, there were two Ghanaian men on the plane handcuffed; on the far side of them, a law officer. I got the impression they were being deported. About mid flight, I looked over in their direction and one of the men smiled a big toothy grin at me and waved. He then attempted to get my phone number. I laughed, both handcuffed men laughed and the tour operator laughed. This was my first encounter with the jovial nature of the Ghanaian, however odd a situation it was.

When I stepped off the plane in Ghana the first thing I thought was “Wow! I’m in Africa.” I felt like I was in a dream. Not because I felt Africa or any other place for that matter is mystical but because I was “out in the world”. We made our way out of the airport and I noticed law officers standing around with machine guns. I wouldn’t see another gun or police officer for the rest of the trip until we returned to the airport.

Now let me cut through the chase about the hotels, etc. because for me travel isn’t all about hotel stays and sight seeing. Bottom line, all of our hotels were fantastic no matter what the star ratings were; some of them offering the most spectacular views of jungle canopies one could imagine. Often, we were personally greeted by the hotel owners themselves and the staff were very welcoming. We were treated like Queens the entire time; never having to carry our own luggage and on occasion having entire dinning rooms to ourselves. The tour company we used, Landtours Ghana, is owned and operated by an African American woman and her Ghanaian husband.

All of our meals were included in the trip package and we ate at some of the best local restaurants; sometimes even having the entire place to ourselves (which I admit, doesn’t really bring me joy). However, our tour was also not very typical. We’d met other African Americans on tour in Ghana while there and they were not having as personal a time there as we were. They were truly just “touring” while were were making real connections and “experiencing” Ghana. The only downside to our trip was that on some level we were being hustled. I’m not sure who was organizing the hustle but there were one too many times when we were being asked to give money for some cause (in closed “setup” setting, not on the street). To make matters worse, it was a hustle to support blind plans to increase tourism that have a devastating effect on the ecological and social landscapes of Ghana. We could already see the negative effects tourism was having on Ghana. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if it increased; but whatever. We grinned, bared, and resisted the hustle.

We did notice that petty crime was handled on a more grassroots level. We did see unarmed security guards at strip malls but they seem to be there simply to shoo away people trying to sell you stuff. One day someone was getting the smack down on the side of a minivan (a preferred method of travel for the average Joe) from a small group of people. It was determined that he’d stolen something from someone in the van. Apparently a few slaps about the head from victims is an acceptable way to handle petty crime. *Smile*

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