We are in Rome now, and had a great day going to Vatican today (more on that in a separate post). But for this post, I decided to discuss about the logistics of our travels, especially the travel gear. I’ve seen people checking in multiple bags for even short term travels with babies. But we decided to go exactly the opposite and travel with minimal gear, since we are going to be traveling with trains, public transportation, and small rental cars, while having to handle an active baby. We are going to have two carry-ons (1 backpack and 1 luggage), two personal bags (camera bag, and diaper bag), and a baby stroller. This way, I can carry the large bags, and my wife can carry the baby, diaper bag, and the stroller. If we miss something, we’ll buy it over there. 

Our stuff

We are bringing minimal stuff for ourselves, especially because we will be in warm climates for most of the trip. Each of us have one packing cube worth of clothes, sandals, and toiletry bags. That’s it. If we need anything else, we buy over there.

Baby stuff

This is the big one! Babies need a ton of stuff, if you haven’t figured. Apart from the obvious clothes in a packing cube, our one-year-old needs a dedicated diaper bag, toys (more on that below), a stroller (a must), and a baby carrier (had been handy already). We are also carrying a Kidco Peapod for him to sleep in (we did have him sleep in there for a couple of weeks before our departure to make sure it works for him). Basically half of our luggage is baby stuff!

Camera gear

And now, we get to the fun part! I had to make really hard choices here, since photography is not the main focus in this trip. I wanted to carry minimal gear, since we have to carry our baby and his stuff on a daily basis. My options basically boiled down to two systems: 1) Sony A7RII with three small Rokinon prime lenses: 18F2.8, 35F2.8, and 75F1.8.2) Ricoh GR3 and its ultrawide adapter. Sony system is my dream kit, and it covers all my use cases. However, I need to carry a dedicated camera bag for it, which means extra weight and things to carry on a daily basis. This can be specially taxing on days that we won’t be able to take the stroller with us. Ricoh, on the other hand, is super portable. I can hang its tiny camera bag from my belt, and put the (comparably hefty) UW adapter in another bag.

I went back and forth between these two options 100 times, and in the end, I couldn’t decide, so I took them both (leaving the UW adapter at home though)! This way, I can decide during the trip when and where I take which camera. There will be places that we can’t take the stroller, and we have to carry our son in a carrier, so the Ricoh would be the best option. But there will be places where we don’t have to move around as much, or we have the stroller/car, then the Sony will be just fine.

I’m going to carry the Sony in Peak Design Everyday Sling 5L. I believe sling bags are the best style of camera bag for run-and-gun photography. I do happen to own the Peak Design Everyday Backpack as well, and that one is also equally good for my use case. However, the empty bag weighs a whopping 1.7 kg! That’s more than the weight of my both camera systems, so it’s a big no. 

I’m also taking an iPad Pro 11 with Smart Keyboard Folio with me to edit the photos in the evenings, write blog posts, watch movies, etc. I’m not bringing a laptop with me, as I don’t have any use for it. For backup, I download the photos on the iPad after getting back to our accommodation, and have Lightroom upload them to Adobe cloud. Also, I don’t delete the photos on my SD card, so I will have two copies stored. And finally, the processed photos go to my iCloud photos for storage, and sharing, when we have access to Wi-Fi, which should be most of the times.

Other stuff

Google Fi: One of the most indispensable tools in our trip. We switched to Google Fi a few years back, and although domestically we don’t have the best coverage, when traveling internationally, it works like a charm. The moment the plane lands, we have access to 4G. This save us the hassle of buying local SIM cards, etc. We’re using the Unlimited Plus so we can use as much data as we want (technically 50GB each/month before being throttled).

AirTags: I’ve brought two AirTags with me to track my camera bag, and the stroller bag (since it gets checked in at the gate). For example, I confirmed that the stroller was there, while going to the luggage pickup at the airport.

AirPods Pro: To use during the flight, and maybe at nights when watching content.

20W USB-C chargers: I bring three Anker 20W nano chargers, and a compact power splitter, to charge up to three devices with maximum speed at once. I carry these and all of the cables in a small electronics bag.

VPN: Google Fi also provides VPN (though it is of limited functionality), and I can confirm it works in Italy. It is limited to our phones though, so we can’t use it on our iPad, for example.

Insurance: I got travel insurance on SafetyWing.com just to make sure if something goes wrong, we are covered.

Charles Schwab debit card: To avoid ATM fees and miscellaneous banking fees, I have long been using Charles Schwab’s checking account. Not only they don’t charge a fee, but also they reimburse all the ATM fees each months.

Eufy Robovac 11: What? A robotic vacuum? Answer: Yes, but no, we are not clean freaks, and we do not plan to clean the floor of our airbnbs (at least not intentionally). We are taking it with us, because our son loves it! He plays 3-4 hours per day with this thing, cruising with it, flipping it over, rubbing it vertically against the wall… you name it. Happy baby, happy travel, so they say.