Changed to "daylight" time Sunday? Don't forget to reset your camera's clock

On Sunday, March 10, 2019, most of the U.S. switched to Daylight time from Standard time. Not all of the U.S. makes the change. Arizona, except for the Navajo Nation, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands don't switch to Daylight time in the spring nor back to Standard time in the fall. Their clocks are always set to Standard time.

If you travel internationally, it's important to be aware that the Daylight/Standard time change doesn't universally occur across the globe. More than 100 countries never change to Daylight time and more than a few countries switch between the two on different dates than other countries.

U.S. electronic device (including cameras) carry-on ban on flights from 8 Muslim countries is misguided

This week, the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), notified airlines that fly from eight Muslim-majority nations, that effective Friday, March 24, passengers would be banned from bringing electronic devices larger than smartphones into airplane cabins on their direct flights to the U.S. from those nations.
Soon afterward, the United Kingdom instituted a similar ban involving some different airlines and countries.

The ban includes:

• Laptops
• E-readers
• Tablets
• Printers
• Electronic games
• Portable DVD players
• Cameras
• Other electronic devices larger than a smartphone

Don't let passport hell ruin your vacation or kill your business trip

Jon renewed his US passport about a decade ago and happily traveled with it across the globe. Last year, planning a great trip to France, with its myriad of travel photography opportunities, for the summer, six months away, he glanced at his passport to see it still had eleven months before it expired, so he put it away in his desk.

Three months before his trip, by chance, Jon learned his passport needed to be valid for at least six months when he entered France, and an additional three months beyond his planned departure back home. He immediately applied to renew his passport and got it in time. Had he not discovered his passport wouldn't pass French passport rules, his trip would have been over before it started. His lack of knowledge about passport regulations could have cost Jon several thousand dollars.

While US passports for adults are valid for ten years from their date of issue, the problem with trying to maximize one's ten year passport term is that many countries won't let you use your passport as it nears expiration.

Camera Gear, Tripods, TSA, and the Airlines

TSA's (US Transportation Security Administration) website used to state, “You may carry on one (1) bag of photographic equipment in addition to one (1) carry-on and one (1) personal item through the screening checkpoint. The additional bag must conform to your air carrier’s carry-on restriction for size and weight.”

The problem is, since TSA was created, that was never true, nor is it today.

On both US domestic and international scheduled commercial flights, you are allowed no more than one carry-on and one personal item. The airlines haven't, nor do they expect to in the future, permit a third carry-on.

Coping with electrical devices while traveling

There's an issue which keeps coming up for international travelers. Years ago it wasn't like today, where everyone seems to be carrying equipment needing to be plugged in or charged to work.

Traveling abroad in the '60's through 80's, I only had to worry about having extra alkaline batteries, and if my hotel had a bathroom adapter for my electric razor.

Today, my list of travel and photography gear, needing an electrical outlet to work or get charged, seems to go on forever. My travel electrical needs, like so many travelers, is significant.

Just as most every country has its own language, and currency, and definitely its own culture, countries have their own electrical power specifications. Travel photographers, like any traveler, need to be aware of the electrical milieu of the countries they're visiting, so they are prepared for their stay.