Traveling With Equipment

So you have planned that paranormal vacation, you poured over all the books you can get your hands on for the destination of you choice with reportedly haunted locations. You’ve done your homework to find the closest hotel and made all the arrangements with the management of these haunted locations for access. All that’s left to do is pack and board the plane, right? Wrong, due to the recent events of September 11th traveling with your equipment just got a little more time consuming. Don’t be discouraged though with a little extra planning it can go just a smoothly as before.

According to Scott, a Supervisor of Baggage for Southwest Airlines, here a few simple things that you can do to make your trip with the airlines less frustrating.

1. Pack your equipment in a hard-sided sturdy suitcase with black foam, the kind used in most hard camera bags.
2. Make sure you have placed a sturdy lock on you equipment case, but most important have your key on you.
3. Obtain either the original manufacturers specifications or try to get a copy from the internet or by mail from the manufacturer for each piece of equipment that you are carrying, i.e. EMF, Thermal Scanner, etc. Remember not everyone will know what this equipment is and these will more readily help airlines personal identify each piece of equipment as legitimate. As Scott explained he may not know what it is but he will at least know that it is not a threat and that it is a legitimately manufactured piece of equipment.
4. This brings up the next point of making sure all the equipment is equipped with batteries for demonstration purposes.
5. Call the airline ahead of time by at least 1 day and ask that they document your record with a statement that you will be traveling with sensitive equipment electronic equipment that will require hand searching.
6. When you check in for your flight insist that your bags be hand searched. This is why I reminded you to have your key for your luggage handy, be prepared to show your manufacturer documentation for the equipment ready and make sure you have some spare batteries. This is the point that you will get to share your toys with the airline personal.

The most important thing that you can do is be patient and allow for extra time for this process to happen. Also have as much documentation as possible, for example have your hotel conformation and if you have a letter of approval from management where you are investigating present it, this just further shows the purpose for the equipment. Just by following these simple rules of thumb, you are well on your way to a successful, less stressful, great vacation.