At the start of the year my wife and I embarked on a sabbatical from work, after a week and a bit at home over Christmas we packed up our bags and travelled up to Gatwick to catch a flight to Mexico City on New Years Eve. We would celebrate New Year in the air and touch down in the early in the morning on 1st January. We had 8 weeks, a rough plan and only the first weeks accommodation booked up. While packing my main concern was which camera to take, which lens, how much film would I need for 8 weeks and how many airport security checks I’d have to muddle through!

The easy part was the camera, I settled on my Pentax ME Super with SMC Pentax-M 35mm lens, small, compact and the light meter is pretty dependable. Next was which film and how much! This would be my first trip shooting film abroad, which meant I had no experience of getting through airport security asking for hand checks. After some research online there seemed to be a vast mix of experiences in peoples success of getting airport security staff to hand check their film, which would be pretty close to my own experience but more on that later.

The most useful information I found was that you should definitely not pack your film in your checked luggage because the scanners used for this are a lot stronger than the scanners used to x-ray carry-on luggage. So in the event that your film has to go through a scanner it would be less destructive going through the carry-on luggage scanner.

Consensus also seemed to be that carry-on luggage scanners have less impact on lower ISO films, so anything under ISO 400 could potentially be scanned up to 10 times before development with minimal impact on the quality of the images.

So, I ended up buying a mix of Kodak ColorPlus, UltraMax and had a couple of rolls of Kodak Gold and a roll of Kodak 400 TX that needed using up so they got packed up as well.

Spoiler I took far too many rolls with me, if I were to go on a similar trip again I would take far less film, just enough to get you through the first week or so. I would find a film lab local to the area that I’m visiting and buy film as you go, which is what I ended up doing a couple of times. This took quite a bit of the stress of trying to ask/explain why you would like your film to be hand checked in another language, even with the help of a translation app there were still a couple of interesting moments.

In Mexico City airport I was quizzed by and had my film checked by three different members of security, photos taken of my passport and boarding pass and then a full check of my hand luggage bag BUT the film did avoid the scanner! However, in other places my film was not so lucky and on two separate occasions were passed through the scanner twice. Which as my wife would tell you left me being a bit grumpy afterwards!

Another thing I did and would recommend if possible, is to get any finished rolls developed before you move onto your next destination, you can then avoid having any extra worry when going through security, because lets face it there is enough going on with getting half undressed, removing electronics from bags and putting everything into the correct box etc

Of the 16 rolls I shot I had 14 of them developed while abroad, the most any of those rolls were scanned was 5, and to my eye there is little to no degradation in the quality as a result when compared to other rolls which weren’t scanned.

I’ve written about why I enjoy shooting film, particularly on holiday, before which can be found here. This trip has not changed my thoughts on this, in fact I love it even more!

A few quick notes to summarise, which I hope might help some of you when packing and planning for your next trip:

Pack light - one camera and one lens worked for me in a range of environments from Cities to beaches to the mountains. Although appreciate this is pretty personal to how and what you enjoying taking photos of. If your into wildlife photography a 35mm lens probably won’t cut it.
Research film labs before travelling where you can purchase film and get it developed before you move on if flying, I was able to contact one lab before my arrival and they kindly put some film aside for me. If travelling to Mexico City try FotoHercules and in Miami I would recommend Bellows Film Lab.
Consider buying low ISO film (400 and below).
Unless you are fluent in the language in the country you are visiting, I found having a screen shot the translation asking security to hand check your film quite helpful.
Some of the research I did before the trip suggested carrying your film in a lead lined bag, I didn’t do this but may provide some extra protection so could be an option. Alternatively, use a clear bag and pack it somewhere within easy reach so you can get the film out easily ready for inspection.
This one isn’t just related to traveling but always carry a spare roll of film when you head out, might be a bit trickier to pop back and grab a snap of a scene later if you are on the other side of the world!

Travelling with photographic film

South Beach on Kodak ColorPlus

Luis Barragan Tour