Reading Time: 6 minutes

Don’t make these common mistakes when traveling for vacation this year. They are in no particular order, but here to ensure you are ready for travel abroad.

1. Forget you need a Passport—When traveling abroad, you need a current and up-to-date passport. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to get a passport by standard processing, and you need to allow the six weeks, so you have plenty of time.

2. Travel without a Visa—According to the “Henley Visa Restrictions Index 2013,” holders of a United States passport can visit 172 countries and territories visa-free or with a visa on arrival, and the United States is currently ranked 2nd (tied with Germany, Denmark, and Luxembourg) in terms of travel freedom. However, there are 196 countries, so you need to check to see if you need a visa to travel.

3. Forget an AC Plug converter—There are many variations of plug and socket types around the world. If you fail to plan, you might have difficulty charging your devices. Check the voltage requirements for the desired country and bring a power converter, if necessary.

4. No Phone Plan—Your phone may work fine overseas, but you will be surprised at your bill when you get back. Check with your provider to get the best rate for phone and data while traveling abroad. Type frequently used the telephone, emergency contact, hotel, and transportation numbers on the phone and saved them in the phone’s address book. Make sure to enter the telephone numbers using the international dialing format. For example, when calling the US, use the prefix “+011” followed by the area code and telephone number because calls made abroad will initiate from the local phone carrier.

5. Delay buying airfare and other transportation—I often see this as a mistake by many travelers. Waiting is apparent at car rental counters. You can save by preplanning, booking, and sometimes paying for the rental car early. Let go of brand names when looking. For example, Sixt’s, a German rental, was renting a Mercedes C-class for $38.81 a day in late May at Sixt’s Orlando airport. Compare this to Hertz, for the exact dates were $50.57 daily for a Kia Rio or similar economy car. Often you can find deals way out on international travel. You can also set up alerts on some travel websites to tell when prices drop. Register those places you want to go far in advance and then get an email alert when a special comes along.

6. No Travel Insurance—You need to consider medical, Emergency Evacuation, Travel [flights, hotels, etc.], and baggage. If you get seriously hurt and need to evacuate due to a fall, car wreck, and so on, this could cost $25,000 or more. Check with your health insurance also about travel out of the country. One of my friends was in a hurricane in southern Mexico, and they feared not making it out.

7. Failure to do research on your destination—I see so often that the consequences can be all over the map from the lack of planning. If you are going to Hungary, for example, you will be arrested if you take photos of anyone in public without first getting their permission. This law just went into effect. Knowing this upfront may make you decide to travel to another location.

8. Failure to plan for the weather—While I had packed a coat when I went to Kona, Hawaii, I left it in my main hotel room in Kona when I drove around the Island to Volcano National Park. As a result, I had to go and buy some long sleeve shirts to wear in the cold, wet rain. Finding a coat in Hawaii isn’t easy on Sundays when all the shops are closed.

9. Inadequate clothing—When traveling, you don’t always have the luxury of time to wash clothes. You can also find yourself in torrential rain and soaked. Getting those items dry before your next day of travel can be a problem. I highly recommend clothing made of wicking, which will pull moisture away from the skin, keeping you more relaxed, but also some synthetic wicking clothing dries very fast. In addition, I recommend layering clothing when traveling. Two thin layers can be warmer yet lighter than one thick layer because the air trapped between layers serves as thermal insulation.

10. Poor footwear—I am surprised at how many times I see people in flip-flops in places where hiking gear is necessary. Looking fashionable is not as important as feeling comfortable when you are on your feet all day for many days on vacation. I recommend Clark’s Wave Walker Shoes. They make a variety of styles for men and women.

Photography Mistakes

11. Under shoot—I hear way too many people thinking that they took a lot of photos when they just took a picture of each place they saw. You spent all this money to get somewhere; there is no additional expense with digital to make a few thousand photos versus a couple hundred—except maybe a $30 to $50 memory card. Your trip may cost you more than a few thousand dollars, and when you return, your photos are the only thing you have to remember about the journey into your retirement. Most people will experience a memory that diminishes as we get older—so take pictures to help preserve those memories.

12. Don’t bring extra batteries or memory cards—You planned for years, and then you are where you dreamed of being, and your camera is dead because your battery died. Also, you will use your camera more than usual when you travel. So while you have never experienced your camera dying on you, it can and will die on a vacation of a lifetime. Also, buy a few extra memory cards. Rather than bringing a computer, it is much easier to carry a few memory cards rather than getting a laptop.

13. Carry too much or too little gear—I have done both in my travels. Gear problem is where your lack of research on your destination will impact your shooting. A great example is thinking you need to go and buy an 800mm ƒ/5.6 lens for your African Animal Safari trip. Once you get there, the tour guides take you out on open vehicles where for the most part, you are so close you could use your 50mm lens to get the shot. You can also go on a bird-watching tour, and your iPhone will not let you see the photo clearly and close enough in a tree. What about flash, or will you go somewhere where flash isn’t allowed? You may need a camera with a high ISO to get those photos.

14. Too big of the camera—Even if you are a teenager carrying your gear all day for a week or more, sightseeing can injure your back. Be sure that the equipment you bring will be something you don’t mind carrying around with you all the time.

15. Not ready for special situations—If you go to Charleston, SC, and get up early to cover The Citadel Summerall Guards performing on a Saturday morning in the late spring or early fall, you will be dealing with condensation on your lens. I carry a Fog Eliminator cloth for my camera lenses. Leaving a hotel or car with air conditioning and stepping out in Charleston’s high humidity will take 10 to 15 minutes for your camera to stop fogging up. Maybe you are going to a rainforest for a few days. Moisture can destroy your electronics. Make plans to keep your gear dry.

16. Cultural and location mistakes—Too many people do not take the time to read about where they are going. They may find that in their research, they want to be sure to go to a specific location and find out how to avoid security issues. Too many people have stolen things because they are identifiable as tourists and become a target. Those who do their research will be better prepared to avoid these mistakes. Also, even simple things like hand gestures in one culture can mean something different in another, so you must do your best to prepare.

It isn’t accessible to over-prepare, but it is straightforward to under-prepare for your travel. Is it going somewhere soon for a vacation? I hope this inspires you to take the necessary steps to make your trip a lifetime trip.

Be Prepared: The Motto of the Boy Scouts of America 

“Be prepared for what?” you might ask. For everything is the response, scout leaders will tell those who ask.

Be prepared to live happily and without regret, knowing that you have done your best.

I started scouting and then joined the Civil Air Patrol. Civil Air Patrol has continued to save lives and alleviate human suffering through various emergency services and operational missions. Best known for its search-and-rescue efforts, CAP flies more than 85 percent of all federal inland search-and-rescue missions directed by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

CAP spends a lot of time in training and education around aerospace. I remember going on camping adventures where we would practice search and rescue. We learned how to read maps and use our compasses to navigate rugged terrain.

I also went to the McGuire Air Force base in New Jersey summer camp. We learned to shoot M-16 rifles during that camp. We also took a ride in a C-141. Like all young boys, I wanted to go on a search and rescue mission and be in the woods with an M-16 rifle on maneuvers. I wanted adventure.

Most of us grew up learning a great deal of stuff that prepared us for where we are today. A good amount of what I learned in scouting and Civil Air Patrol are things I hope I never have to use, but I am thankful I now know what to do in an emergency.

Photographers need to be ready.

Like the scout we study, we know what to do in a given situation. But, I had to get to capture these wildlife photos.

Being ready today is often due because I wasn’t always in the past. For example, I now carry a tripod on every photo shoot. I may leave it in the car, but I can quickly get to it.

When I am shooting sports, I have long lenses and a monopod.

I also like to use the ThinkTank belt system that I customize with the gear I need for that event. I do not want to require a flash and not have it.

I even have KWP Knee Pads to help save my knees when shooting from the kneeling position.

Being Prepared can be Depressing.

By my senior year in high school, I finally dropped out of Civil Air Patrol. I was tired of doing practice runs for search and rescue and never getting actually to do a “real” search and rescue.

“Patience, young grasshopper,” Master Po often said to young Cain in the TV series Kung Fu.

Being a thrill seeker can get you into much trouble. A week ago, on my Google alert for my name “Stanley Leary,” an email alert came in for Sean “Stanley Leary,” who died from BASE jumping. Leary’s body, rigged up in his BASE jumping gear, was found 300 feet beneath a high ridge in the park’s West Temple area in Utah’s Zion National Park.

He was a thrill seeker.

I found, as a photojournalist, my heart pumping as I covered disasters. While, on one level, I was sad about the tragedy, I still enjoyed the rush of my blood pumping.

March Madness has some of the best moments in basketball history, and then it has had some moments where everyone wishes there was a mercy rule. Take the 1963 Mideast Regional, 1st Round: Loyola 111, Tennessee Tech 42 game. A 69-point difference in the score of the two teams.

I think there are no great photos when you Google those blowout games. They may even have a headshot of the MVP. The lack of great images is because the game wasn’t that interesting.

This year there have been many games coming down to the last few seconds where the winner won by just one basket. These games were great to watch and photograph.

I have covered many games where the two teams were playing flat. There was not much emotion or effort on the field for me to capture. When I edit, I try to find a photograph that tells the story, which is somewhat interesting for the viewer.

Blowout is a big contrast to those double overtime games I covered during March Madness, where I would have so many moments I had to narrow down my selection.

Being Professional Photographer in Flat Moments

It isn’t easy to photograph these moments where very little is going on. Lack of the obvious However, this is where the great photographers start to stand out truly. They look for exciting things that they now have time to look for as compared to those moments where so much excitement is happening you are just trying to capture what is happening.

The difference can be as simple as having a very introverted subject compared to an extrovert. , So yes, you can take great photos of each, and one is not superior to the other, but one may require you to work harder.

I have gone further downfield and used long lenses like a 600mm ƒ/4 lens to find a different angle.

I have gone to the corner of baseball fields to capture something different.

I shoot with a long lens from the other end of the basketball court to get something different.

I will use off-camera flash to help improve photos to give moments a little more oomph.

While I may not have as many ” keepers ” photographs from flat events, I will always have some that will work for my client. That is what they are paying me to do.

You cannot come back and say there was nothing to photograph. At my first newspaper job, the director of photography told me then to show me there was nothing to snap and don’t come back with anything.

At that newspaper, we sometimes went to places where no one was. So we would take a picture of the empty field and make it look good, showing we were there and nothing was going on.

I get depressed after some events because I don’t have much to show. I sit and think and wonder what I could have done better. I always think of something that I could have done a little better. If, in the end, you can say you know that you have done your best, then you can be comfortable with your work.