{happy travels}

So I'm leaving for the UK today and that's pretty surreal. I'll be spending most of the trip in England but will also be in Ireland and Scotland for a little bit. The farthest I've ever been is Israel and I can safely say that I am ready for a new adventure. I love traveling with my whole heart, but as a self-proclaimed amateur photographer going far away can be tricky when dealing with what gear to bring.  This is what I'll be bringing on my trip (more or less,) I hope it's helpful!

 WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS ODD PHOTOGRAPHY TERMS. If you're not super interested in photography don't worry about reading it, I'll try not to be overly offended. Ps if you have any comments or questions feel free to leave them below!

From left to right, those items not mentioned will not be accompanying me on my trip.

iPad// Due to the large amount of bouncing from hotel to hotel this trip, I opted to bring my iPad rather than my heavy MacBook Pro. If you have an Air, or some other light, thin laptop you might as well go with that, but my iPad made for sense for this trip. In terms of photography, I'll mainly be using to dump pictures so I have enough space on my memory cards, but I'll also be using it to blog, read, and watch movies!

NIKON D5000+ 35mm// It actually took a lot of thought (and a pros and cons list) to figure out which camera I would bring, and for a long time I had planned to bring a superzoom rather than a DSLR. However after a lot of consideration, I felt as though if there was ever a trip to bring the more heavy duty camera, it was this one. So into the bag Betsy (my DSLR) went. Betsy is currently attached to a 35mm, 1.8 nikon lens. Quite fast, could be wider but very versatile which will also accompany me to Europe. 

Zoom Lens// This particular lens is a 70-300 4.5-5.6 Nikon zoom lens. Not super fast I know, but it does the trick when it comes to getting up close and personal. I have a better one that's a bit faster but unfortunately it's an SLR lens and super heavy. Not ideal for wandering around England. 

JOURNAL+PENS// Pretty self-explanatory, I hope to journal the whole time I'm there and capture some good memories!

PASSPORT// Duh.

iPHONE// Very useful in wifi equipped situations.

EXTERNAL FLASH// To be quite honest, I don't know much about flashes. I just happen to have this one because my dad bought it a while ago and it works pretty well, especially in low-light situations and when using a manual lens. So I threw it in the bag, why not.

CAMERA CHARGER// Also, duh.

iPOD// Just in case of situations that lack wifi or in predicaments involving spotty wifi. Also handy for airplanes.

85mm LENS// This lens is a Nikon 85mm 1.8 portrait lens. Although it's manual and therefore a little on the heavy side, I like it because of how fast it is. Having said that, it is also pretty narrow, so it's not usually my go-to.

iPAD+iPHONE USB CABLES and BRICK// Still, duh.

SD to iPAD ADAPTER// That little block under the charging brick allows me to dump my photos from an SD card to my iPad to ensure that I have enough space on the cards to last me the next twoish weeks.

SUNGLASSES// Lastly, duh.

NOT PICTURED- LOWEPRO COMPUDAY 250 (carry on)

What photo gear do you rely on? xoxo, Chesapeake Classic