Nomadic Trip: Plans and Gear

My Nomadic Trip Update

As said in one of my previous blogs, I have been making plans to go on a nomadic trip that will last roughly around a year or so depending on if I can make enough income (which then I can use to fund my travels and business). I still haven’t decided on an exact date. It is currently ranging from the earliest in March to as late as whenever (though ideally, the latest I would want is early October) with the biggest factor, of course, being money and how much I’ll have when I start. The most concerning thing for me is having to go back to a 9-5 if I'm not able to continue funding myself. That is why I want a proof of concept first before dropping going into it so I won't have to worry about that. These past couple of months, I had been putting all the things I had learned in my month-long trip in October, to use and have “updated” my kit to be more travel friendly. I’m still making decisions about certain lenses and such to add to my kit, but I’ll discuss that later. With that said, I’ll discuss a little about my nomadic trip and the plans I have for the year whenever that starts.

Nomadic Trip

Starting my trip in the spring, my plan is to visit Seoul, Korea just in time for the start of spring and the blossoming of the Cherry Blossoms over there. When people think Cherry Blossoms, people automatically think Japan and while that is fair because it is absolutely beautiful over there during the spring, I hear Korea is gorgeous during the spring so I’m pretty excited to see and experience the spring time over there. With the first 6 weeks being in Seoul, I’ll then be heading to Busan to photograph more of the city. I loved my time there when I visited last year so I’ll be looking forward to taking my time there as I only had a week before. The main event I’m most excited for in Busan is the Lotus Lantern Festival at Samgwangsa Temple in May. It’s an event to celebrate Buddha’s birthday and from everything I’ve seen online, it is absolutely beautiful! The entire temple is covered in lanterns and should be fun getting to experience it all.

After 3 months in Korea, I’ll be making my way to Japan for the summer, rainy season and all. Tsuyu, or the rainy season, starts in June so that may not make it the best place to visit Japan. Mix that with the humidity and the creepy crawlers, that might make it a no go for some. But I personally like the gloominess of the season. I’ll be able to fully take advantage of the rainy season to get some rain shots I want. The season usually lasts until late July or early August so right after, the summer festivals start which is something everyone should experience at least once as there’s really nothing else like them. There are plenty of firework shows as well which is another thing I would love to photograph! The humidity though… That can go away. And the bugs too of course. Moving through Japan, my destination will be Bangkok, Thailand. With the way the tourist visa works there, the initial stay would have to be 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days. There are a bunch of nice temples around Bangkok that are stunning. It is also a country I haven’t been to before so just being somewhere totally new to me is exciting. Getting to know the culture, the surroundings, the language, the food and everything else is one thing I like to do when traveling somewhere new and for me, that is what traveling is all about. Being that I’ve never been to Thailand before, I don’t really know what to expect, but I do have a bunch of locations I want to go to so I will share more of that when the time comes!

Getting into the fall time, I found it the perfect opportunity to visit Jeju Island back in Korea. I didn’t get to visit Jeju Island last year so I definitely want to visit during the fall time. The colors should be to die for. Getting around the entire island is pretty tough so I hear rental cars is definitely something to get if traveling around the island is something you want to do. In order to do that though, you’ll need a IDP or an international Driving Permit, so if you want to drive around Jeju Island or honestly, just anywhere internationally, you’ll definitely want to get one. I’ll link the site below. But I will be applying for one so I can drive through Jeju Island and perhaps another place. After a week or so in Jeju Island, I’ll make my way back to the mainland and prepare for the winter in Seoul. I’ve never really experienced snow, like snow snow, besides the couple of times it snowed in Tokyo. I hear it snows like crazy in Seoul so I’m definitely looking forward to that and photographing the vibes that gives off. Plus, I just love winter in general. In L.A, our winters aren’t anything special. It just gets “cold”.

Once the winter ends and spring inches closer, I will be heading to Japan to experience the Cherry Blossoms once again. I’m hoping the Japan travel bug will be back to precovid levels. Spring time is always busy, but I can’t even imagine how busy it’ll be in 2023 as it'll be the first Spring after reopening their borders. When I first arrived in Japan to live there in 2018, I landed right when Spring had just started, so it will definitely be a special moment. But that aside, I can’t wait to get photos of everything as I hadn’t started photography quite then yet. With that ends the plans of my first year in my nomadic trip. I have the second year planned out, but I’ll have to see how the first year ends up then I’ll start looking at how the second year will turn out.

Again, all of these plans for me are very flexible. I originally had it planned for March 2023, but if I do choose to start in Fall of 2023 or Winter of 2024, I'll already have a location planned and ready to go.

Now that the trip has been talked about, we can get a bit more into the gear talk and see what the travel friendly kit I talked about earlier is. I previously had 2 cameras and 6 lenses with me. You can definitely say I overpacked with the lenses. The major culprits of why my bag was so heavy were definitely my 100-400 GM, 35 mm 1.4, and 16-35 GM. I say those were the main culprits because not only were they the lenses that were the heaviest in my kit, they also were the ones I used the least. The 16-35 GM was really only used for the wide end and I never really found myself needing the 2.8 so instead, I sold my 16-35 and opted for the 16-35 PZ f4. This lens is half the weight and way smaller than the GM. That was enough to sell me on the lens already, but the image quality is fantastic from what I’ve seen, both from myself testing it and video reviews talking about it. It also makes for a great vlogging lens. Moving over to the 35 mm 1.4, I just never used it. I actually don’t even know why I bought it in the first place. I heard a bunch of reviews saying how great the lens was and I guess that made me buy it, only for me to barely pick it up and use it. That’s really the only reason honestly. Other than that, the lens was great, it just wasn’t for me. 35 mm isn’t particularly a focal length I use a lot, which may be strange for some since that’s considered the most common street photography lens, but I don’t know, it just isn’t for me. I much prefer the 50 mm. Though I still wanted a 35 mm lens, for practice and also just for casual shooting. I was looking into getting one of those small cameras like the ZV1 or the RX100, but the prices were a bit steep for a wanting to just shoot casually, especially since I already had 2 cameras. While looking, I thought I could kill 2 birds with one stone and just get the Sony 35 mm ZA f2.8. Not only is this the lightest lens Sony has to offer for the E Mount, but it’s a pretty good lens as well. The image quality is great from what I’ve seen so if I’m ever casually shooting around and I end up actually seeing something good, I don’t have to switch to a my main camera to ensure I get the best quality. I literally have the camera in my hands.

Finally, the last big change I made to my kit is selling my 100-400 GM. I used it a lot when living in L.A and thought I could get away with taking it with me during my travels, but it’s just too big and heavy. I could literally feel the weight difference when I had it in my bag vs. my bag without it. The 3 lbs makes a big difference. When thinking about what I could “replace” it with, I also knew I needed a midrange zoom lens. That led me to purchasing the 24-105 mm f4. I looked at my old photos and saw a lot of my favorites I took with the 100-400 were from 100-200. I could do a 1.5 crop to get to a maximum of 157.5 mm if I ever need to. I was also thinking about getting the Sony 24-70 GM f2.8 II, but there were a few things that led me to the 24-105. One is the price. The 24-70 GM II is 3x the price. That’s a lot of money i could use to travel instead. Second is the extra each of the 24-105. With the 1.5 APSC crop, that’s 157.5 mm. That’s quite the reach for a lens of that size. And third, I’m not sure if I really need the f2.8. Time will tell, but right now, I think I would prefer to use my primes if I ever need a faster lens. Though one thing I’ve worried about is with my 100-400 GM, there were quite a few of my favorite pics that were in the 250-350 mm. I was also thinking of getting the 70-200 GM II as with the 1.5 crop, I could get a max of 300mm which would let get that reach. There are also certain shots I’ve thought of that I could only get with the 70-200 2.8. Buying the lens would put a dent in my savings though while also adding more weight to my kit so I’ll have to really think it over.

Well, I hope this video wasn’t too long haha. I’ve been thinking about these plans for a good year and basically planned everything I’ve done this year for this trip, from all the gear I’ve bought then sold to all the money I’ve saved. I’ve done all the research from tourist visas to visa extensions to monthly costs for each country and a rough estimate of how much it’d be for my lifestyle for a year. I’m excited to get it going, but also a bit nervous as you never know what will happen. Anyways enough rambling. I’ll talk to you all later.