Are you thinking of utilizing this year’s Black Friday deals to beef up your travel gear? I know I am! I’ve never been a big Black Friday shopper, but in recent years it’s been a helpful tool in snagging pieces of gear that normally feel a little too expensive to justify at full price. I’m a big fan of underwater photography and freediving, mountain biking, and film photography—all very expensive and gear-heavy activities—and shopping during the Black Friday deals helps me with getting those gear items I normally forgo.

And I’m excited to share some of my favorite pieces of travel gear with you so you can do the same!

Plus, if you’re feeling unsure of what items are really worth purchasing on this Black Friday, hopefully this post can help.

My Top 5 Pieces of Travel Gear to Snag this Black Friday

#1 - Wandrd Backpack

There are so many bags out there that try and fill a need all travel photographers have: carrying gear. I’ve tried my fair share of those bags, and while no bag has been the absolute “perfect” fit, my Wandrd Prvke bag is about as close as I’ve gotten to perfect. I personally use the 31-liter option, and have lugged this thing around the U.S., through airports, and on wedding days. It’s my go-to and versatile camera bag and I pretty much never go on a trip or shoot an elopement without it. Even though the bag can hold a lot (especially thanks to the roll-top feature!) I am always able to fit it under the seat in front of me as my personal bag on airline flights—which is great, because it leaves my carry-on item as my next favorite form of gear storage: the Pelican 1510 Case.

#2 The Pelican 1510 Case

If you end up buying any of the things I recommend today, let it be this one. This case is waterproof, burly as heck, but small enough to be your carry-on item at the airport. I absolutely love my case and it comes with me on every. single. trip. As I mentioned before, gear gets costly. Part of why I love this case is because, with the foam interior and the hard shell exterior, I can feel confident that the thousands of dollars worth of gear I’m storing on the inside is not going to get messed up while I travel from place to place. While Pelican offers a ton of variety in cases for gear storage, I love the 1510 because it’s designed specifically for airline travel: it has a luggage-style handle and can fit as your carry-on. Just be warned, between the case itself and whatever gear you put inside, it can get heavy fast so be careful when you lift it above your head to put it in the overhead bin.

I’ve had this case now for going on four years or so, and I love it. It was one of the first big purchases I made when I started doing destination and travel photography, and it’s stood up pretty well against all of the weather and locations I’ve hauled it through. One recent addition I made was a Pelican Lid Organizer for holding batteries, chargers, SD/XQD cards, and other smaller items. It’s made me love my 1510 case even more, and I'd highly recommend adding it to your purchase if you decide to get this case!

#3 Blundstone Boots

Honestly, if I could be sponsored by any brand, I think it would have to be Blundstone. These are my most-worn shoe, and I love them so much I’m on my second pair (after wearing out the first)! If we’ve ever adventured together, you’ve definitely seen me wear these boots. I don’t evangelize for many products, but this is definitely one that I do! These are my go-to airport shoe, my outdoor wedding and adventure elopement day shoe, my car-camping shoe, and my hike-under-5-miles-shoe. I’ve worn these boots in snow, through shallow creeks, and on desert hikes and they handle it all pretty well! Of all the landscapes, I’d say that they are a great desert shoe. The leather exterior keeps pokey flora like cacti and yucca from finding their way into your feet, and dust can be easily wiped off!

While Blundstone has a variety of fit and options available, my favorite is the Women’s Originals High Top Boots. I’ve had both the black color (which aged really well and faded to a dark blue-ish gray), as well as the Rustic Brown (which is the color you see pictured here)! When it comes to ordering the right size, I’d suggest going a half-size up. I’m typically an 8.5 but I have a 9 for my boots and they fit wonderfully.

Bonus tip: To help with blisters as you break in the shoes—and to keep your toes warm—I’d recommend also purchasing a pair of wool crew socks to wear with your new Blundstone boots!

#4 Lacie Harddrives

Being on the road a lot, I’ve really tried to get my systems down when it comes to storage of photos, videos, and files. I’ve tried out a handful of different portable hard drives, but the one I keep coming back to is the Lacie 2TB Hard Drive. I’ve never had issues with the drive crashing, losing files, or getting messed up from rolling around in my bag. The rubber piece on the outside of the drive helps with shock absorption and keeps the drive from feeling the brunt of the unavoidable wear-and-tear from being a photographer on the move. While I use these drives on my desktop computer at home, I also take one with me when I’m on the road and make sure to back up all my photos to it each day!

Even though I do feel confident that my drive won’t crash, you can never be too careful. So, if you’re looking to really round out your on-the-road-data-storage, I’d recommend investing in a cloud backup service as well! I use BackBlaze and love being able to just allow my files to sync automatically and not have to think about it while I’m on the road.

#5 Southwest Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

You may be thinking, “How is a credit card gear?” And I hear you. It’s a bit of a stretch to throw it in with my other recommendations, but my Southwest credit card is how I book most of my flights for travel (especially to Hawai’i) and so I wanted to share it with you! If you’re looking to book flights and get out on some trips in 2022, then getting a Southwest credit card may help you get there. I’ve used both AMEX Platinum and the Southwest Sapphire Preferred, and I’ve got to say that my Southwest card comes out on top when it comes to annual fee, benefits, points, and overall usage.

I recently booked trips to Hawaii and didn’t pay a dime. How? I used my Southwest CC points! When you make purchases with your Southwest card, you start to rack up points that can, in turn, be used to book flights through the Southwest website. Plus, most of the Southwest cards come with a sign-on bonus with enough free points to book an international flight! While I almost exclusively fly Southwest, I do occasionally have international travel that requires I use a different airline. Part of why I like the Sapphire Preferred card is because the Ultimate Rewards points you earn can be used on airlines other than Southwest, such as United! If you want to check out all the benefits and sign up for your own card, you can see all the details here: Southwest Sapphire Preferred.

There you have it! My top 5 pieces of travel gear to snag on Black Friday.

** Enter early 2000s commercial voice-over **

But wait! There’s more!

I know I said that I was just going to share my top 5 pieces of gear, but when I was writing this post I thought of two other items that I don’t go on a trip without, and I’d love to share them with you!

These two products are awesome for photographers and/or folks who spend lots of time in hotels on the road! The door alarm helps me have peace of mind when I’m staying in hotels. It’s pretty inexpensive and is small enough it can pack easily in a backpack or suitcase!

The Rose Anvil harness is my go-to when it comes to hiking, elopements and wedding days, and generally anytime I’m shooting with more than one camera. Instead of sitting on your shoulders like traditional harnesses, the weight sits on your hips by hooks that attach your belt! I even attach mine to my backpack sometimes—all in all, a great investment for anyone who needs to go from hands-free to shooting really quickly!

Bonus tip: Since cameras tend to be pretty heavy, normal belts will show wear and tear from the hooks rather quickly. I’ve been using this Carhartt belt for the last two years and it’s held up really well.

Disclaimer: A few of the links on this page are affiliate links, however all of these products were ones I chose for myself and truly love using!

Looking for underwater gear? Here are my 3 favorite underwater housing systems (and they all have Black Friday deals!)

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Anna Claire Beasley is an adventurous wedding, elopement, + portrait photographer based out of Texas. She travels for the majority of all of her sessions, from across Texas to locations like Big Bend National Park, to New Mexico, California, Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii, and anywhere else there’s a story to document. Her work is grounded in the belief that photographs are about remembering moments + experiences and she makes it her goal is to capture how it felt so those memories can stay fresh for years to come.