Suitcase and World: The Drone Has Arrived!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Drone Has Arrived!

Here's the drone!
Late last November, around Thanksgiving to be more precise, George emailed me to ask me for recommendations for a camera.  Given all the traveling he does for work, during which time he occasionally has the opportunity to squeeze in a bit of sightseeing, I was surprised to find out he didn't have a camera or maybe he just wanted to get a new one.  Of course, I always have suggestions :-)

Given the type of trip we're going on, I suggested that George consider a sports camera - they're usually compact and very durable - withstand heat/cold, dirt and are water resistant.  I gave him a few names and of course, threw in GPro.  I have to admit, if I didn't already have a good sports camera, which I'm not yet ready to replace, I would own a GPro.  They're just so darn fun and the possibilities of what you can do with them are pretty much just limited to your imagination.


So, off George went to check out the cameras and in no time, he wrote back to me that he decided to get a GPro.  Woohoo!  My unspoken wish come true!  Then....he did me one better!  He said he was going to get the drone as well!  Oh. My. God.  Now, we're talking!  All of a sudden, images of hovering over that surreal landscape of the Madagascar tsingy came into my head.  In fact, I had reached out to the tour operator to see if we had time to squeeze in a flight over the tsingy but apparently, it's not doable.  Now, it is.  Except we won't be in a plane - we'll let the drone do it for us.

Aerial view of the Tsingy of Bemaraha.  Now we'll get to take our own snapshot!  (Photo from enjoyourholiday.com)

And....what else would be amazing?  An aerial view of Baobab Alley!  I don't think anyone's ever done that before....at least I don't see anything in Google Images.

George emailed me yesterday. The subject line simply read, "THE DRONE HAS ARRIVED".  I was beside myself with excitment! I immediately shot back a reply asking when we could try it out.  Given that we are in the middle of one of the most frigid winters the Mid Atlantic has ever experienced, it was no surprise he said we would have to wait til the temperatures got warmer.  In the meantime, he gets to figure out how to assemble the thing.  I don't know what assembly is needed but George is a smart guy.  Hurry up George, I can't wait til we get to test drive the GPro and drone!

Update:  June 20, 2015.  We decided to not bring the drone.  I was looking forward to doing some amazing aerial shots but the reality is that it'll likely raise a lot of questions at customs.  I would hate for it to be confiscated.  Instead, George will bring along a dSLR camera.

Note:  This post was originally published on February 22, 2015.