Typically whenever photos are involved everyone wants to know what camera was used, we all know that's mostly irrelevant, as Chase Jarvis says:
"The best camera is the one you have with you"
To me, the most important components of taking a great picture are:
right place, right time, seeing a shot, and being ready for the shot
I do have an idea of the locations & things I want to shoot in advance, but I don't stick to that, I use it as a guide, as a way to get me out the door in the morning but regularly don't visit a significant portion of the original plan which I'm totally fine with.
Photography gear
The photos on this site are taken with a wide variety of cameras, lenses and phones all of which cover a massive price range - you don't need any of them, but you do need something I guess.
The phones used is easy, it's a safe bet that any iPhone from the iPhone 4 to my current iPhone 16 Pro Max could feature on here. I'm not going to look into the stats of it, but I know on my trip to Istanbul there were a handful of photos from the 16 that made it into the final gallery and not a single person could spot them amongst the others.
My "big" camera gear is currently: Nikon Z7ii, Nikon 14-24mm f/28, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 - I also have 24mm & 50mm prime lenses but they never come with me
Over all of the trips there will be photos from Nikon {D90, d7000, d7200, d810, Z6, Z6ii} cameras and lenses that vary from the expensive f/2.8 lenses listed above to cheap kit lenses like the 18-200mm - the cheaper ones of course being much lighter to carry which can be a massive benefit when you are walking 20km / day.
Camera gear is stupidly expensive, I've taken many years (15+) to get the kit I've currently got, I started low and kept upgrading with new and used equipment to where I am now.
I carry a tripod with me when I travel - it is a luxury item and would be the first to be dropped if I was tight on space - I carry a carbon fibre tripod which fits in my hand luggage, it doesn't always get used, but it has come in very handy a number of times!
My current tripod is Brian and he's a 3 Legged Thing
You don't have to invest cold hard cash on flashy equipment, if you are going on a trip you can always hire equipment. This will be a fraction of the cost of the purchase, if for example you are going on safari, you can hire a massive 600mm lens that would cost many thousands for a couple of hundred pounds.
If you are in the UK, give https://lensesforhire.co.uk a try for camera hire or lens hire, I've used them over 20 times and have never had an issue.
When I'm on a trip I use an iPad Pro and some external drives (SSDs) to make backups of my photos and I also load them into Lightroom so I can pick and edit photos either in the evenings or in the airport/plane on the way back.
Luggage / Baggage
I try to travel only with hand luggage, unless it's long haul for a decent amount of time.
For most short city breaks it is very possible to pay extra and take a roller carry on bag and also a small (ish) camera bag on the plane with you. This makes the whole airport event much short on both sides and also means your valuables never leave your side.
My current "go-to" baggage setup is a Roller carry on bag from Antler and a Wandrd 9l sling which is enough for clothes and camera gear for a week long trip.
