I dragged my Phantom 2 around Southeast Asia last summer. I wondered at the time if this was really a good idea, but the Phantom survived, I survived, and I got to fly it over some pretty cool things in the process. Some observations about travel with the companionship of a drone that fits in a backpack:

Airport security around the world could not care less about your drone. Authorities in Taiwan, Singapore, Cambodia, and Thailand all failed to even ask to look at it. You may have issues if you try to carry-on one of those cans of spray-on deodorant, though. I feel so safe.

You will develop a remarkably keen ability to notice when someone is jostling, sitting on, or just looking funny at the backpack that contains your $1200 piece of specialized aerial equipment. Maybe I developed a mind-link with it. Maybe I’m just crazy?

In my experience, average people in Cambodia and Thailand were deeply disinterested in the drone. Perhaps they wrote it off as yet another inexplicable thing foreign tourists do to amuse themselves. I think the monk sweeping the steps at Wat U-Mong didn’t even look up when we launched it, after we explained what we were doing and secured his permission. Still, watch out for feral dogs. Feral dogs love drones.

Here’s the video. My thanks to the late, great, Sinn Sisamouth.

Faine Flies a Drone in Cambodia and Thailand from Faine Greenwood on Vimeo.