Earlier this month, I spent a great week on vacation in Iceland. Like many tourists, I took pictures. Unlike many tourists, one of my cameras was a drone. Drone photography definitely added a uniqueness to my experience. However, it also exposed first-hand many of the issues that drones are likely to bring to tourism as they drop in price and become more accessible.

I’m far from a drone expert or avid hobbyist. I got my drone as this past Christmas as a gift from my family. I’ve taken it out to fly a few times in our local area. Iceland presented a unique chance to use it, so I decided to try it on the road.

My drone is a DJI Phantom 2 Vision. DJI no longer seems to stock this model. It was just replaced by what looks to be the excellent Phantom 3 series.

The drone has a built-in camera. When the drone is flying, what the camera sees is sent down to my smartphone. From that, I can control whether to take still pictures or to record video.

Can I Even Take This Thing?

My first challenge in playing drone tourist would be whether I could even take the drone on my domestic flight within the U.S. and then internationally to Iceland. The FAA and TSA have no explicit rules against them, that I could find. Rather, the focus is on the lithium batteries that power them. Those are the regulations you need to be concerned with.

After doing a little research, I found that plenty of people had safely transported drones on flights as carry-on baggage. I also came across an excellent FAA guide (PDF) covering the types of batteries you can include in carry-on. My drone — and most commercially sold drones, it seems — are well within these limits. I printed the guide in case an issue came up during security screening. I never needed it. Of the four times I took my drone through carry-on security, I was questioned only once. In that case, the screener just didn’t know what to make of it so asked that it have one of those explosive wipe tests done. It quickly passed, and I was on my way.

How Do I Carry a Drone Around?

The second challenge was how to actually transport the drone. It’s about the size of a bowling ball, though fortunately it weighs much less. After more research, I settled upon a Fearless backpack that met carry-on size restrictions. There are plenty of other cases out there. Here’s a nice video review of my backpack versus another one that helped me in deciding.

The case was pretty expensive compared to the cost of the drone itself, so I debated that a bit. But, it seemed the best way to transport it. While traveling, after dropping my case a couple of times accidentally, that proved wise. A downside to the case is that the prop guards around my propellers had to be removed. That means you have to spend a few minutes screwing them all back in before taking flight, if you want that extra protection.

As it turned out, I never put the prop guards on. Where I was flying tended to be so open that I didn’t feel I needed the extra protection. That meant I could get my drone out of the bag and up in the air within a few minutes.

What Rules Govern Flying My Drone?

The third big challenge was knowing where I could even fly my drone. From my regular reading of the news, I knew that in the US, drones have been completely banned from within US National Parks. I also know that my model is prevented from being flown in close proximity to airports.

DJI has an entire no fly map that shows where its software, if your drone is properly updated, prevents or limits flying. Disneyland, near me, isn’t on that map, though I understand it’s supposed to be a no fly zone. Iceland, where I was heading, has only two no fly areas listed: near the main international airport and one at an airport in the north. Interestingly, the domestic airport near Reykjavik isn’t included in these.

If there were bans on flying drones near local attractions in Iceland, or anywhere, there seems to be no easy way for pilots to know these. I think that’s going to become even more problematic as drone usage grows around tourist destinations. Some type of easily found common database is needed.

The Don’t Fly Drones Here maps is a nice start, but it’s not perfect. For our local area in Orange County, California, it shows a much wider restriction around John Wayne Airport than DJI actually limits its devices to:

The Don’t Fly Drones Here maps seems to match the guideline promoted by the FAA-backed Know Before You Fly site, which is no flying within five miles of an airport without contacting the tower. But DJI might be right, because it uses a graduated system of height-restrictions around an airport — one that also varies depending on the class of airport involved:

For major airports, DJI prevents any flight within 1. 5 miles. Beyond that, flights can happen but are height-restricted.

Back to that Don’t Fly Drone map: it doesn’t show that for all of New York City, drones can’t be flown, at least according to this NPR story from last year on drone regulations. For France, which I know has some restrictions for Paris, it also shows nothing. For Iceland, where I went, it also shows nothing.

Even when there are rules, you still have problems. That drone which crashed in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring last year did so after a ban was in place. The drone crash at the White House this year happened despite Washington DC restrictions. A tourist in Paris got arrested last yer after flying around Notre Dame, apparently unaware of the restrictions.

In lieu of easy to find rules, I relied on common sense. I wouldn’t fly my drone any place where I thought I’d be interrupting the experience for other tourists or where I felt I’d be potentially dangerous. I’d also keep a close eye out for any rules or regulations in places I was at.

What follows next is my tour of Iceland, as seen by drone. I’ve left a few comments along the way in terms of how I tried to figure out potential restrictions and just common etiquette. At the end, you’ll find an overall summary of how my experience left me wondering how the future of drone tourism and the rules (or lack of them right now) will evolve.