The price isn’t at all unreasonable, but failing to even discuss pricing and scope of work before a shoot is imho deeply unprofessional to the point you should probably just offer to accept whatever they had in mind as payment.

Nobody should ever be surprised by the final bill, it doesn’t matter if it’s higher or lower than expected, they should know in advance what the amount is and have the opportunity to transparently approve or decline anything that changes it, also in advance. If it’s hours-based, there should be pre-established approval thresholds where it’s confirmed clearly at each stage.

Surprise bills are simply an unacceptable business practice, again IMHO

It turns out that my great joy is seeing people who did a shoot with using my pic as their profile pic. Creating an image that someone feels represents them at that level just feels amazing.

This. Two smaller bags or backpack and bag, each with 3x bodies/lenses. Bodies without lenses pack pretty compact, lenses just depend on size, obviously. They should be small enough to fit under the seat or overhead in a CRJ. One can go into a rollaboard, set up so you can pull it and keep it if forced to gate-check. As others noted, say ‘lithium batteries’ if hassled, but don’t say ‘huge amounts’, airlines have a max amount you’re allowed to carry on, though it’s rarely enforced.