Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

M - I think the main advantage, at least for me, is that you can afford to be just a little fatter if you are tall than if you are small! At least that is what I tell myself.

I too have to shorten jeans etc. often, believe it or not, as I don't wear high heels with them. When I was a teenager, I used to stoop as I was taller than most boys - my first real boyfriend was 6' 4", and I immediately got heels, and started to be pleased at being taller, and I must say I am still glad I am a bit over average height. It does slightly reduce the number of men available, unless they don't mind being smaller, like Bernie Ecclestone. My DH is actually only 2" taller than me, but neither of us care.

Sorry to everyone else, this must be acutely boring.

L - I would not call either of us boring! :) It is in the seemingly trivial where friendships are forged and common interests are found. I wish I could wear heels but my fragile bones would not be pleased if I went over on an ankle! So I can't even elevate myself with them. I am reconciled to that but I really wish I could see over heads in a crowd. :)

Good Morning Coolers,

Returned home (now 3:30 am in the UK) after a rotten ride home with loads of unsignposted diversions! Still!

M, my wife is shorter than you and I am shorter than you r husband. I know I have already said this .... but when I met her I thought she was small and lovely. As my dad was in the schmutter business I learned how to make and grade oatterns and to cut. And so on one of our first dates ...smooth talker as I am I asked her if she was a size 6 (UK!) and she said six was too small and 8 too big ... so I asked her if anyone in her family could use a sewing machine and she could so I graded a pattern and made her a lovely pair of perfect 7 lovely tight black trousers! You should have seen how they fitted. ai can still see them ;)

We all come in all shapes and sizes and what gives me most pleasure is looking at a lady who does the best she can with what she was given with bags of personality shining through. Tall or small, it doesn't matter at all. :)

Jeff

Jeff, amazed to see that you are awake at this hour! Sorry to hear that your drive was so miserable. And your neighbors... what a pain!

We laid out our clothes for the Germany trip a few days ago, and tonight we were ecstatic to find that they fit into one rollaboard suitcase and a large carry-on briefcase-sized laptop bag. There are a few miscellaneous items left to pack that will fit into our two backpacks with room to spare. We love traveling light these days... More than a week's worth of clothes, all in carry-on luggage! :D Such a far cry from what we used to pack, back in the day!

This will be handy on both ends of the trip. When we arrive in Frankfurt on Saturday AM, we have to catch a train to Wurzburg. There will be no need to wait to claim our luggage at the baggage claim. We can relax and stroll to the train station at our leisure, and hopefully grab a snack on the way... No huge bags to lug on the train...

And when we arrive back home at JFK, we can breeze right through Global Entry with our carry-ons and then head directly to our car for the drive home. No waiting endlessly for luggage to be delivered!

Tomorrow evening, in about 20 hours, it will be time to check in for our flights... Hope I can sleep tonight and tomorrow night - the anticipation is killing me! All of our destinations are safely uploaded to the Garmin GPS (SatNav for our British friends), so we're ready to go. I have been looking forward to this trip since the day we arrived home from Chris' European delivery trip - can't believe it's almost here!

JP & Chris, have a wonderful trip! I think we may be almost as excited as you are! :) Your posts have been building the excitement for readers here! Safe & Joyful Travels!

Jeff, I did not know that you had experience in the clothing/tailoring business. What a great skill to have! Having access to clothing designed specifically to fit my body would be like winning the lottery! :) I do OK for the most part though. I can hem things with the best of them. It would just be a treat not to have to.

Sorry about your trip home! Hope you can unwind quickly and get back to enjoying your taverna!

JP & Chris,

For some reason, I feel the excitement for you as we're getting closer to Friday and off to collect the new born baby. It really is exciting and I am genuinely looking forward to coming along with you ...

:)

M,

I use to go into the factory during the week and on Saturdays up until around 12 or so. To be honest I use to be scared of using the Eastman and Wolf cutting machines when so young and I really shouldn't have done .... I have seen fingers dissapear ... (those machines that have a vertical blade and cut through "lays" of cloth) but I learned how to grade patterns - it's really easy you just divide the total amount of size you are adding or taking away and divide it by the seams and then take that amount off ... another skill for Myster to learn ....:D

In the early days I'd love cutting stuff for wifey - particularly trousers which need to fit so well.

We're back! I took the plunge and ordered the new camera. I went for the Sony DSC RX100 model iii rather than iv and saved around £400 on a couple of features I'd play with once and never use again. It's much better than the model one and because I got a full refund I am around £300 in pocket.

Jeff

Bring on the artistry Jeff! Can't wait to see pics from the new camera when you get it up and running!

I can understand being scared of using a machine with a vertical blade that cuts through layers of cloth! EEEEEEK! I was nervous the first time I used a lawn mower. My uncle had managed to cut off the toes of one of his feet with one of those. I am good with mowers now but I am also very careful. I wear boots to keep my tootsies safe.

Bring on the artistry Jeff! Can't wait to see pics from the new camera when you get it up and running!

 

I can understand being scared of using a machine with a vertical blade that cuts through layers of cloth! EEEEEEK! I was nervous the first time I used a lawn mower. My uncle had managed to cut off the toes of one of his feet with one of those. I am good with mowers now but I am also very careful. I wear boots to keep my tootsies safe.

I still have the odd nightmare and shiver about the cutting machines.

The camera has arrived and I cannot wait to play. Just use in auto and shoot .... no shenanighans ....

:)

Jeff

I bet you'll have fun with that camera, Jeff! Hope you don't spend so much time with it that you forget to cook!

I bet you'll have fun with that camera, Jeff! Hope you don't spend so much time with it that you forget to cook!

Hi JP,

No ... I am trying hard to be disciplained about it. I have set up the basic camera so that it does everything perfectly on point and shoot at max resolution. You pay the cash not to fiddle. In the pocket. Whip it out. Click. No RAW, just JPEG, no flash as it does extraordinary low light, set panorama and maxed resolution for video. A load of people tweek to death and it dos all that, but I spent the cash on a point and shoot that thinks for me even when I am clueless, and that it what it does. It's only going to be used when walking or travelling not for home food ... that is ipad!

Talking of which we had our brochettes inside today at Nicos Taverna as it is to cool outside. A bottle of red with grilled meats, salad, and pitta to grab it all and envelope it all and .... well .... we enjoyed it. . It was lovely getting back to an indoor bbq and a proper kitchen.

Jeff

That looks soooooooo good, J! Fire away with the new camera! There must be something interesting to capture if only to give us coolers a glimpse of the wonder of it! :)

I am not looking forward to the cold weather arrival here. I do suffer when the temps drop below my minimum comfort level of around -5 Celsius. With the dreaded Wind Chill, we can get -40 C here. Tears freeze on your cheeks at that temp. :(

The camera has arrived and I cannot wait to play. Just use in auto and shoot .... no shenanighans .... Jeff

jpalbny: We laid out our clothes for the Germany trip a few days ago' date=' and tonight we were ecstatic to find that they fit into one rollaboard suitcase and a large carry-on briefcase-sized laptop bag. There are a few miscellaneous items left to pack that will fit into our two backpacks with room to spare. We love traveling light these days... More than a week's worth of clothes, all in carry-on luggage! [/quote']

 

mysty: According to Wikipedia' date=' the Australian Red Ensign is a variant flag. Not sure how often it is actually used though. [/quote']

 

Lots of very good and interesting posts at the Cooler in the past day or so. Yes, good luck to JP and Chris with their Germany adventure. Glad to know you have got your packing down to an efficient science. Look forward to hearing more about your trip and seeing many pictures.

 

On the Sony DSC RX100, yes, looking forward to hearing more about how things go as you play with and get to know this new camera. Checked some review on this camera and see that it gets very good marks. The great news is that digital technology keeps improving so fast in so many different aspects. If you follow some "basic photography rules", you can get wonderful results whether using your iPhone, a smaller pocket camera or the bigger SLR (single lens reflex) with varied lens as I do use for most of my trip pictures. Things are lighter, grabbing more image details, fasters, etc. And your Sony camera, like with my iPhone and SLR, does very good video with wonderful quality.

 

Good added background on the Aussie flag, etc. I took those pictures from the two different ships, but it good to know that the more official background have blue as the color. The red background looks cool, too!

 

Keep up the good food, travel, weather, clothing, etc., etc., posts.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 117,937 views for this posting.

That looks soooooooo good, J! Fire away with the new camera! There must be something interesting to capture if only to give us coolers a glimpse of the wonder of it! :)

 

I am not looking forward to the cold weather arrival here. I do suffer when the temps drop below my minimum comfort level of around -5 Celsius. With the dreaded Wind Chill, we can get -40 C here. Tears freeze on your cheeks at that temp. :(

Ah, the dreaded Polar vortex! We visited Montréal and Québec this past January, during a weekend where the temp hit -40C with wind chill. Brr! Was great for building ice castles, though. La Citadelle, on the other hand, was frigid. It was so cold that it was almost fun. In retrospect, of course!

Ah, the dreaded Polar vortex! We visited Montréal and Québec this past January, during a weekend where the temp hit -40C with wind chill. Brr! Was great for building ice castles, though. La Citadelle, on the other hand, was frigid. It was so cold that it was almost fun. In retrospect, of course!

Definitely in retrospect JP! While you are immersed in it, it can bring you to frozen tears! Really looking forward to your blog for your upcoming trip! I had so much fun reading the last one! So I will be going with you if only walking in your footsteps later! :) Have an awesome and safe trip!

J - Following up on your suggestion to get a good pocket-sized camera, would you suggest the Sony RX100 iii? Have you played with it? Are you pleased with it? Your rating would be greatly appreciated! Thank You!

J - Following up on your suggestion to get a good pocket-sized camera, would you suggest the Sony RX100 iii? Have you played with it? Are you pleased with it? Your rating would be greatly appreciated! Thank You!

Hi Mysty,

This is my second Sony RX100 so I know the camera well. I basically set out to buy the best camera I could that fitted in the pocket. I have spent a load of cash on larger camera systems. I have around £3k worth of Sony Nex system for example that is almost entirely unused. It is just too much kerfuffle. It never took a better picture and most of the time my fiddlings made it take worst pictures than a fully manual would. And then there is missed moments and the weight of it all.

I think the SLR thing started with snobbery ie people wanting to look like they were pros and more serious than mere amateurs and many people got sucked into that silliness. For most people now they are totally uneccessary and compromise memory recording.

At the time, I had in mind spending up to around £1000 because what I wanted was a camera to produce perfect pictures almost every time without me needing to fiddle. After reading several different nerdy forums this was the camera that always seemed to come up a being a game changer and the best. It is used by many pro photogrpahers as a second camera ie the one they use when not on duty and for their travel pocket camera.

After buying is what really startled me was not just the quality of pictures but several other things. Firstly when set on "advanced auto" it does several things. It works out what it is you are taking a picture of and resets all modes and settings into it. The mode is it's starting point from here it makes adjustments to ensure a perfect piccy. So for example if you are taking piccies of a nightime landscape it has as a starting point a mode called "night time landcape". If it's a daytime portrait it starts on that mode and then finely adjusts etc. The night mode allows piccies in excpetional darkness. As I understand it it fires off 5 or six instant shots and combines them all into one piccy filling in detail in the darket parts of the subject to are taking. I have never used the flash mode.

The thing that most startled me was when use as an HD video camera. I bought wifey a very expensive HD video camera and the RX100 is much much better and it is just one camera to carry. It is genuinely broadcastable quality.

Technically of course this has a much mkore advanced cmos than Old Betsy simply because it is a new camera and Old Betsy is .... old. The Sony is 20 egapixel rather than your 8 and doesn't use mirrors but plonks the image dirctly on the cmos..

However is has fully manual modes so if you wish to fiddle and do your magic you can. Everything has starting modes and all the controls can be changed and function however you want. It also takes in raw as well as jpeg if you want to mess in the darkroom. I resist all that. I have a camera that quickly works out what Jeff is trying to do and does all the work for him.

I like the model iii because it has a new cmos and improved video and although I have only just taken a shot or two to make sure it's working the quality is stunning. It is obviusly just from a technical viewpoint take better piccies that Old Betsy so you shouldn't think you are compromising in any way. But the thing is whereas Old Betsy isn't really with you in some places the Sony is there for both video and still all the time.

I am thrilled you're thinking this way because I felt that on your WC you would come back with only 20% of the memories you could simply because the camera wasn't always with you and because most moments are moments and by the time you fiddle the moment has gone. I really feel that large cameras are intrusive and change the subject if it is human. I only see upsides.

I do not believe the model iv is a sensible purchase at it's price. I chatted with wifey and I felt that whilst it had a few bits and bobs I'd like to fiddle with I didn't need any and it is pretty much double the price of the iii. The model iii also has an eye view finder and a great back sreen that tilts and reverses if you want a selfie of Myster and you.

There is only a one settings I change from straight out of the box ie panoramic has a better shape if you set it to pan upwards and then turn the camer as a portrait camera and pan from left to right if you get my drift. I'm also buying some better SD cards to ensure I get the most out of the video speed.

This is the forum where many enthusiast hang out. But keep in mind people post when they have a problem and most are posting about deep settings which do not interest me,

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/1009

Ask anything but please, please please don't use Old Betsy on your WC but get a pocket camera and if after research you get the RX100 then I can't see that you'd regret it.

Jeff

JP and Chris,

Safe and lovely and exciting travels ..... don't forget us whilst you're away.

:)

Jeff

Thanks Jeff! I did some preliminary research when you first mentioned the camera. I was impressed with what I read. I wanted your "hands on" opinion because I appreciate your "no nonsense" approach to life. I love Old Betsy and she has much sentimental value as she was a gift from Myster after our very first cruise. And I know that she would be cumbersome on this one. We are taking some side trips on this cruise that involve flights with restrictive carry on baggage rules and Old Betsy might be just too heavy for this. Myster is on board with a new camera and I think he would like this one.

I couldn't sleep so I am up at this ungodly hour keeping quiet so as not to wake the lad. Thanks again Jeff! Once again, you are an excellent resource!

That's great ... happy to help. The WC is so important to you, I was concerned you were understandably showing loyalty to Betsy but it is the years that follow when you don't have all the memories you could.

The Sony is just right. A little larger then it goes in a bag rather than a pocket and that means always having a bag! The only other thing you'll need is a slip case - don't buy the official one, it makes the whole thing bigger.

I have one of these

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hama+fancy+50e

and the grip.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Attachment-AG-R2-RX100III-RX100II/dp/B00KD62HN4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441359391&sr=8-2&keywords=sony+dsc+rx100+grip

So are you taking the plunge?

Jeff

Thanks J! Yes, I think I am going to dive right in! :) The water looks fine! Myster has accumulated points on his credit card and he has enough to go ahead with this. The price is somehow less painful when you can use points that are just sitting around anyway. He is canny with his cash and I am not complaining because that is how we are managing this cruise. :)

And also Jeff, I want to be able to take "selfies". In all our travels together thus far, there are very few pictures of Myster and I together. Usually one or the other of us is behind the camera. Myster likes to walk behind me so there are a lot of photos of the back of me in various locations around the world. Ha Ha! We took a movie camera with us on our honeymoon to Greece and there is a whole lot of film of me walking ahead of him. I would prefer to have pictures of our faces side by side. :)

Brochure in case you didn't find one!

:)

http://www.sonycenter.lu/upload/pdf/brochure/photo/RX100MIII_BROCHURE.pdf

Perfect! Thank you so much!

Perfect! Thank you so much!

Jeff's suggestion and camera might work out fine. BUT, here's a key question that is important!! What do you want to do with the pictures?? Just have them (the good ones) printed out as smaller snapshots? Just look at them on your computer? Share with friends via e-mail? Or, do you like to have a few of them larger for framing on wall? How do you use and share your pictures? Before getting the "right" camera, you need to answer that key question for what you do with the pictures and how used.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 118,147 views for this posting.