Hezu

18 hours ago, KYBOB said:

Well fate has decided for me! With 120 days until the first leg of the AAA tour I am calling it. (Alaska, Australia and last Africa. I fell last Tuesday and broke my left elbow, like snapped it in two. I go Monday for surgery to have a plate installed to reconnect it. So I have 4 months to be able to hold a camera so…looks like the 100-400 will be the one to go this trip. Even it may get sidelined for the 70-200 f2.8 Sonys new version ii is super light and the lightest 70-200 I have ever used. I still have a Nikon Z7ii and a Z24-200 lens that would be super light if I am not back up to strength by then. 

Ouch, I can sort relate with this, some years ago in mid-May I fell on bike and fractured my upper arm, survived without surgery, but sadly had to cancel a trip to Iceland that would been in early June. The arm started to feel normal only couple months later.

If lifting heavy camera+lens combinations continues to be a problem when you travel, I suggest to seriously take a look at getting Sony RX10 IV. The feeling of the controls and EVF might be tad inferior compared to your ILCs and the smaller sensor might be less suitable for low light situations, but that camera packs a versatile lens (field of view comparable to 24-600 mm in full frame terms) and very respectable AF in reasonably small and light compact form.

3 hours ago, em-sk said:

First thing is you want everything on one ticket. That way if you miss a connection, the airline is responsible for rerouting and rebooking.   I would avoid going through Europe, it just makes everything longer than it has to be.  With the issue with Ukraine and Russia, the western airlines all have to fly a few extra hours around Russia making everything much longer.

Actually the flight restrictions over Russia and Ukraina do not affect most Europe<->Singapore flights as much as it affects flights between Europe and Korea, Japan and northern parts of China, which have to take much longer detour whereas Singapore flights still follow roughly similar route as earlier, just tad more southern flight path.

6 minutes ago, Apel said:

 

I don't know what the cost of the Hoho bus is, but if you just want to get around the city a day ticket for all public transportation costs €9 and most cruise ports have a tram stop nearby.

Majority of cruise ships dock in Helsinki at Hernesaari (Ärtholmen in Swedish) and the distance between the quays there and the nearest tram stop is something like a kilometre, so not exactly something I would call nearby, although for a able bodied persons not impossible distance to walk.

Few smaller cruise ships (+ Silja Line and Viking Line cruise ferries) do call at South Harbour (fi: Eteläsatama, sv: Södra hamnen) and from there the distances to the nearest tram stops are much shorter.

16 minutes ago, nansi said:

Taxi rates for a trip within the city were very reasonable. To the airport VERY expensive.

Just for sake of clarity: the main international airport serving Reykjavík area is Keflavík Airport, which is something like 50 km from the city centre, which probably explains why the taxi fares are quite expensive. There is also another airport, Reykjavík Airport, that is next to the city centre and taxi fares between the cruise terminal and that airport are more tolerable, although since that airport offers only flights to elsewhere in Iceland and some destinations in Greenland, for most people that won't offer any help. For connections between central Reykjavík and Keflavík, the more cost-effective transport method is probably bus.

If you want to take just a part of the HOHO bus route, you probably could use regular public transportation to travel to the opposite direction. Most HOHO bus stops should have bus or tram stops or a metro station in the vicinity. Of course, for these you will need a different ticket. For more information about public transportation (routes, ticket prices etc.) in Helsinki region, please check out HSL website.

My personal experience on cruising around Svalbard is quite limited as I have only taken a short (three nights) cruise on Hurtigruten's MS Polarstjernen, which is a fairly small ship (especially as it is rather old and thus her cabins tend to be much smaller than on more modern ships) and I think that particular cruise was not even fully booked. Fewer passangers is obviously an advantage if the cruise includes landings on smaller boats as otherwise the process of getting people on the boats and back to the ship would take longer time and there might be crowding on the beach.

And there are certainly smaller ships sailing around Svalbard, I believe the smallest ones are M/S Origo, M/S Malmö and M/S Freya. These sister ships take only something like 14 passangers and primarily they are used for photo expeditions around Svalbard. There are also other bit larger expedition ships, eg. MV Polar Pioneer, that has something like 25 cabins in total.

21 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

The only issue with the 2 tram is seeing where you dock.  You'd need to get from the port to the tram.  We took a cab but there might be other alternatives depending on where you dock (we had a 3 year old in tow, so our ability to navigate was a bit limited but the public transportation system in the Baltics was excellent).

The most commonly used cruise port in Helsinki is Hernesaari, which sadly is currently without any nearby tram or bus stops, closest one is something like kilometer away from the quays. And that is for tram line 6. Although if you want to ride around on tram 2, you could for example take tram number 6 to either Fredrikinkatu or Erottaja stops on Bulevardi, go to the stop on the other side of the street, hop on the next tram on line 3, which will eventually change into tram number 2 at Olympiaterminaali stop (and also the other way around for trams that are going to the opposite direction).

But in general, the public transport in Helsinki should be able to get you on most locations around the city quite easily, for more details on routes, prices and possible announcements on interuptions, please check out HSL website. The route planner there can be useful tool if you want to know how to get from certain location to some destination. The route planner is also included in HSL mobile app. It is possible to purchase tickets with this app. And all HSL area tickets include unlimited changes between busses, trams, local trains and Suomenlinna ferry as long as the ticket is valid (for single tickets minimum of 80 minutes).

1 hour ago, janetcbl said:

Sorry to hear that the Market Square has changed to include more “touristy” items. That market was one of my favorite places, especially the cloudberry piles in the Fall. The Karelian pies were a favorite!….tried making them at home….dismal failure!

I think there is (or at least in summer will be) vendors offering fruits, berries and vegetables. And I presume that at least some of the cafe tents would offer Karelian pasties (or "rice pasties" as the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG)  definition of Karelian pasty has quite strict regulations on how one should prepare these). But certainly significant portion of the offerings will be more geared towards tourists rather than locals doing their grocery shopping.

16 hours ago, pierces said:

Another consideration is that your old card is, well, old. Memory cards have a finite life span. The component cells actually degrade after a number of write/read/erase cycles. In real life, the number of cycles is large, and it takes the average shooter a long time to exceed the limit. Even realizing that, my two is one and one is none philosophy leads me to buy new memory with a new camera. Since I tend to keep a camera for about 5 years, I never worry about the age of the memory or the number of read/writes. That has probably contributed to the fact that I have never had a card go south on me. I do carry the old memory in my bag, because you never know... 😉

Also worth a note that the transfer speeds of memory cards have been increasing all the time and it is rarely a bad idea to have a faster card instead of slower one.

7 hours ago, cmph said:

What type of market is the open air market near the harbor? Is it a flea market with local goods? or a food market? or a combo? I tried to google that after reading your comment, but it looks like there are a lot of markets in Helsinki. We have plans to do the HOHO off already, and I think my 17yo would appreciate a shopping diversion from the rest of the things we plan to see. She would love to go to a good flea market!

Traditionally the Market Square has been a food market and with sort of farmers' market type repertoire, but in recent times the focus has somewhat shifted towards more touristy offerings and these days many booths offer souveniers and prepared food and drinks to be consumed on the spot or as take away portions. Some sign of this process was news that on Easter Saturday the last fish monger on the market will cease trading there.

If you want to see an open air flea market that you could find in Hietalahti market, but it will be open only on Saturdays and Sundays 10-15. There are also some other indoor flea markets or second hand stores around Helsinki that have longer opening hours.

15 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

Daylight in the fjord region varies from roughly 5:30-21:30 at either end of the season (mid-May and mid-August) to 3:30-22:30 in late June. So unless you have an abnormally early or late port call, it won't be a problem.

I presume the quoted times are sunrise and sunset times. It is worth remembering that around dusk and dawn there will be twilight illuminating sky even if the sun is below the horizon.

I think you have most bases covered with that choice of lenses (and cameras). At most, I would consider adding some fast prime(s) in case you want to shoot in dark conditions (eg. indoors), although that f/2.8 wide angle zoom might cover such situations at least partially if you don't need longer focal lengths.

On 3/9/2023 at 10:19 PM, hallasm said:

Absolutely no chance for Northern Lights in Southern Norway and most cruises are during summer - northern lights only when it’s dark inside the Arctic Curcle.

In summer you sure cannot see Northern Lights in Southern Norway (or elsewhere), but I wouldn't use such strong language that there is no chance to see them there, granted the sufficiently strong magnetic storms occur rarely and even then clouds may obstruct the view to the night sky. Just couple weeks ago the space weather had so strong magnetic storms that one could see Northern Lights even on the latitudes of The Netherlands. But certainly the best chances to see auroras are in latitudes above the Arctic Circle (and from (late) autumn to (early) spring).

10 hours ago, fmrlkr said:

I am looking for a good Puffin tour.  We will be in Iceland May 22, 23, 24 & 25.  Akureyri, Isafjordur and Reykjavik.  Any suggestions?

I have no experience in any specific tours, but after little research I gather that your best chances are either from Ísafjörður (nearby Vigur island) or Reykjavík (Akurey and Lundey islands).

Found a comprehensive blog post on puffins in Iceland that probably can give you further information.

15 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

• Olivia is an Oslo-native Italian restaurant that also has a location in Østbanehallen. 

If the wish was no international chain restaurants, I think this could be thus disqualified since despite being originally Norwegian, thesedays the chain is international as there are restaurants at least also in Helsinki.

Where in Europe? What would you like to photograph?

You are talking about a large continent and for some photo opportunities camera phones may prove to be somewhat limited. I can think about at least two use cases, where mobile phone cameras may be insufficient: when you want to take photos of far away subjects and dark locations (eg. interiors of old buildings). Of course, for these situations, you would need a telephoto lens and a fast aperture lens(es).

23 hours ago, irvington said:

This is good to know. Going with my sons this summer and one of them loves walking (as do I) but the other one will complain (and of course he's the thinnest and fittest of us all). We are comfortable using public transit and a friend who just went to Helsinki said it was very easy to use, so that's probably another option. She recommended the HSL app, I downloaded it, and it seems easy to use.

One note regarding public transport in Helsinki: presuming the ship calls at Hernesaari, for time being there is no bus or tram traffic close to the cruise ship quays, the nearest tram stop is about kilometer away. But once you get there, for modest ticket prices you have access to the whole public transport network, that can transport you not only to the destination of the shuttle busses (somewhere near Market Square?), but pretty much anywhere in the Finnish capital region. Worth noting that even single tickets include unlimited number of changes between trams, busses, Suomenlinna ferry, metro and local trains within the validity time of the ticket. This varies on how large area is covered: the AB zone (whole central Helsinki and little more) ticket is valid for 80 minutes and ABC zone ticket for 90 minutes and ABCD zone (= whole region) ticket for 110 minutes. Although it might be useful to buy a 24h ticket instead of bunch of single tickets as AB zone 24h ticket costs 9 €, while single tickets for the same area are 3.10 €, so thus if you need 3+ tickets 24h ticket becomes cheaper option.

20 hours ago, McGarrett5oh said:

Since we have the car for 24 hours, we want to go out late at night to hopefully see the Northern Lights.  My question is if anyone knows where would be better destinations (away from the Reykjavik lights, but not too far) to get that complete darkness needed to see the Aurora Bourealis?

It doesn't have to complete darkness to see auroras, although minimal light pollution makes it easier to see these. For example one reasonably popular place to see northern lights is around Garður lighthouse in NW tip of Reykjanes peninsula (north of Keflavik airport). Also apart from the city center of Reykjavík, I think Iceland might have fairly light amounts of light pollution.

19 hours ago, Coral said:

If it helps - I did eat waffles in 2 different places and they were darn good. One was in North Cape. The other was on a Tromso private tour. You can find waffles elsewhere!

Waffles are quite popular in Norway, so there is indeed number of places where they are on offer.

16 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

For the experts, Decisions, Decisions. We've put deposits on both, as who knows what the situation with Russia will be in 2024. Since we're coming from Hawaii, we'd only do this once. The shorter cruise looks good, are we doing to much of the Fjords on the second? Mahalo for all advice!

I think either itinerary would offer a lot to see in Northern Europe, so it is bit of toss whether you want to A) ports on North Sea coast and Shetland Islands or B) few more fjords on Norwegian coast and full tour around Baltic Sea. I wouldn't be too concerned that the situation with Russia would significally affect either cruise.

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

In case there are more than one port, we will be sailing on NCL, so whatever port they use.

 

DW said she googled it, and it was walking distance away, but that does not sound right to me.

Blue Lagoon isn't even in the city of Reykjavík, so the distance would be quite challenging to walk. Skarfbakki harbour (where there is cruise terminal) to Blue Lagoon car park is 51 km and if Google Maps estimates correctly, would be 44 minute drive by car.

It is possible your DW noticed Laugardalslaug pools, which are within the city and there you could indeed walk from the harbour.

I have not been on either place, but quick look on a map reveals that Eidfjord is near the eastern end of the fjord system while Ulvik is more to the west, but it is at the end of a sidefjord, so the amount of fjord cruising should be quite comparable.

If you are really interested in seeing Vøringfossen, I presume it would be quite possible to go there also from Ulvik, although the trip will obviously take little longer since you are starting from the other side of the fjord, but if Google Maps is anywhere accurate it would be about 50 km in distance and 48 minute drive from Ulvik to Vøringfossen (and obviosly the same back). Also closer to Ulvik, there would be another waterfalls, Espelandsfossen. I don't know if you could arrange transportation from Ulvik to either waterfalls from the tour operator you booked or if there is any other alternatives, but then you have to remember that both Eidfjord (population 544 in 2019) and Ulvik (pop. 1067) are small villages.

One interesting option popped into my mind: how about starting the air travel from Southampton airport? Although sadly there doesn't seem to be direct flights to Barcelona from Southampton, but it should be fairly easy to build a one stop itinerary, at least KLM via Amsterdam would be a possible routing.

As the previous posters note that dog sledding is not a native Icelandic activity, I remembered that there is another animal related transportation method that is far more Icelandic: riding Icelandic horses. I think there is quite many places where you could try this activity, although I cannot name any specific ones right now and I feel bit lazy to do a web search that probably would yield several options.

3 hours ago, MissBreezy said:

I'd also add to this, that even in September there will still be quite a bit of midnight sun left (it may not get dark enough at night for long enough to see them) I live in rural Northern Canada and our lighting conditions are very rarely right for aurora outside of the dead of winter, I maybe see them once a year 😬

Perhaps calling it midnight sun is bit of overkill, but yes, in September days are still fairly long and nights fairly short, so for seeing dark sky you have to be up fairly late in the evening/night to even have any chance to see auroras. Although the sunlight hours do diminish as the month progress: in Reykjavík on September 1st sunrise is at 6:13 and sunset at  20:25, on September 30th sunrise is at 7:22 and sunset at 18:57. And these times are not the times when the darkness fades or falls in, that happens already sometime before sunrise and after the actual sunset time.