Holy Cow!!

Who knew camera equipment is so expensive? Well, I always knew, but yikes! We're going to Europe next month, and many of the sites we're going to in Italy don't allow flash photography. Non-flash is okay. I have a fabulous camera (the Canon 20D), but I'm afraid even it won't be able to get the awesome shots I'm hoping for sans-flash. So, I've been doing a little research. I started on 2Peas, asking questions of the super knowledgeable gals there. I was wondering if I should buy a 50mm lens or if I should go with something else. Several people suggested a 24 or 28mm lens (they are wider angle than the 50mm and instead of being able to get just the door to a cathedral, I'd be able to get the entire back wall). This morning, I decided to go across the street to Camera Gallery and see what they suggested. Humph! I was not impressed. I was a little nervous walking in. I know, seems odd, but I had to admit that I was clueless about something, and I'm not so great at that. The older gentleman behind the counter was nice, but didn't want to tell me much more than, "Well, you could get a 50mm." Huh? But what about the other 2? So, I inquired. "Yeah, you could go with those if you want to, but the 50mm is priced a lot less." Okay, but I asked what's going to work best for me. Yeah, not so much in the helpful department.

Soooooo....after a brief pit stop at one of the thousands of local Ron's Hamburgers (where I usually refuse to go) for lunch with Chris and some of his former Boeing co-workers, I headed over to Apertures. Of course, this is the farthest camera store from my house, there is a heat advisory (110 with the heat index), the A/C in the Miata doesn't blow very hard, and I forgot deoderant this morning. All of that notwithstanding, I made it to the store and even managed to get my momentarily directionally challenged mom there. She and I have lived here for a lot of years now, and I can't believe this was our first time there. I've no idea the name of the woman who helped us, but she is a godsend! We're even going to take photography classes from her (that would be after we get back from Europe, of course). She got out a 50mm lens and put it on my camera so I could see what kind of shots I could get with it. Then, she gave me another which is actually like an 11mm-30mm (or something like that) so I could see just how much more I could get in a picture.

Of course, she got me hooked on it before telling me the price. The 50mm is about $85(ish) the 24 &28 run 200-300. So I'm expecting something in that range. I'm not gonna kid ya about it, my heart dropped to the floor when she told me the price. Are you ready? $599.99. Um hello? That is a joke, right? Nope, it's the real price. HOLY COW!!! She put it aside for me so I could think about it. I didn't come home empty handed, though! Bob bought me a second battery for my camera. I figure if I took 3000 pictures in Ukraine, It's going to be some crazy, outrageous number in Europe! I can't wait! But I still had to talk to Chris. Yikes. It's a good thing he's such a sweetie! Even with him being such a sweetheart, I was totally dreading it. Sometimes it seems like all I do is spend money. He's amazingly supportive of me and my crazy endeavors, and after the initial, "How are we going to afford that?" he was actually trying to find a way to make it work. We shall see.

This would, of course be AFTER I realized yesterday that we probably need new backpacks for our trip.  Couldn't have figured this out months ago. Nope, had to wait until 5 weeks out. Anyone who's ever traveled with me knows, I'm a planner. I want to know what there is to do and see ahaed of time, and I'll have it all worked out so that we can see the maximum of things with a limited amount of worry while making sure there's ample time for relaxing (I've only learned about that relaxing thing in the past couple of years) and learning as much as possible about how life really is where we are. Well, all of that is the goal anyway. So, I'm doing all kinds of research and reading and watching of shows and checking of websites and what-not. Yesterday I decide to check our flights. Um, yeah, we have a 1 hour layover in Paris. That's it, ONE measley hour. Normally, I'd be glad to be in and out of France so fast, but herein lies the problem. France is the first place we stop after leaving the good 'ole US of A, and if my memory serves me right, that's where we have to go through customs. Which means we have 1 hour to go through customs and get checked in for our next flight (oh yeah, and not to mention get on the flight). I don't see how it's possible. The only way we could possibly even think about making it is if our flight is late and the other is delayed and we already have our boarding cards and we don't have any checked baggage.

This brings us to the new backpacks. I'm a big fan of Rick Steves (we're taking 4 of his books with us and have all of his TV shows on DVD), and I know he goes on and on about carrying all of your luggage on, but I found the backpack I wanted and so did Chris, so those are the ones we got. Well, turns out the Frenchies are VERY particular about their carry on regulations (you're surprised, aren't you?), and there's no way we're getting either of those two bags on. Here's what AirFrance's website says: Carry-on baggage must have the dimensions of 45.2 inches and 26.4 pounds. That's it. That means that the height + width + length of the bag can = no more than 45.2 inches. Yeah, right! So, in order to help us make our connection (which is pretty much impossible), we're getting all new bags that can be carried on. Watch, the Frenchies will change their regs. the day before we go. That would be just my luck.