Cyprus. Part 1.

[caption id="attachment_928" align="aligncenter" width="650" caption="Limassol Shoreline at dawn by Neil Alexander"][/caption] This last week I've been in Cyprus. Primarily it was a relaxing family holiday. We're both self-employed, and it's hard work being the gaffer, the tea boy & the office grafter all in one go. It's like a perpetual juggling act, so when the opportunity comes for a break, never mind how long or short it is, we seize it by both ears and plant a big smacker on it's lips! However, leaving a camera behind would be a cardinal sin. I normally use my LowePro Computrekker AW when I travel, but its a rucksack and loaded up, its heavy. And when you're travelling especially with tired little kids, heavy certainly ain't what you need!

Therefore a roller was in order. After extensive research, I plumped for a Think Tank Airport International V2.0 and it was great. I wish I'd got the Low Divider Set too as I ended up having to remove all the padding and replace it with the divider set from the CompuTrekker so that I still had the space in which to fit a 17" Macbook Pro.

After a lengthy velcro session, I had managed to get some semblance of organisation going on within my new Think Tank / LowPro hybrid and slotted the Mac into the space perfectly. Fully loaded with Mac the bag weighed in at 14kg, which was going to get me into trouble had it ever been weighed, but size wise, Monarch's overhead lockers weren't a problem.

In it I managed to fit:-

• D300 body
• Nikon 18-55mm F2.8
• Tamron 70-200mm F2.8
• Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6
• Lensbaby Composer
• SB-900
• Olympus E-P1
• Nikon, Olympus, iPhone & Mac chargers.
• Rechargable battery charger
• MacBook Pro 17"
• & assorted gels, spirit levels, spare batteries, memory cards, remote cords etc etc.
• A good magazine and a fairly decent sized paperback.

The locks are all of ingenious design and I was much happier leaving a bag full of gear in my hotel room while lounging by the pool than I've ever been before. All in all, a very cool bag and extremely practical for travelling.

Anyway, this is just a quicky to try and get me back to somewhere near my posting schedule (bandwidth was prohibitively expensive over there), so I'll have plenty more images to show over the coming days.....