Family trip in Eastern Europe 2017

[Wind30]

http://www.flyingmummy.com/prague2017

 

Slideshow of all my pics. The song is our favourite drama currently... I know it’s a Chinese song but we loved it

 

 

Include food. A few kaiseki dinners actually.

 

But also my air tickets are a little expensive due to last minute booking.

No wonder... I only tried Kaiseki at kitcho in Osaka years ago when we don’t have kids.

 

Nowadays we just go to places like yayoiken or ippudo which are cheaper in japan vs Singapore.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Wind30

[BabyBlade]

Love the photos not just for the beautiful shots but the smile on your family's faces makes the pictures all warm and fuzzy. 

 

Looking forward to more updates! I love to read photo captions as well. Makes the story more complete. 

[Voodooman]

http://www.flyingmummy.com/prague2017

 

Slideshow of all my pics. The song is our favourite drama currently... I know itâs a Chinese song but we loved it

 

 

No wonder... I only tried Kaiseki at kitcho in Osaka years ago when we donât have kids.

 

Nowadays we just go to places like yayoiken or ippudo which are cheaper in japan vs Singapore.

Laksa costs more to prepare than ramen in Singapore, I was told. And ramen is eaten in 5-10 mins, so it is an expensive meal in Singapore but in Japan, it is like our chap chai peng (economical rice). I had lots of ramen there too. Super good.

 

Your photos are really excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[Wind30]

Love the photos not just for the beautiful shots but the smile on your family's faces makes the pictures all warm and fuzzy. 

 

Looking forward to more updates! I love to read photo captions as well. Makes the story more complete. 

 

On my first trip I still shoot landscapes and streets but at the end of the day, my pictures are nothing different to what you can get from google. They don't really mean anything special.

 

Nowadays in resturants, I don't shoot the food I eat, I shoot the people eating. On the streets, I don't shoot strangers or locals but my kids. On landscapes, I make sure my family is the most prominent subject in the foreground. It is less about the place that we have been, but rather how my family is at that point in time. Especially with kids, you can see the changes every trip... 

 

I don't even bother snapping if my subjects are not around.

 

It is really hard to convince my daughter nowadays to pose for me.... 

[Prataboy]

I enjoy taking photos on vacation. I wonder if I can actually make money doing this

 

You can explore being a wedding photographer. :)

[Icedbs]

I was in a East Europe tour back in 2011. It cost less than $4k for 2 person back then for 13 days tour including all the transport, hotels, one daily meal and one or two cruises. 

 

The itinerary is similar to the one the TS has here but there is also a trip to Auschwitz which I really wanted for its historical significance. Berlin and Dresden in Germany was part of the tour and one can see the poverty difference when the bus crosses from Poland into Germany.  

 

The cruises in Budapest and Praque was some of the best I have ever been.

 

The tour bus also made an unschedule stopover (for lunch) in one of the small town at Slovakia I believe. It was a magical town by its own. The name of the town is quite long and unpronounceable  and I am still figuring out the place today. Was there during winter, and my god, this town is like a fairyland......I wonder why no one mention about this place till today. 

 

My point is however that East Europe is probably the most understated location. Most people go Paris, London, Swiss, etc....but the real beauty is in East Europe. The following year I covered the West Europe side (Italy, France, Swiss, etc) but I never felt the same charm as East Europe. It is unbelievably beautiful, so much less commercial, and I think the lack of development retains the old architectural charm one has there. It  is also much cheaper as compare to West Europe.

 

If anyone has not been there, do yourself a favour and book a trip there. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by Icedbs

[Icedbs]

Dresden

 

 

Prague

 

 

 

I am not a very photo person, but I am amaze on how you took some of these picture with very little other tourist on the background.

 

That long wall at Dresden is always full of people but you took it only with your family in the picture. 

[Wind30]

I am not a very photo person, but I am amaze on how you took some of these picture with very little other tourist on the background.

 

That long wall at Dresden is always full of people but you took it only with your family in the picture.

Sunrise. Wake up early and I think winter helps. But for popular places like Charles bridge in prague, it’s a little crowded even at sunrise.... the two Prague shots are at sunset with Charles bridge at the background. I don’t even bother going onto Charles bridge at sunset cuz it is literally packed with tourists.

 

I have to bribe, threaten, beg, my family most of the time to wake up early.

 

Sunrise is not too hard.... the hardest was trying to move them out of the hotel at midnight in winter to catch northern lights in Iceland.

[UncleAtas]

You can explore being a wedding photographer. :)

 

Diff category. For wedding photographer is diff ball game. Just like food, vehicles, wildlife and etc..

 

In Singapore, vacation photographers only small demand. But with his kilat skills, can charge premium priceee...

[Icedbs]

I have to bribe, threaten, beg, my family most of the time to wake up early.

 

Sunrise is not too hard.... the hardest was trying to move them out of the hotel at midnight in winter to catch northern lights in Iceland.

 

Getting up at sunrise  in winter is very hard for a lot of people who travels.

 

Everyday is sightseeing, walking, so they tend to get tired and needed that sleep for the next day.

 

Your family must be very committed to take these photos to do that!

 

For Western Europe, best not to be alone in near touristy places. I feel not safe.

[Wind30]

Getting up at sunrise  in winter is very hard for a lot of people who travels.

 

Everyday is sightseeing, walking, so they tend to get tired and needed that sleep for the next day.

 

Your family must be very committed to take these photos to do that!

 

For Western Europe, best not to be alone in near touristy places. I feel not safe.

 

For winter is actually not too bad. We usually go back apartment after sunset which is like 4pm.... and sunrise could be from 7-8am. 

 

We really prefer the winter daylight hours vs summer. Angmo like summer for the long daylight but I think winter is so much better as the light is aways soft even at noon time. Plus you get sunset at 4pm :) no need to wait until 9pm.... Summer sunrise could be like 5am....

[Sosaria]

Getting up at sunrise  in winter is very hard for a lot of people who travels.

 

Everyday is sightseeing, walking, so they tend to get tired and needed that sleep for the next day.

 

Your family must be very committed to take these photos to do that!

 

For Western Europe, best not to be alone in near touristy places. I feel not safe.

 

 

For travelling alone, I find Europe, USA streets to be safer during winter months. It's much too cold for bad hats to be hanging around outdoors after dark.

[JinSherr]

Thanks for sharing with us these wonderful photos. I am going to Europe this spring. My 1st destination point is London. From there I am going to France (Paris) then to Amsterdam, Italy (Venice) and the last point in Prague. There I will spend about 3 days. I dreamed about this trip and often watched through live webcams the crowded cities of Europe, esp I like this Prague tram webcam https://worldcams.tv/transport/prague-tram .Travel is the only thing that money can buy that makes you richer.

[carloverguy2017]

You have a flair for tilted scenes.. ?   

[carloverguy2017]

I think it is 35mm.

 

I used to carry 15-30mm, 24mm, 35mm, 70-200mm for the longest amount of time for all my trips. This time round I bought a sony a7riii just before the holidays. Sold my nikon D800, 70-200mm.

 

Now my gear is

D750 with 15-30mm or 24mm f1.4

sony a7riii with sony 35mm f1.4 or 85mm f1.8.

 

The sony has an APSC mode that will magnify your viewfinder to APSC crop making your 85mm to around 130mm. Previously, I did not switch to mirrorless because of the AFC performance. I think a7riii is the first mirrorless that is as good as my nikon in AFC and within my budget.

 

After this trip, I am probably convinced sony mirror less is the way to go. The AFC, viewfinder, weight all beats my D750....

 

I came from a humble Canon 1000D. 

Very basic but Canon has great skin tones reproduction.

Sold it and got myself a Bridge Panasonic Lumix FZ1000.

 

Panasonic FZ1000 has a very overly sharpened photo. Worst than Canon albeit costlier than my Canon 1000D.

But it has 4K recording, which was what pushes me to start doing videography more than photography.

Done my 2016 and 2017 Girls of the Singapore Motor Show and then very recently my Hong Kong trip with gimbal and really loses my arm carrying the 1.5 kg payload daily for 5 days , morning to night.

Hence decided to sell it for a brand new Olympus E-M10 mark III.

 

The Mark III is the lightest MFT camera I've ever own for a camera.

Fantastic small compact and retro looking camera.

Weak resolution at 14M pixel for today's standard. 

Compared to your a7R-III , its 1/3 your sensor.

 

My point here is, there is no best camera out here for your usage pattern.

Over the years, as your habits change, utilization shifts, it became nature for one to change camera gear to adapt to the best of one's shooting characteristic.

 

And you notice my gear didn't really leaped in specfication, only features.

It was a from still photography camera, to a DSLR sized bridged camera to a pocket sized micro four-thirds. Odd progress for me,.. oddly I liked the Olympus today than my previous cameras.

[SalGlathcot]

Cant really help out with routes. Been a few years since I was driving in Europe. Seem to recall all the good roads were the other side of Brussels to be honest. Hopefully someone will be along to refute that any minute. Have a great road trip.

[yrh0413]

hi TS, can you share your itinerary? I am planning Eastern Europe trip and still deciding how to travel between countries and whether to rent a car/by train.

 

thanks in advance!