The only advantage to the strong Euro is that the dollar is low - which makes petrol a bit cheaper for us - if the dollar was strong petrol would be a completely ridiculous price for us as opposed to merely a ridiculous price.

I believe that the fact there are still so many K10Ds available here has done little to reduce the price of the K20D, the absence of the Samsung from the Dutch market hasn't helped either.
It was a real shame I couldn't get anything in the US lens wise. I hope the lack of Pentax lenses was due to popularity there - certainly in a couple of shops they had sold out in the last day or two before I got there and were waiting on a new order, which would imply popularity. Sadly I was never in one place long enough to wait for their new stock.

Since I didn't get the K20D for my trip I think I will sit back and wait a while. The Ds is doing fine so I am not in any great panic to fork out a fortune on the K20D now. I'd love a new toy, but not at any price.

Schiphol tax free has no Pentax stuff - I asked them. Didn't have time at LHR to investigate, what with transferring terminals and the like.

The postage is horrific, (57.99 pounds!!!) but still cheaper than a weekend what with the ferry price the price of petrol and somewhere to stay. Also there's still the problem of what if something goes wrong.

I nearly made it to Watford at the end of March - my SIL was celebrating her 60th in Chalfont St Giles, and I was due to go to the knees up - but then I did my elbow in and wasn't up to the drive
Next planned trip is October, and nowhere near Watford sadly.

I did that - then he told me how much the postage would be plus if there is a problem it has to go back to him, more postage Yikes.

Cheapest I've seen a K20D body, from a Pentax dealer is €899. You can get it for less from a non Pentax dealer though - usually with full Dutch guarantee.

My husband is right handed but left-eyed. he can't understand why cameras are made the way they are - I'm right handed and right-eyed and have no problems. My two left handed sons cope just fine too, one is left eyed like his dad, one right eyed like me. Can't please all the folks all the time....

You could always try European sellers, even though the Euro is not favourable to you at the moment. There still seem to be a lot K10Ds available here in Holland for instance. So many in fact that the K20D is not falling in price as people are buying the 10 instead.

Ned Bunnel has some photos made with a pre-production model:
http://nedbunnell.blogspot.com/2008/06/17-70-test.html

Oregon is high on the wish list! No sales tax just put it even higher I would love to drive the pacific coast from Seattle to San Diego. Oregon looks so lovely not only the coast but inland too. I hope we will make it one of these years, but we keep finding things in New Mexico we would love to see and don't have time for too!

Steve we are touring, staying in hotels and B&Bs so no chance to order online. Never mind, although the 18-250 would have been very handy I am coping. The laptop just doesn't have the necessary oomph to deal with my photos. I am happy to wait until I get home to sort through them, even though there are over 1500 so far

We are now in Silver City for the Blues festival. Another week and we fly home I am really enjoying this trip in spite of the weird weather we've been having.

Thanks for the tip - they didn't have ANY Pentax stuff in at all I also called in on Kurts in Albuquerque (which is where I bought my first Pentax btw) but they didn't have anything I was able to afford, at least not with the bill payer hovering
Ah well, still having a great holiday, even if I can't stock up on goodies.

Hi everyone, we are in Las Vegas tonight. Not a neon sign or a casino in sight We are in the original Las Vegas - in New Mexico, staying at a hotel patronised by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and others, in their day.
We have had 35 temps, 20cm of snow and everything in between so far.
Lots of photos taken, none to show yet - the bill payers laptop can't cope with RAW photos.
Anyway good to catch up with you all, more when I get back!

Oh and no new lenses All sold out!!!!!! Tried several places and they even phoned around for me. Not a Pentax lens to be had. Hope that is a good sign.