Psyd, ever thought of going with a small lever machine and a hand grinder. They make great travel kits and are a bit easier to pack than the silvia/rocky. Might be worth it to look into prices for them. My standard now is to bring my la pavoni and a turkish mill, with all the other needed accoutrements. They all fit nicely in a suitcase, all padded and snug. When I am away I don't have to trust anyone to make my coffee and anyone travelling with me is usually much less grumpy.

Kaffee Bitte wrote:My standard now is to bring my la pavoni and a turkish mill, with all the other needed accoutrements. They all fit nicely in a suitcase, all padded and snug.

FYI... From the FAQs and Favorites, Lance posted pictures of his extra espresso luggage in An Espresso Travel Kit: Taking charge of your coffee when away:

That is a very similar set up to what I do. If I could fit my new Macap into the luggage and not be massively over weight I would take that, but the turkish mill is so very light and the stradivari professional is so very heavy.

P.S. Sorry for jacking the thread.

Kaffee Bitte wrote:Psyd, ever thought of going with a small lever machine and a hand grinder.

I have already purchased the hand-grinder! ; >
I took it out to the weeds the last weekend with a handfull of mokapots, and you'd be amazed at how many folk'll volunteer to operate the damned thing! I'm shopping for a lever, but I'm looking for a smoking deal. Most of my travel includes a truck going the same place I'm going, so I get to take the kit, my bicycle, a VCR and some tapes, and a few other niceties, and I get to fly with one carry-on. Silvia and Rocky are great companions, but f I ever need to go lighter, I am looking into a lever. Anyone got one they want to get rid of cheap?

Lever owners are usually of the ilk that will grasp their machines even long after death. My la pavoni is firmly attached to my hip and remaining that way. Wish you luck. You might get lucky though on ebay from some poor fool who doesn't realize just what they have.

Kaffee Bitte wrote: You might get lucky though on ebay from some poor fool who doesn't realize just what they have.

Yeah, I'm familiar with the popularity of the levers (and hand grinders) amongst the 'collectables' crowd. Most of the "Give me a lever long enough" crowd have multiples of both. Hoarding, I say! ; >
I'm waiting for that one person that gets one as a gift, inherits a few from dead LMWDP member, or gets tired of making their espresso manually and wants a pump to do the work. It'll happen, I'm a patient guy. ; >
(Silvia, $275, Rocky $185, Mazzer Majors, $75 and $100 respectively, and yes, both worked just fine and are still using the burrs that I bought them with, Astoria SAE-2 $3000, PeDe grinder, $9.95. I'll vulture me a decent buy on a lever, too!)

Once I have enough profits from my venture I plan on using them to buy several different machines. The number one on my wish list right now is the two group Lusso. I do enough parties that it would be a winning proposition for me. Just need to sell a massive amount of christmas coffee and I might be in range.
The others are The Elektra microcasa and an old Europiccola.