Grüße von Hamburg! Finally! The flight from Seattle to Copenhagen was half-full at best, so I got an aisle-window pair to myself. Pretty sweet. Individual headrest-mounted movie screens are fab except you give up precious footroom for the box of hardware that controls them... so the extra seat was even nicer. All in all an uneventful flight, all 9.5 hours of it. The SAS live forward- and downward-view cameras are cool, and it was interesting how the crew engineered our sleep time to minimize jet lag (made us all close our windows for some artificial night during our all-daylight polar flight). I discovered Danish (and American) Vogons at Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport. It turns out my connecting flight had been cancelled, but it took more than an hour (10 minutes after scheduled departure) for anyone at SAS ... read more

I set my alarm for 01:00 (yes, A.M.) so I could call München to make a reservation for the Euraide bus tour of Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Wieskirche. My first-ever international phone call! It wasn't any different from making a domestic call. My home phone didn't light up or play special music to celebrate or anything. ;) I've come several full circles on bus tours catering to Americans... there was a lot to love about seeing Scotland that way, but there's no question that we ended up isolated from real people, real culture and authentic experiences. Being one of a gaggle of gawking, giggling tourists belched from one of a vast herd of lumbering buses at the appointed visitor centers and tchotchke shops doesn't feel in-country ... read more

Yes, only 20 short days until I embark on a major tour of northern Europe: Germany, Czechia, Austria, and perhaps a bit of France and Denmark. Excruciating technical details of the sights I might see can be found at Deutsche Reiseplan. Yes, I'm trying to list the information in its native language... it's good practice. The less-obsessive reader might prefer to wait and get details in English right here as the travel unfolds. Handy items I've acquired or borrowed in preparation for the trip: * Plane ticket * German rail pass * iPod mini (green) * Sony earbuds * Timbuk2 iPod case * Canon PowerShot A95 digital camera * 1G flash memory card * super convertible rollaway backpack with detachable daypack (thanks Elise!) * anti-embolism socks (you never know) * REI micro-fleece jacket (green) * Czech ... read more