Still at home...

---

Oh, but my cells are churning. Why, only yesterday I made the very tough decision to sell almost all my CD's (bar a few with special memories attached, and those personally autographed. Ok, the one personally autographed CD I have), for a shockingly low price. Today the plan is to weed through the ceaseless flood of books currently inhabiting my bedroom, hallway and storage areas, and maybe try to unload a few of those as well. It's amazing how much stuff one can gather over the course of 22 years.
But, hopefully all this will bring me one step closer to Destination: Europe.

For the benefit of you, dearest reader, I shall now outline the plan (if it can be called a plan at this early stage). Mostly I'm the one doing the planning, and my best friend and hopefully travelling companion, Noogies, is the one gradually accepting that perhaps it might be a good idea to have a few ideas about the route and some activities, hostels, et.c. before we take off, instead of just randomly jumping aboard trains when we feel like it. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of spontaneously hopping on a train to a distant location, but I also like the idea of not having to sleep under a park bench and get robbed because we didn't realize all the hostels would be packed due to some festival or other.

So far the plan is something along these lines;

• June 26th: Leave the frightful island of doom (Iceland) for slightly warmer climates (Denmark)
  
  
• June 27th through June 30th: Take advantage of the hospitality of random relatives in the larger Copenhagen area.
  
  
• June 30th through July 8th: Roskilde Festival, my favourite place in the world so far, enjoying the beer, music and freaks.
  
  
• July 9th through 10th or 11th: Relax in the welcoming arms of the aforementioned relatives.
  
  
• July 10th or 11th: Hop on a cheap train to Germany, and from there possibly to The Netherlands (which I want to call The Netherworld, much to the dismay of the Dutch people, I suppose).
  
  
• Enjoy The Netherworld for a few days, see the Anne Frank museum and maybe the Ten Boom house, and of course explore the world's greenest culture.
  
  
• Belgium: So far I plan to eat chocolate and drink lots of beer.
  
  
• Luxemburg: Mostly to buy cigarettes, since they are cheaper there, but maybe we'll stumble upon something nice to explore.
  
  
• Germany: We plan to go through the emotional porn of the Holocaust sites, so a few places in Germany are on the schedule, possibly Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck, Dachau, and of course Berlin, Munich and Dresden.
  
  
• About now it should be time for CastleParty in Poland, so we might go there if we've found something relatively decadent to wear, otherwise it's on with the Holocaust show. Krakow, Oswiecim, Majdanek, et.c.
  
  
• Czech Republic: Here I plan to see the Schindler factory in Brunnlitz (Brnenec), try some wild boar, and visit Kostnice and Plzen (where the plan is to drink a lot of pilsner).
  
  
• Slovakia, Hungary, Romania: Now, you wouldn't expect a vampirefreak like Noogies to skip the home of Vlad Tepes, would you? Of course we're going to Romania, although personally I'm fonder of Elizabeth Báthory, so perhaps we'll make a quick stop around Trenčín in Slovakia too.
  
  
• Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria: I haven't gotten quite this far yet, but they're on the way, so... Perhaps we'll take a peek at some sights recommended by one of our Serbian friends.
  
  
• Greece: Ah, wonderful Greece, where the history comes from. We were originally planning to spend a week there, but little miss Noogies vetoed that, even though it was her idea in the first place, so I suppose it will only be the essentials; feta cheese and sodomy.
  
  
• Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia: Probably a stop somewhere around these parts, for some quick peeks into the delightful world of genocide. Same goes for Serbia, of course.
  
  
• Austria: We have a friend in Zell am See, and if she's there, we'll pop in, and then let her guide us. Maybe she'll join us sooner, but that's all being calmly discussed during our arguments over what to see and where to go.
  
  
• Switzerland: Cheese and Toblerone!
  
  
• Italy: Ah, Rome, the Mafia, pasta and pizza. Yes, I do think with my stomach, how kind of you to notice. This was supposed to be another week-long stop, but again, vetoed, so essentials it is: Pizza, Pope and People who died when a volcano erupted (that was bad, I know).
  
  
• Le France: Way too big for detailed exploration, so this might be a zip-through kind of place, for now. But, again my tummy wants a say, so wine and cheese might be arranged somewhere on the way.
  
  
• España: We have friend who lives here...somewhere. Noogies is talking about ending there, spending two or three weeks, but I'm not sure. Perhaps I will, too, or I might leave her there and go on alone for a while. Depends on the financial situation and general mood.
  
  
• If I do go on alone, I'll probably take some more time in France, before heading either to The Netherlands or England, both reknowned for their numerous squatting possibilities. We'll see. If I decide to call it quits and go home, I'll probably fly from London with British Airways or IcelandExpress, depending on who gets me the best price. I would like to see more of the UK and Ireland, so maybe I'll hitch up north while I'm there, see Dublin and Glasgow and Belfast. I've always wanted to visit Nortern Ireland and get a feel of the whole situation there. It truly puzzles me.
  

So, that's about it for now. I'll update this as soon as the plan becomes more detailed, or dissolves completely.

---