Noch 10 Tage!

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In ten days, I embark on my second epic tour of Europe: Deutschland, Czechia, 500 meters' worth of France, and perhaps 45 minutes of Austria.

Three years ago, I visited an old friend and made several new friends. Now, my 8-year-old goddaughter and I will connect with all those old-new friends and will meet a high school classmate of my mother's as well. My friend's kids are older, so it'll be great to catch up with them and get to know them all over again. We're also taking my friend's daughter with us to Berlin. Sole guardian of two other-people's-kids, one of whose primary language is not English, in a foreign country... seemed like a good idea at the time. 😊

My last trip was fast-paced -- 15 cities in a month, half of them solo -- but this time we're sticking with five cities in the same amount of time. I hope this will allow me to focus on what turned out to be my favorite part of the previous visit: meeting people, learning about everyday life, and building relationships.

I'm actually using the exact same Deutsche Reiseplan as I did in 2005, supplemented by a Google Map I created in my last travel-brainstorming phase.

In honor of the previous trip's sendoff post (Noch 20 Tage!), I present the updated-for-2008 Handy Travel Items & Gadgets List:

• Plane tickets on Lufthansa's new nonstop from Seattle to Frankfurt
  
• Plane tickets on Air Berlin from Karlsruhe to Berlin
  
• iPod 5gen 80G (black) for me
  
• iPod 4G mini (green) for LG
  
• Unlocked quad-band GSM Motorola RAZR (lime green)
  
• OneSimCard with permanent Estonian phone number!
  
• Canon PowerShot SD1100IS (brown)
  
• 4G SD card
  
• Extra Lenmar camera battery
  
• Sony GPS-CS1 GPS logger
  
• Sony VAIO TZ340 laptop (rosé)
  
• BUILT NY neoprene laptop sleeve (stripe)
  
• Eagle Creek ultra-light 22" rolling suitcase (tree frog green) for me
  
• Eagle Creek ultra-light wheeled tote (tree frog green) for LG
  
• Lonely Planet German phrasebook
  
• Lonely Planet Czech phrasebook
  

I am still searching for a practical lightweight jacket and some nicer-looking better-fitting tops, trying to figure out a good plan for toiletries (in this stupid post-liquids-on-planes era; no, I do not feel safer), and debating picking up neoprene cases for the camera and the chargers (BUILT NY makes some cute ones). I'm really tempted to get Guitar Hero: On Tour for Nintendo DS, but I'd need to borrow and then schlep a DS and the controller.

I haven't decided what to take to read yet.

Last trip's borrowed Handy didn't work out exactly as I hoped, so I picked up my own phone & SIM card, which I'll be able to use on future trips too.

I need to research whether Lufthansa has any in-flight power outlets for my laptop. Now that Connexion by Boeing has gone belly-up, I guess nobody has in-flight wi-fi, but it looks pretty promising for individual headrest entertainment screens. LG will be much relieved.

This time, unlike last, I've got a lot going on at work, and a lot of advance prep to do to make sure work feels OK about me taking off for a month. It seems to end up that when I'm at work, I'm worrying about travel, and when I'm home, I'm worrying about work. However, I do not intend to worry, or even think about work while we travel! Wish me luck!

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