**Plans**

So my cousin came to visit Australia (from France) last year, and I said we would go on a roadtrip around Victoria. Mainly because when she comes to Australia she only ever sees Queensland. Unfortunately, that's about all that was said or done regarding that roadtrip. She came, we didn't go anywhere. So I made the decision right then that we had to make up for it by doing something crazy. A roadtrip through France and Italy.

Since then, it occurred to me that I have been to France, and not Germany, and I have friends in Germany to visit and Annabel (the cousin) wouldn't be free until May 18th as she is doing all this prep work for the Cannes Film Festival. So the plans changed. I'm leaving Oz on 11 May and won't return until May 30. I'll now be spending about a week in Germany with Henrike (Jim, my ex-housemate's g/f) and hopefully at some stage meeting up with Nicole Hines to see her and her lovely town of Rostock.

So far, all I really know is that I am arriving in Hanover and leaving from Milan, the stuff in the middle is really quite unorganised, which could be really fun, but is also incredibly stressful right at the moment. I think I need to take a chill pill and let it all pan out.

As it is, I currently have no idea how I am actually going to make it from Berlin to Florence, as the cheap flight I have discovered still goes unpaid for, my bank has decided to implement an amazing security feature that is so good I can't buy anything, even in Australia. So as far as that goes, it apparently includes cheap deals over the internet from some website the backend of nowhere in Europe. We also have no car or accommodation booked in Italy except for the first night. So I am sure that there are some fun times ahead.

Also feeding the desire for this trip is that it is more than a year since my passport was last used and Dan, Christina, Zo, Julian & Timmy's emails from abroad have been making toey. I need to get away and get a couple more countries and stamps under my belt. Does anyone have a Lonely Planet of Italy I can borrow?

Stay tuned for updates and photos!