I'm Taking Europe With Me

Ack! It's the last weekday before I leave! Have done so little in the last month. That's a lie - I've done a lot, but I'm a curious mix of painstaking planner and distractable flibbertigibbet, so I've researched everything, but not much has actually happened. And now I'm packing up my room and there's a lot more to do than I thought. Thank God I don't have to move anything to a storage. My brother is just moving into my room, so I can shove everything into the cupboard. Woo!

I thought I'd better check that I can use my credit-debit card overseas. It turns out I can - for an outrageous fee! It would cost me five dollars plus a two per cent conversion fee for each transaction. Ouch. It turns out my bank have only recently realised that this is insane - it's as though globalisation never happened - and launched a product that will now only cost me three dollars per transaction with no conversion fee. It's been getting product placement in all of my recent conversations, so sorry if I've raved to you about it.

I was looking forward to a very quiet last week in Sydney, but it has been madness. I've caught up with friends for nearly every meal and have been ricocheting between banks, camping stores, solicitors offices, bars and cafes. It's been exhausting but so much fun.

But how ridiculous is this? I haven't even left the country yet and I'm onto my third blog post. So here's my rought itinerary (the elastic nature of it is driving my worry-wart mother insane):

Aug. 3: Land in Amsterdam, Holland, and stay with one of my dearest friends for a week or two, visiting Rotterdam and The Hague while I'm in the country.
Aug. 14(-ish): Head over the border and visit a high school friend living in Hanover, Germany.
Aug. 17: Maybe Berlin, Germany?
Aug. 25: Head up to Sweden. I'm really excited to see Stockholm. I realised only recently that many of my favourite bands and authors are Swedish, so I'm interested to see the environment that created them.
Sep. 1: Cross the bridge to Denmark, where I'll be staying with a friend of a friend in Copenhagen. I'm going to see the Knife's electro-opera about Charles Darwin (double-yoo-tee-eff, right?) and then head over to Aarhus.
Sep. 8: Come back through, and maybe stop off at Munich or similar on my way to Poland. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Auschwitz, Krakow and Warsaw. I always imagined Poland to be a country full of haybales and hicks, but I then did a bit of research and discovered that Poland is a beautiful country, and I'm maybe a bit racist.
Sep. 15: Head over to Paris, France to visit a uni friend before finally arriving in London, England, where I'll look for a home and a job, and see many amazing bands.

And then I live happily ever after.

Waiting

Today, it's a month until I leave.

I worry that there's so much to do, but I packed up my music collection the other night, and it only took me a little over an hour. (Keep in mind that I'm a lifelong pop and rock fanatic and have spent the last three years working as a music journalist, so when I say "music collection" we're talking about five packing boxes' worth.) So I need to pack up all my clothes and books, cancel my phone and internet plans, buy a backpack and...I think that's it. Then it's just saying farewell to Sydney.

I've felt a little sad about my travel plans the last few days. I know that this is the right time to make the trip, as I've been restless for the last few years, jumping from job to job, none of which are exactly what I want to do. But I feel I've really hit my stride in Sydney, having fallen in with a group of friends and a social scene that I really dig. I feel really comfortable and happy here, but I know I won't be able to settle down properly until I get this adventuring out of my system.

So, to Europe we go.