I believe I've set this blog up so that my Facebook Friends are alerted via newsfeed of the earth-shattering news contained within. The idea behind it all being that people can choose to read what I write if they wish to, and I don't need to find a stack of email addresses and keep them close when I'm travelling. For travelling is what I am about to do. Though I've kept it mostly close to my chest (firstly due to my rapidly changing plans, and then soley due to my laziness) here I shall divulge all.

The genesis of my travel plans began around this time last year. My work allows me a generous amount of time off, but I have to give a year's notice to allow for the scheduling of the roster. Armed with a stack of scribbles I made whilst engaging in a brief-lived hobby (of reading travel guides and plotting trips in countries I had no immediate intent of going to), I managed to put off making actual decisions by applying for some leave at what was the most ideal time to visit the bulk of destinations I'd researched. It will come as no surprise that the majority of those destinations were in Europe. Consequently, I'll be chasing the summer sun, and I'm off at the end of May for a total of 8 weeks.

My final itinerary took some effort, as everyone seems to be abandoning Sydney at the same time of year. Fares went up, and up again. In the end, I literally got the last seats on my chosen ticket both out of, and back into the country. (I actually have to leave a few days before my time off begins. The nerves might get to me in my final week and I may need to take some sick leave. *cough* *cough* ).

My job ostensibly allows me access to special industry fares, but they can have some pretty heinous conditions. What with the duration of my trip, my reluctance to fly stand-by or find out only 3 weeks before departure if a seat is available and an apathetic agency organising it all, I ended up going with a regular Flight Centre. If you're looking for one of those rare, flexible and hard-working travel agents in the region, you'd struggle to do better than Brenton in their Wollongong office.

I depart on May 27th flying Etihad Airways (with fingers crossed that my former workmate Nick is rostered on the flight so I get to boss him around ) to Dublin, Ireland.

Why Ireland? It's not to retrace my heritage, that's for sure. I guess I started thinking about Ireland years ago after I cycled around Tasmania. In hindsight I liked the trip so much that I set about thinking where I would find a similar variety of attractions, terrain and satisfaction in circum-cycling a land mass. Ireland was all I could come up with. I don't have the time to ride around it now, but those initial positive thoughts combined with: me already having seen most of Western Europe, the movie "Once" and, well, having to come up with SOMETHING, led to it being chosen.

I'll be there for three weeks and, for the first time, will hire a vehicle to facilitate my journey. Maybe because it's a richer country and everyone has cars, or maybe Irish people don't travel, but the public transport doesn't seem as comprehensive, or run as often, here as in other European countries. With a car, I figure I can see a lot more far quicker. Of course it's a lot more expensive so if anyone can afford some time off in Ireland at reasonably short notice and wants to share petrol costs...

I depart from Dublin on Ryanair, June 17th for Eindhoven, The Netherlands. I tend to run myself into the ground when travelling, and I've noticed that at about the 3 week mark I get a bit jaded, but keep on going with the hope that I'll enjoy it all in hindsight. While of course my first priority is to hang out with my cool Dutch friends, my time in Holland is also meant to be a bit of R&R. I'm there for two and a half weeks and will be hosted by some of the nicest darn people you could ever meet. I love The Netherlands and, at this stage it's probably the part of my journey I'm looking forward to most.

July 7th sees me sneaking out the bottom of country and on to Brussels to depart on a Blue Air flight to Bucharest, Romania.

Why Romania? I don't know... It sounded like a good idea at the time...

I've been travelling around a fair bit now, and have a pretty reasonable idea of what I like: a mix of history, culture and nature. The countries that have that mix, that are safe, easy to get around, and set up for tourists (with regards to accommodation, directions, information, and just the manner locals use in dealing with foreigners) are pretty hard not to enjoy. Romania has that mix of history, culture and nature. The rest I'm not so sure about...

I should find out in the two weeks that I'm there. I haven't organised that section of my trip yet as comprehensively as I normally do (my Ireland leg, I know what I want to do each particular day ) so perhaps that's contributing to my relative unease. I'm sure it'll be great.

It's back to Brussels on 21st July, leaving later that same night on Etihad to Abu Dhabi. I've a one night stopover there and I'm very interested to see what the place is like. I struggle to put the disparate pieces I know about it together: desert, ocean, Arabs and modern architecture.

I eventually get back to Sydney on 24th July, and have to return to work a day or two after (though the rumour going around the workplace is that I'm not coming back at all and have a new job lined up already! Please, can SOMEONE tell me this is true!? That would be lovely...)

So there's the official announcement. As I said, I wouldn't mind a travel buddy if you could put up with me. If you find yourself at a loose end...

I might do one more blog entry before I go. But for now, fare well all. The best of health and good fortune to you.

Michael