Planning

Now that your passport application is in the mail, the next thing to do in any serious planning is to get an overview. This part is easy and fun. Just find a large map of Europe and let your imagination loose. Paris? The Norwegian fjords? Liters of beer in Munich? The nightlife in Amsterdam? Jazz clubs in Prague, and the Charles Bridge? Pubbing and clubbing in London? The ruins of Pompeii? The midnight sun in Sweden? One country for a month, or the highlights of five different nations? Get an atlas or a large map that covers all of Europe, and some coffee-table books from the library, and wander at will. One of the true joys of travel is seeing for yourself a place that, in photographs, looks too exotic and beautiful to be real. To get some of those enticing pictures, look for books called Insight Guides at the library. These books have great photographs but are not very useful for traveling. Also, National Geographic, at one time or another, has published a story on just about every place in Europe. Most libraries also have video collections that include documentaries and/or tourist office productions about Europe.