That's not really a hold (A slight change of plans!)

On Saturday night I had some friends around watching rock climbing films. One
in particular, E11 was about a Scottish guy trying to complete the first
grade e11 (the scale previously went up to e10) free climb. On one of his
practice runs to learn the moves, he accidentally ripped off what he thought was
the crux hold (the one that gets you through the hardest move of the climb).
In true spirit he still managed to get up there anyway somehow, but I've had
my own hold ripped off

So with the dodgy segue out of the way, I got an
email this morning from the travel agent saying Malaysian had cancelled all
unpaid holds on tickets on my flight even though it was meant to last till the
end of May. Luckily and oddly there was still tickets left on the 6th of July, so that's my new departure date (assuming that doesn't get cancelled too, but it's paid and everything now). It lacks the easy
rememberability of the 4th of July, but at least its still close and still gives me a near full 4 months of travelling minimum.

Tacos

Well another lunch time training walk completed. I've developed a regluar destinaion for my lunch time walks Trippy Taco. The music festival food van that somehow turned into a cafe on Smith St, Collingwood. The food there is realtively cheap and good and if nothing else it's unique. I'm damned if I'm going to walk 6km with 15kgs on my back just to eat at subway.

So far I'm very happy with my choice of packs - The Macpac Genisis. It's the all round back-packer backpack that allows access to the contents from all conceivable angles, has a real harness, looks like you could drag it behind horses across a gravel desert and still have it intact at the other side and isn't excessively heavy. Hopefully I won't be altering my praise of it half way across Spain.

Todo this afternoon: Try to get a later return flight on my ticket and then confirm them and also try to fit in some work for the uni inbetween.

Introduction

Well this will be my blog for the next 5 months. It will chronicle the lead up to my trip, and the trip itself were Internet access and time away from funner things allows it.

In keeping with my geekiness and laziness I'm aiming to Mash-Up as many web2.0 like things as possible without having to write them. Above the top lies my Flickr photo stream (also available here or in RSS). Given than I plan to lug my DSLR over half of Europe, hopefully there some worthwhile photos. Currently there are a few photos from my trips to Sydney and New Zealand earlier in the year.
I'm still trying to work out how I can get a calendar to appear on the side bar for an itinerary - any ideas would be welcomed.

Onto the trip itself, I now have a departure date - the 4th of July.

I think it's important to have some aims for traveling to avoid boredom and actually achieve something, so for now I have 3 main aims:

• Celebrate Sam and Zoe's wedding.
  
• Visit my old flatmates in Germany.
• Walk across Spain

The first two should be relatively easy, but the third may pose a bit of a challenge and that's where most of the build up posts will center around.

Other things I intend to do if possible along the way:

• Go to a music festival or two
  
• Try to get in some rock climbing or bouldering - Yep stinky climbing shoes will be traveling with me.
• Try to get out to Eastern Europe if possible

Well that's all for now, I'll try to post updates about once a week with anecdotes about my preparations.