... ;) ...
Well I am about to head off tomorrow - have a 9pm bus from London that gets me to Brussels at 5:30am - eek!!! - makes it more of an adventure, early start, no sleep etc etc... Have refrained from chocolate for a bit so i can tuck in while in Belgium! 5 weeks seems a long time at the moment - bit apprehensive about the journey - but I know it will be great when i get going! for some reason the concept of shared dorms is one of my main concerns... - but i guess by the end i'll be very used to it all!
I've ended up booking a lot of the accomodation as when i wanted to change some dates etc places were booked out - so I would've been stressed about where I was going (if i was going to) stay next - busy time of year I think. I am ending in krakow (catching night train there from Berlin - exciting) and then onto Warsaw and then overnight bus to Riga - I get back to the uk on the 26th June. My mum arrives the day before, and then leaves a month later 25 July.
My Uncle Guy and Auntie Lynne are joining mum and I on our 10day Spain/Portugal tour which should be fun! Then mum is talking about perhaps heading up to Wales or Yorkshire after that...
And then I have booked to go to Iceland on 31st July for 5 days - cripes! - they aren't kidding that it's an expensive place - altho the air fare was pretty good. I've got a hostel in the city centre and will just do day tours from there.
Then am still planning on doing around Lake Baikal for about a week - looking at doing a bit of a train journey around it from Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk and spending a few days at Olkhorn Island (a shamanistic site) - not that those place names probably mean much - but it is all those details I am trying to decide upon at the moment! Hmmm anyway - I am going to try and 'blog' about once a week - just to let you know how i am going, that I am still alive etc etc! :) - And still keep emailing me!!!
Bye!
Chamonix 
Dover cliff
Richard cycling along the Thames