Passport Application Away!

Well, it only took me a month to put the renewal form in an envelope with my old passport and drop it in a mailbox. Sent it two-day priority so it's nearly there already, and since I'm using the expedited service, they should be done printing out my new passport by Thanksgiving. Hopefully there won't be any complications and I will find it in my mail box before the trip. Now I have to start buying some gear and fine-tune my virtually non-existent itinerary. Going to need to look into getting a new cell phone, too, because I want one that will work internationally and also have GPS. I'm leaning toward a Blackberry, and also puking at the same time, because I told myself I would never EVER buy such an unnecessary technological device and become one of those people. They're too big to fit in your pocket comfortably, for one thing, and that makes them ultra stupid. But... it would solve my cellphone and GPS problems simultaneously.

I've changed the location of my France trek from the eastern side of the country to the western. Specifically, Bretagne (Brittany). It seems it won't be quite as cold as the eastern provinces, which will help. Looks like the daily temp will swing between 5 and 10 degrees C. That's an average of about 46 degrees F. Another bonus about this is that I'll have to cross the whole country to get there from Germany, so I'll see a lot more of it. This will also open up the opportunity to incorporate Paris into the trip. According to my french teacher, I simply must go to Paris. She lived there for the last two years, so I will trust her advice. And after all, it is Paris.