Well, it looks like I'm going to have to start picking up on my Dutch a wee bit. I bought my ticket for Italy yesterday, and part of the trip over is going to be an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam. Oh well, it'll be a country I've never been to before, and I've always sort of wanted to go to Holland. Maybe next trip I'll be able to see parts of it that aren't airports. The flight over is going to be a long one, basically taking 27 hours to go from Edmonton to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Rome, and the bad bit is that I hit Rome late at night. I'm mulling over either booking a hotel (expensive), or simply camping in Termini station until the first train to Florence leaves the next morning (dangerous). Staying in the airport is also a possibility, and I've actually done that before, although I don't know what the security arrangements are now.

I'm actually more nervous than excited about this trip right now, although I'm sure that will change as the date approaches and things start to fall into place.