go lightly down your darkened way I am starting a new series here on Stacey, Inc. involving escape fantasies. These are my wild plans to get out and do something exciting and invigorating, although not necessarily responsible or realistic. I welcome suggestions along this vein as well - feel free to comment or email with your input.

I will start with some fairly traditional, not-too-crazy ideas. First is my backpacking-around-Europe scenario. After my taste of Eastern Europe with Pammy P in Prague this past year, I've got an itch to visit more of the northern and eastern areas of Europe. I would really love to visit Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary. And then maybe Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Did you know that Lithuania was the first country in the European Union to officially ratify the EU constitution last year? Big news, people... I also read in the course of my EU research that Estonia is one of the most "wired" countries in the world. Internet everywhere...! And what about Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey...? Maybe I can fit them in, too.

How long would it take to see all these countries? I don't want to be over-ambitious and naively think that I can see everything in one trip. That's why I'll plan to do the more traditional European destinations on a separate visit. In my dream world, I'll have three or four months alloted to this trip, so I hopefully won't have to rush around too much. My passport expires in February, so I'll have to re-new it soon. I'm just pleased that I finally got some stamps in it (Prague, Amsterdam, U.S., Canada), so it wasn't a waste to have it.

[okay, back to invoicing...]  | ¶ 1:05 p.m.