We sat down one Sunday afternoon in July 2010 with just 4 weeks to go and a rough idea of where we wanted to go. Wendy had done some basic research on the internet about the different countries we had decided to visit and the suggested highlights to see. Dan had plotted these on a map for us to see where they lay and which ones would be possible and which would not. What we had decided was that we were doing Eastern Europe this year for a change.

Dan dragged out an old Europe map we had from back in 2007 (a little out of date, but useful for planning purposes). We decided to plot our route on this. Thankfully, Cassie had had a friend over to play with and that gave us the opportunity to spend the day plotting.

We then added the destinations to good old Google maps to find out distances between stops and travel time. From last years travel we decided to aim for 300 kilometres a day travelling. Going across Czech, Slovakia and Hungary, we guessed that 300 kilometres would not be possible due to no major roads. We decided to make up the needed distance back up through Germany.

Dan contacted Pete, his friend we visited in Spain back in 2008, to show him our planned route. We had hoped to meet up with Pete again last year, but he was unable to get time off work to meet us. Pete informed Dan that it was a great route, but would we like to flip it, change one destination to Bovec, Slovenia and then he would be able to join us for some of the journey. Dan created a new map, emailed Wendy with the question and she decided that it would be no difference going one way as to the other. Wendy brought up the issue of our 2nd wedding anniversary and that if we flipped the route, we would be spending it in Stuttgart, not somewhere she wanted to spend our anniversary. After some investigation from Wendy she decided to change Stuttgart to Tübingen, a town on the banks of the river Necka. It is also close to Naturpark Schönbuch. Pete was happy with this and so we are going to meet a good old friend again.

So this year we have made some more purchases. We have bought another box (as seen above) for food storage. We have bought a laundry bag, the clothes got a little bit out of hand last year being stuffed into nooks and crannies till they were washed. We have also bought a new braai…the amazing Boab braai. It’s very impressive. Unfortunately the English weather has not allowed us to test it at home before we set off on our journey. Dan has fitted a working light to Tusky as well as done some maintenance bits to the car which you can read about on the pages about Tusky.

Because we are travelling to Eastern Europe we have also had to have vaccinations. Originally it started out as 6 vaccinations for Dan and Wendy and 2 for Cassie. We ended up just having 3 for Dan and Wendy and 1 for Cassie. Dan and Wendy had Typhoid, Diphtheria and Hepatitis A. It was suggested that we go to a travel clinic to get a vaccination for Tick Encephalitis but we did not have enough time left and you require 4 weeks and a minimum of 2 doses. Instead we have had to stock up on Deet insect repellent and some tick removing tweezers.

Continuing on the health, we have also purchased a Life Systems first aid kit this year and stocked it with a few extra items. We decided on the mountaineer first aid kit because of the items it has. We have then added Imodium, burn patches, anti histamine cream, blister stick and the bloody amazing Compeed blister plasters.