A dangerous business

Departure time! I'm about to leave for San Luis Obispo, where I will get a train up towards the bay area. Tomorrow, I fly to New York and then onwards to London.

This calls for some Tolkien quoting while I still have my copy of Lord of the Rings handy! Here's Frodo talking to Sam about Bilbo's sayings shortly after they set off.

"He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.' "

A dangerous business indeed, but an exciting one too. A guidebook cannot tell you for certain what lies around the next bend in the Road, and that's the best part. It might be Nazgul, or it might be elves. It might be just more trees. Either way, I need to see.

My bags are packed. My perishable foods are out of the fridge. I've made yet another traveling songs mix on my ipod. I'm as ready as I can be. Onward!

By Jove, it's a travel blog!

Huzzah! I'm going to abroad the UK and Ireland this summer. This blog exists as a way to easily keep everyone I know informed about my travels. I'll try to update with reasonable regularity, but don't expect too much. After all, the point of travel is to see and do stuff, not to sit around typing about seeing and doing stuff.

Things you can expect to see in this blog:
-excited rambling about everything from cool historical sites to British accents
-extreme levels of geekiness, especially with regards to Doctor Who. And Tolkien. And Shakespeare. And Monty Python. Really, lots of geekiness in general.
-excessively long and potentially whiny posts about the challenges of travel
-short and cryptic posts
-polysyllabic words, but also small amounts of internet slang (mostly employed for the humor value)
-tree-hugging, metaphorical and possibly also literal
-possibly mediocre photography, if I can figure out how to post photos easily
-puns. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
-raving about the various fantastic friends I will be seeing.
-the unexpected!

Right, enough typing. I have preparations to make.