About this time last year, I made my first visit to Europe by settling down in Paris for 10 days. At the time, I did very planning after buying the ticket, and cut down on my luggage by planning on finding a French laundromat. I ended up going with my small suitcase, and a typical school backpack to hold my laptop and other electronic gear. I reasoned that, armed with a Paris guidebook and a laptop (i.e Internet), I’d figure it out once I arrived. The use of Google Maps on my mobile phone also helped a lot.
This time, I’m travelling with even less luggage (a travel backpack that’s about 3/4 full), and about the same amount of planning – except that I’m not taking a laptop or any other kind of eletronic supplement. Just some printouts that I haven’t yet finished reading.
On the up side, travelling with so little with me feels great. On the down side, it’s a bit disconcerting to be without the Internet to help me. Also, unlike French, I can’t claim to know even a little bit of Italian. Oh well, at least this way, it’ll be interesting no matter what! 
