Planning and Packing for the Trip

After spending much time on Google Maps and Google Earth learning the area, visiting other sites such as AlpineRoads.com, and watching the "World's Best Driving Roads" episode of Top Gear, I have laid out a Google Map of our planned route through Europe. It's about 1700 miles total, meaning we'll have to average about 250 miles per day which should equate to about 6 hours of driving per day. It should be a nice break-in for the car.

There are no direct flights from Philly to Stuttgart, so we have a layover in Paris on our way to Stuttgart. I have only booked our first and last night's hotel stays, the rest of it will be made up as we go along. Hopefully that plan will work out; I'm a little nervous that we won't be able to find hotels on the fly but I don't really anticipate much of a problem.

Normally I don't have much trouble packing for trips, but this trip has two specific problems that make it more difficult than usual: 1) we expect to encounter a temperature range from about 20-80 degrees Fahrenheit, and 2) we have less than 5 cubic feet of space in the 911 Carrera's front trunk for the two of us for a 10 day trip. There is also the rear seat area which will provide more space, but I'd like to use that space minimally to prevent our stuff from flying around the cabin and also to keep items hidden from view.

To keep space usage to a minimum, we are packing clothes that can be easily layered and which are lightweight and quick-drying so we can hand-wash things on the go. Outside of clothes we'll be taking some very portable electronics: Asus Eee PC for Internet / Email access and Skype usage for phone calls, Garmin C330 GPS w/ European map card, Amazon Kindle - so my wife has something to do (read) on any down time, USB drive loaded with MP3s to test the Porsche's Universal Audio Interface, and of course a digital camera with lots of storage.

We have some foreign currency and I've notified banks and credit cards of our travel plans, passports and international driver's permits are in order, I have the factory delivery information I need, and we have some physical maps to backup the GPS - I think we're all set to go.