Episode 13: Unluckily for some (i.e. you), I did actually write something today.

I'm not sure why I fell into a daily update schedule for this, but it was a bad idea. There are some days on this trip where the place we lay our heads is simply just a point on the journey and the drive there was motorways all the time.

In essence what I'm saying is that there's not a lot to say about today. We had a drive around Dortmund (trying to find the way out more than to see the sights), we stayed on the motorway all the way to Rotterdam and now we're in an airport hotel a way outside the city. We're not 100% sure if our car is allowed into Dutch cities at all (I think we are allowed in but on all car-related matters I defer to the driver, so if in doubt we'd better stay out). We're going to find somewhere to park outside the cities tomorrow so we can see a bit of Den Haag and Amsterdam but we're really just marking time until the next football game tomorrow. After that we get to see some of the proper destination cities that we came for, Bremen and - assuming we're allowed into Danish cities - Copenhagen (and Chris' pick, Billund, home of LEGO).

Rest days are important though, I suppose; they're just not much fun for you to read about. I've also run out of general Europe-based chit chat.

I would make some quip about not being able to get a decent cup of tea but I feel it's gone beyond a joke now, both in the sense that the law of diminishing returns states that you can't tell the same joke over again and expect as good a reaction and in the sense that if there is a new and different way to get a laugh out of my stereotypical British need for a cuppa, I can't think of it because it's now become an actual sore point; I'm not joking any more. I suspect my preoccupation with this issue may indicate genuine caffeine addiction which is also no laughing matter even if it is by far the least harmful addiction you can have.

I suppose it just seems a waste to me that I've got nothing to tell you (more accurately, it feels like you, my readers, will think it's a waste). I've spent a lot of money on this trip and you only get so many days, both of life and - in this barbaric world of labour in service of capital - to use as you see fit. It doesn't bother me that nothing happened today but while in theory I don't care what anyone else thinks, I really, really care what everyone else thinks.

I don't know, I just wish I had something more exciting to say, I guess. It comes down to poor planning again and it's been the same throughout. We were in Paris on a Tuesday and guess which day the Louvre is always closed? We've hit cities with interesting events on the before or the day after said event and we would have been more motivated to do things if we'd actually learnt a language, as planned. I don't mean to focus on the negatives, I'm just doing the typed version of thinking out loud and we are having a good time, or I am anyway, Chris hasn't really said.

Which is all a really long-winded way of saying that I've got nothing to say. Sorry, it was a bit of a waste of a post, wasn't it?