6:20am: After two months of investigating, planning, and fantasizing, I leave today for a six-week trip that will take me to New York City, Berlin, Prague, the beaches of Turks and Caicos, and many small villages and cities between these major points of interest. This is the first summer I’ve had free of responsibility since I was 15, and I intend to make the most of it. My mission is simple: to walk around, read books, and write (a lot) every day of the trip. I will probably see a few tourist sites along the way – including several castles, the tourist destinations that are most appealing to me, and Holocaust memorial sites – but most of the trip will consist of wandering around cobblestone streets and drinking cappuccinos in cafes. In short, I’ll be doing exactly the things that I want to do and always want to do. I hope to learn a lot on the trip.