There is something wonderful, absolutely brilliant even, when one gets the confirmation e-mails from the hotels in which one plans to stay. Hope becomes anticipation and expectation, and dreams start to become very real. I'll be staying in the Heidelberg Hotel, Hotel Concorde in Frankfurt, Le Meridien in Koln, and finally the Vondel in Amsterdam. I am quite positive at this point that I am going to have the best 21st birthday ever, that is, if I don't explode from excitement first...