Planning for a new adventure.

It's time to plan for the great escape of 2009.

This year's escapade took form back in the depths of winter as my old espresso machine brewed it's last shot and sprung a leak. In typical gadget geek form this triggered a scouring of the web for information on the ultimate in coffee brewing technology. Alas i was forced to admit that the ultimate was a little out of budget and settled on an Izzo Vivi. This machine with its beautiful chrome E61 brew group and heat exchanger design may not be the ultimate but meets my tech and coffee brewing needs perfectly.

After experiencing the heaven that is a perfectly pulled shot of espresso I soon realised I needed to increase my coffee brewing skill level as only 1 in 4 shots truly hit the mark. It was this insight that spawned the idea of a road trip to Italy to take a Barista course.

From the UK to Italy by car can be done in a day on the motorways of France but that misses out on the astounding scenery of the Alps. With this in mind a more leisurely route is planned heading across to Germany to meet up with old friends before driving down through the Black Forest to Switzerland (with detour to the Nürburgring). From there we shall be heading east over the Stelvio pass through to see more friends in Westerndorf, Austria at which point we turn south to Gardo in Italy. This leads onto a stop in Modena before heading back through the French side of the Alps. In essence, some boring flat lands, wet stuff, more boring flat lands, some very exciting lumpy bits, perfect coffee in Italy and a blast back through France.

My travelling companion for this trip will be my Dad, mostly because he appreciates a good coffee as much as I do but also because he will be providing the transport. A trip like this, especially with a stop in Modena requires a certain class of vehicle so we shall be using my Dad's red mistress, a classic Ferrari Dino. Should be fun through the mountains provided it holds together (-:

Again my goal will be to blog about the whole experience on route using whatever bits of mobile gadgetry i can lay my hands on.

Stay tuned for updates in June.