An itinerary for eight months away is a tricky thing. You need to create some structure, but not so much that you rob your future selves of all detours and spontaneity. On our last big trip, we booked our flights, but left accommodations, sightseeing, and other bookings pretty open until about a week beforehand. But everything we read about travelling in the covid-19 era suggested that we needed to be a bit more pro-active or be disappointed when things are sold out. We're also travelling in Europe, which means we'll have to carefully manage our days in Schengen countries