I've got two more preliminary posts before we get into the trip itself. Bear with me, because these two aspects are critical to the trip.

The first is BookCrossing, one of my several passions. It's an american thing, and to sum it up, it's a cross between tagging a migratory bird and setting loose a message in a bottle.

It's done with books, and it's the brainchild of an American software engineer named Ron Hornbaker, who conceived the idea in March 2001 and launched the site on 17 April that year.

The idea is that a book is registered on BookCrossing.com, given a registration number (otherwise known as a BCID: a BookCrossing IDentity number) which is marked on the inside along with a brief note asking the finder to log their "catch" on the website, and then "released into the wild".

OK, it's a bit weird, but it works! The three millionth BookCrossing book was registered a few days ago, and there are nearly half a million members, some with over 20 000 books registered.

I joined in January 2003, and I've got about 1 400 books registered and released. I'm about number twelve in Australia in terms of books registered, which gives you some idea of the popularity. Participation can be completely anonymous, with most members electing to use a "screen name". I am Skyring.

It's a lot of fun, as you might expect. After releasing books on park benches, in coffee shops, or other suitable places, a member waits by his email inbox for a note to come in saying that a book has been caught. The finder will have been asked to say where the book was found, how they liked it and to give a brief summary of their experience with the book. An example is "Operation Seadragon", which shows a wild catch, the ability to be anonymous, and someone subverting the system by keeping the book.

Anyway, you never know what you're going to get. To celebrate BookCrossing's second anniversary, I wrapped up a copy of "Blackwater" in two ziploc bags, tossed it into the waters of Lake Burley Griffin at midnight (because I wanted to celebrate before the birthday rolled around to the USA, and the title seemed appropriate) and it washed up in Borneo, believe it or not!

I celebrated the third anniversary by writing a book about releasing books through New Zealand called "BookCrossing Through Middle-Earth" which I mailed out to the first BookCrossing Convention in St Louis in April 2004.

In November 2004 we Australians held our own convention in Sydney, which I liked so much that I resolved to attend as many gatherings as I possibly could. BookCrossers have several characteristics in common. They tend to be well-read, generous, quirky people. The sort of person who thinks it's fun to give away books to strangers. They also tend to be 90% women, and I reckon this is a plus. It's a friendly, funny family, especially when you dive into the community forums and find yourself swapping tales of books released and caught with people all over the world.

I took my wife to a convention in 2005 in Christchurch, and then went to the second North American convention in Fort Worth, Texas. On the way I stopped in London and released a book on every square of the British Monopoly Board.

Some little time after that, I found myself a member of the volunteer support team for BookCrossing, answering emailed questions and helping people sort out problems, such as a jumbled BCID or a lost password. That's a bit of work, but a lot of fun. I like helping people out.

So that's BookCrossing. And the ostensible reason for my trip was to attend the 2006 convention in Toronto.