Just back from around 2200 miles in Europe with Mike.
I was on my CBR600RR and bought the ventura bracket and packrack so that I could fix more things around my oxford tailpack on the seat. Luckily (for me) Mike took a Multistrada that he modified for the trip (so it would last being a Ducati :P) and so his panniers had a lot of the stuff like cooking things, bottles of wine :w00t: and he fitted a fancy charging system so we could charge our mobiles. 
I dont really have time to write a long report but there are few things worthy of sharing.
1 - It is really easy to camp in France and the campsites have flat grassy plots to pitch on, nice hot showers and often have bars/restaurants so its actually fine after a long day riding around.
2 - the S62 in Italy is a lovely road to ride though the mountains. Apparently the S63 and the other parallel roads are all really good but we didnt have time for them.
3 - Luxembourg had some unexpected lovely roads eg around Remich and along the Waistrooss river. We didnt plan to go there but took a wrong turning and ended up pleasantly surprised.
4 - We stumbled on this place in Bussang after a long days ride and it had just started to rain. Much better than camping. Really friendly. Mark who runs the place with his family was v welcoming and we had a great night there. There are a lot of nice roads around there but we only experienced them in the wet as we were on our way back. I think it would be a great place to use a base for a few days riding and he said there is an offroad riding place about an hour away where you can hire bikes so that might be another fun option for a day if you do use it as a base.
http://www.coldebussang.com/en/accueil.htm
5 - Lake Como is way nicer than Lake Garda
6 - in Italy you dont have to pay for the toll roads. if you look for the road markings on the way up to the telepass toll gate (ie not the coins/card/cashier booths) you will see a yellow/orange motorcycle painted on the road and the barrier on the telepass gate is shorter so bikes can ride through. We didnt notice it the first few times and ended up paying, not a lot, but it was only by chance I saw the road marking when I was crossing over to what I thought was the correct booth.
7 - If you have a datatool alarm, make sure you have a pin set because at one toll road a mast interfered with my alarm fobs and if I didnt have a PIN set it would have been annoying. Oh and carry the bit of paper telling how to disarm the alarm using a PIN…pretty useless otherwise!
8 - dont forget to take pucks for under your stands especially if you are camping as a lot of places have soft gravel that isnt ideal for parking a bike on.
Drivers in Europe are generally really considerate both to each other and especially to bikers. They pretty much move into the hard shoulder to let you past. I hadnt been abroad on my bike before and I loved it. I have ridden around a lot of places in the UK and have experienced cafes/bars that look down at bikers and are sometimes not keen to serve you but we were impressed by how helpful people were abroad. Dont be nervous about it and go as soon as you can!
Oh and remember when you get off your first motorway and come to a crossroads, please stop and look both ways as its easy to get forget the first few times. I admit that there was one junction where I looked the wrong way and got a bit of a scare as I might have continued onto the junction if the car in front of me hadnt been there and stationary (and there was a car coming too :unsure: )
Have fun
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