It does indeed appear that the UK is unusual in its treatment of VFR flight plans (they are looked at only if you crash). Elsewhere they do look at one's intended route.
No, I gave up on Libya. One needs a "sponsor". It can be arranged using one of the overflight permit companies (who presumably have "contacts", in the British Leyland Nigerian Land Rover sense
) but the place is also relatively far from Crete and all in all not worth the bother and the risk of getting stranded there without enough fuel to get back. I am doing Crete (LGSA) and Ukraine instead (UKOO via LRCK, LZKZ) and they are all on email
