In transit to London

Bag packed, ticket ready, standing at the bus stop. I ready to go. I'm adventurous, fearless, young and invincible! Nothing can stop me now! Here's my bus, I'm ready... but it doesn't stop, it keeps going, it's full! Oh no! This is an obstacle I hadn't accounted for. I lose my edge. I'm not ready, I'm scared and I can't even figure out the transit system in my own city.

Take two. New bus, new route, friendly and helpful new driver. Wonderful! I make it to the airport and have plenty of time for beers and nachos with Steve. I can think of no better way to say our goodbyes. Steve slips a card in my bag and makes me promise not to open it until my plane takes off. We say goodbye. I cry. He takes a picture. The border guard gives me a smile and lets me through without any questions. Thanks Mr. Border Guard.

Now I'm on the tarmac on a tiny plane waiting to leave for Washington. There's about 12 other men in business suits on board and an empty spot beside me, which is good because I have the attention span of a two year old and can't sit still. Our plane is broken and we're going nowhere quickly.

Forty minutes later our tiny broken plane is fixed. I rip open the card and read the most heartfelt and sincere message and reassuring words from Steve. I know we're both going to be okay. I turn over the card and read something even better... he promises to meet me in the vatican for Christmas! Ahhhh! No joke! I want to grab one of my well dressed business passengers and hug them and make them celebrate with me, i would buy them all a drink (there's only 12 of us) but our plane is to small and has no beverage service - what a shitty plane!

blah, blah, blah, Washington is boring, it's raining, i get soaked walking from the broken tiny plane with no beverage service that can't even pull up to the terminal... fastforward!

I'm on a plane to London and I've scored an aisle seat. woo hoo! This plane is quite different from the last. There are 9 people in each row and 49 rows, plus 11 flight crew, I had a lot of time on my hands so I did the math, that's more than 400 people soaring through the air. That's basically my elementary school population which is a rather sobering thought. Houston we have a problem! There's someone in my seat. My wonderful, prime real estate aisle seat is occupied by a man with a kidney condition who requested the aisle and didn't get it, no problem I tell him, the seat is all yours. I'm small enough that it doesn't make that large of a difference to me and being mildly uncomfortable for 7hours of my life isn't really going to make that big of a difference anyway... this is my though pattern until 5 hours in to the flight when numb-nuts infront of me has his seat fully reclined, my bottom is asleep, I need to pee and Mr. kidney problems is sound asleep. I'm quite certain he also ate my bag of pretzels but we won't go there....

Anyway, a few hours later all 400 of us land safely and soundly in London, I make it through customs, and the adventure begins!

Where am I going? How will I stay in touch?

Tomorrow I fly to London.  I'm excited, and nervous, and convinced that I'm forgetting to do a million things.  I only have bits and pieces of a plan and I can think of hundreds or reasons why I should not be going, but what it all boils down to is that this is something I need to do.  I am not happy sitting in my little corner of the world simply wondering what is going on "over there."  I must go see for myself. 

This is the plan as of right now.  I must emphasize the right nowness of this statement, my plans seem to change almost hourly.  But I feel that I should put some semblance of a plan here to give people an idea of what I'm doing.

October 28th ->  arrive in London. I'm couchsurfing with a lovely couple Nana and Paul, they've been nice enough to open up their home to me for an entire week and have offered to show me around.  Through the couchsurfing (CS) website I also got in contact with John Tisdale an american, stationed in Afghanistan, who will also be visiting London while I'm there.  We're meeting that afternoon outside of the British museum.  Together we will see sites, drink beer, and explore the city.  It will be fantastic.  Last night it also occurred to me that my friend from college, Delly Dyer, was living in London.  I quickly contacted her on Facebook and we'll be meeting up.  It's a small world and the Cre Comm mafia has international borders. 

October 4th ->  catch a bus to Paris.  I saved a lot of money by booking in advance and taking the bus not the train (my ticket cost only 10 euros).  The trade off?  The trip takes 9 hours.  Yuck.  I arrive in Paris very late but have a couch for two nights with another wonderful couple I met off of CS.  

October 7th -> This is not certain yet but I have been invited to go and study/work with an artist in Southern France with full room and board.  This makes me very excited.  I will follow up in a later post once I have more information.

October 15th ->  This is where the plan begins to unravel.  Maybe another week in the south of France, perhaps moving quickly onto Barcelona.  After a few weeks in Spain I'll head to Portugal, Morroco (a mutual friend of Steve and I will be there for Christmas), over to Italy, Greece, Turkey, up into Eastern Europe and maybe, if I'm not completely broke, into Northern Europe.  

Ambitious?  yes.  But, I'm probably only going to do something like this once, so why not dream big?

Now the real question:  How can you keep in touch with me? 

1. You can text me.  I can receive unlimited text messages.  If you're thinking of me for any reason, please please please text me.  I won't answer but know that it will make me very happy to hear from you. 
2. I can text you, but I only get 50/month, so you probably won't get a text from me saying "hey, what's up?"
3. I'll be sending postcards through a fabulous website hippopost.com.  Lame name, but fantastic concept.  By selling ad space on postcards they cover the cost of printing and postage, allowing you to send free postcards.  
4. Email. 
5. Facebook.
6. This blog.  Please comment on my posts... even if it is to tell me that I'm a big lame-o, or that I've said "wonderful" twelve times in a single post.  

However you get in touch with me it will be 'wonderful' to hear from you!

Packing

I'm a chronic overpacker.  I pack too much of everything everywhere I go.  Even for the grocery store, I bring extra bottles of water, too many bags, gum, sunscreen, umbrella, you name it, I bring it.  This is why I have a 'purse' larger than most carry on luggage.  I know it's a problem, so why do I do it?  Well, it goes without fail that I always end up forgetting something.  I may have Band-Aids, granola bars, and an extra pair of shoes, but I've probably forgotten my cell phone or my wallet.

So, imagine the challenge I find in packing a single backpack for a trip that will take me an undetermined amount of months, through multiple countries and varying climates.  Have I met my maker?  

It turns out, I haven't!  In fact, I have a lot of room.  Too much room. More room then I should have...

What am I forgetting?  

Perhaps nothing.  The knowledge that I'm going to have to carry all of this wonderful and necessary, "I simply can not live without it" stuff on my back, across an entire continent has a very sobering effect on a girl.  

That being said, I have yet to pack my wallet or my cell phone, or my running shoes, or my camera, or my towel, or an extra pack of gum, or sunscreen, or the kitchen sink....