40 Days…till 5 months!
As I mentioned over at Gadling today, I’ve finally booked my flight: 40 days from today I will fly from Newark, NJ direct to Lisbon, Portugal. I booked a return flight to the states from Rome through London in mid-July… Soooooo, my 5 month European adventure is almost officially underway.
I’m at a complete loss with how to express in words all that I am thinking, feeling and doing these days: Excited, overjoyed, melancholy and nostalgic at times, motivated, determined, overwhelmed and all that other stuff too. I’m trying my best to balance it, keeping things slow and simple so I savor each step of the way.
Thoughts I’m juggling in my mind right now: the trip planning process (too little vs. too much), the packing challenges I’ve yet to tackle (no backpack or camera yet), how to handle the struggles I am having with my own writing (personal and professional), my desire to be honest with myself and others about certain issues, the valid concerns/worries & wonderful support/enthusiasm of family and friends, and the tough decisions I have to make about how I will ultimately choose to travel. I recognize that these are personal struggles I willingly took on. I’m managing them, learning lessons as I go, and hopefully create a stronger version of myself in the process.
Last night I started reading The Best American Travel Writing 2005. I got as far as Jamaica Kincaid’s introduction. She describes the collection of travel narratives in this way:
“These essays stimulate my curiosity; they underline my sense of my displacement.”
She goes on to say that she likes the feeling of being out of place. It got me thinking…I’ve always had a most wonderful place to call home, in the literal sense — our home in Pearl River, followed by the homes I made in Baltimore. But my internal “home”, my personal sense of place, has never been more out of whack then it is right now. I learn more and more each day about who I am as a person, but I’m just not sure where I’m supposed to be. And I’m not so sure that I like feeling this way. But my deep curiosity to see the world has led me to feel so very Lost in Place. I’ve chosen to put comfortable aside and follow the uneasiness. I have no clue where this journey will take me, but I know it’s necessary for me to live through this self-imposed displacement and see where it leads. And I trust my own judgment that it will do me some good to take this break, so that then I can do some real good in this world.
My tag line for the blog used to read: One woman’s love affair with location, search for vocation and occasional intoxications. I think I’ll have to change it back to that, since it does seem to sum up the trifecta of why I’m embarking on this trip quite perfectly:
Location = Place: I want to explore every nook and cranny of this earth
Vocation = Passion: I want to discover how best to walk through this world
Intoxications = Play: I want to celebrate the simple joys of life
Yikes! All these deep-thoughts aside, I’m stoked, blessed and bubbling with enthusiasm to get out there and enjoy the experience. Thanks as always to all of you who pray, support and cheer me on.
Tags: Europe Trip Prep, Quotes, Tag Index
Kel
January 13th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Fantastic post!
Cant wait to read more!
Cheers