Wannabe World Traveller

I think I need to set some long-term goals for myself, because I know I’ll be very unhappy if, at the end of 2018, I look back on the past ten years and I’ve spent it all in one or two places.

For the next ten years….

• I don’t want to spend more than two consecutive years in one place (I’ll break up the four years of college by studying abroad).

• I want to spend at least a summer in 5 different countries, and at least a week in 15 countries. (Not counting the United States).

• I want to visit five continents (I doubt I’ll make it to Antarctica, and I’m leaving a little room in case I don’t make it to Australia, too).

• I want to be decently skilled in three foreign languages.

Specifically, how am I going to achieve these goals? Well, I’d like to go to college abroad, but I don’t know if that will happen. I’ll definitely study abroad. I want to spend this summer or the next at language school in Guatemala. I want to spend two years in the Peace Corps. I want to teach English somewhere. I want to travel alone for long periods of time whenever I have the money. I’m not clear on all the specifics, but I want to make it happen. And then, maybe in ten years I’ll feel like having a “normal” life…But I kind of doubt it.

I’ve been planning a five-week trip backpacking around Europe with three of my friends. It will be the summer after we graduate high school, and seems like a great way to celebrate. We plan to spend time in Germany (staying with a friend), Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Venice, and Rome, for at least three days each, with short one-day stops planned as well. I have some reservations about this trip, though.

First of all, I’d like to spend more time, go less places, be more spontaneous, and stray off the beaten path a little more. I’d also like to be cheaper than I think they’re planning on. I’d also like to go alone or with one friend, rather than having a group of us. I also have at least one friend who crosses the line from “cautious” to “uptight” a bit too often for my taste, and she can be really controlling.

I don’t know how I can back out, though. My parents are far more willing to let me go to Europe with three friends than solo, and they’ll want an itinerary. If I’m eighteen with my own money, I suppose I can do whatever I like, but I’d rather not have a huge fight with my parents if I can avoid it.

The trip we’re planning seems like a bare-bones overview of three countries (Germany being the exception as we’re staying in a small town with a local and seeing more “real” Germany than tourist Germany), hitting the big cities. Some of the best times I’ve had were in small towns, off the beaten path. The best week of my life was spent in and around Tamworth, England–certainly not a tourist destination.

On the plus side, it will be fun if we don’t kill each other. I also think, with the mix of people, we can have a good balance of fun partying and sightseeing and other stuff, too. Also, if I’m planning to save for Europe and it doesn’t look like I’ll have enough by the time tickets are being booked, I plan on going to Central America instead. Way cheaper. I was thinking Guatemala.

I kind of forgot about this blog for months and months, but it's coming back to life now! I have some definite and some tentative travel plans for the next few months. They are:

• Definite: A few days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with ... [Continue reading this entry]