Things Change

This time last week I was packing for my grand London adventure. While the London part didn't happen the adventure part sure did. I was quite shaken and left questioning my future plans after that experience. I've spoken with my friends, parents, and Flynn and have come to an overwhelming consensus. I simply cannot leave. I am about 64 days into a 196 day trip. I've learned a lot since I've been here, but I'm not done yet. Also, I made a promise to the family and I can't back out. London did change some things for me though.

I am no longer feeling as invulnerable as I was when I first got here. I was confident that I could go anywhere I wanted and have fun. I could meet people, make ends meet, and be fine. While those things are still true, I can do all those things, now I realize that it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I need to take more precautions. I need to NOT write in my journal as much while going through immigration. I need to have a plan B for accommodations.

In January, shortly after arriving here, my new friend Jenny warned be about traveling in Ireland and the UK. She is a veteran traveler and has many many traveler friends. She said that the UK was very strict about visas and that I should be careful there. I took her advice and chose to go before my tourist visa expired. Obviously, that wasn't enough. Having learned my lesson, I have decided that it would be unwise to try to go to Ireland.

Flynn and I have been planning to backpack around Europe for the month of August. Our plan was to meet up in Ireland, visit his family there, then make our way through France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain before flying home to Seattle. Due to my recent run in with immigration we thought it would be best to avoid Ireland all together. What a disappointment. Ireland will have to wait till another day. Then we decided that if we couldn't do Ireland then perhaps we ought to save our money and take a different trip all together. This is what we have come up with.

In August I will meet Flynn in Boston. We will travel south to Florida, fly from Florida to California, and then continue the road trip north to Seattle. This trip will cost half as much as our Europe trip while still fulfilling one of my (many) traveling fantasies.

I am still going to do some European traveling this summer, though I'm not sure where I will go. I've made a list of places I want to visit in Spain. I think those are the priority. I am going to look at my calender and see how much time I have. Then I will see when I could take long weekends or maybe even the first week in August to see France or Italy. Things can change pretty quickly, but if you don't bend you break.

I've got this looming feeling that I'm running out of time, all of a sudden. I still have more than half my trip left! This isn't the first time during my stay that I have felt this. I am pretty sure that it will pass soon and I will go back to being calm and relaxed. But for now I feel like I need to plan, I need to schedule, I need to make sure I see it all. It isn't a bad feeling, it's just a feeling. Perhaps if I didn't like planning so much it would be a bad feeling. But I generally enjoy looking at calenders and maps and reading travel articles. I like coming up with plans. Maybe that's why I already have a route, time line, and a loose budget in mind for the US road trip. Or maybe that's because I'm crazy and need to feel in control. Your guess is as good as mine.

Things change. It's a good thing.