The Plan and The Unplanned

I have had 2 years to plan this trip.  To think about where I wanted to go, to create a travel bucket list of sorts and then to map out a route that would allow me to touch on many of the things I wanted to see and experience.  Sometimes too much time isn't as much of a blessing as you would think.  It also lends itself to overthinking, anxiety and of course the many things that are out of our control.

Here is my itinerary as of today:

August 20th - Morocco

Jordan

Ukraine

Turkey  due to political unrest and of course Canada's lovely travel advisory, and many other things that have gone wrong in planning this portion, Turkey will be left for another time.

UK

Nepal

India

Myanmar

Thailand

Laos

Vietnam

Singapore

Cambodia

Indonesia (Bali)

Australia

New Zealand

Chile

Bolivia

Peru

Brazil

Costa Rica

Nicaragua

Home (May or June)

The entirety of that list looks amazing in theory, but as I am slowly learning, there are many factors that play into what I actually end up doing.  The Countries in italics are still up in the air, and nothing concrete has been planned yet.  Where I go will depend on time, money, accommodations, flight/bus/train etc. cost and availability, travel advisories, visa requirements, my overall physical and mental health and any other distractions that may arise and cause me to choose a new destination (who knows what cool adventures travel will bring).  So far, I have learned that Jordan does not fly to many destinations without making many stopovers in places, leading me to add Ukraine to my list.  I have also spent many hours figuring out my Indian visa, and re-doing the application twice, and I have had to cancel my Turkey portion of the trip, due to a gut feeling and some travel advisories.  I will get there someday, just not right now.

Here is a quick rundown of what I had to organize before leaving:

Flights and accommodations

Figure out how to get from airports to accommodations

Visas - make a list of places that require visas, and figure out if they can be done online from anywhere or if they need to be done prior to leaving.

Get a bag and figure out what exactly I need to pack.  I just spent the last 2 weeks in B.C., so it was the perfect opportunity to pack exactly what I want for the year and see what I overpacked or underpacked.  

I had to switch my car insurance and my health insurance

Get travel insurance

Vaccines

Get generic prescriptions filled for the year

Visit friends and family

Clean up, pack up and get rid of some non-essential things

Figure out where to send my pets

Make sure my bank accounts were okay

And a million other small things that felt big at the time.

Caution: This is the honesty/full of feelings portion of this blog post.  

I keep hearing how lucky I am, and how amazing this is, but it isn't luck, I received 66% of my pay over two years, in exchange for a leave of absence from work for one year, at which time I am being paid the 66% of my pay that I put away into savings.  This is a deferred salary program offered by my school board.  This is not luck.  It is drive and commitment.  You can also put away part of your pay and save up to travel, just apply for a leave of absence or do mini vacations, depending on how flexible your employer is.  You can have anything if you want it badly enough, sitting around talking about how lucky people are, isn't going to get you anywhere.

Next, as excited as I am, and as much as my mantra lately has been "this is the opportunity of a lifetime", I can't help but feel crushing anxiety on a daily basis.  It was okay when I was working, but now that I am on summer break and have no set schedule, and no distractions, it is all too real.  I think that any big experience always has an undertone of "Oh my god, what the heck was I thinking when I signed up for this?!", but that doesn't make it any easier.  I find myself driving somewhere, and thinking about my trip, and all of a sudden my chest is tight and I can't catch my breath.  Sometimes I have to pull over and just breathe until I am calmed down.  I haven't been sleeping much either, with all of the unknowns playing relentlessly in my mind as I try to fall asleep.  I am terrified, and wonder often if I should cancel (gasp! Don't worry, I won't actually cancel, because for me, the hardest part is always the first step, after that I usually fall easily into new situations and land on my feet.) I have always been quite anxious, I just cope well outwardly.  I recently read this article that so perfectly describes how I feel on a regular basis.  I know I will be okay, and that this is going to be great, I just need to take that leap of faith.

With less than a month to take off, there is a fair amount to do and see right here in the Edmonton area, and then I will be on my way.