Hi friends,

In about 3 days I’ll be heading out to Europe to backpack for about a month with my roommate, Anny. This definitely isn’t my first rodeo, but no matter how many times I travel I always get a bit jittery and nervous right before. Usually I’m quite busy, so any upcoming travel is pushed to the back of my mind until I finish my school work and my actual work. This is a bit different, however, since I already finished my school work and have just been sitting around maintaining a semi-successful blog for the last ~2months.

I think I get obsessed with things easily. Actually, I know I do. Either that or I throw around the word so often it has lost all of its weight to me. But, really, I’ve been obsessing about my trip to Europe. I have nothing else to do now that I’m back home but to obsess! It’s a pretty long trip, and one that I’ve been planning almost completely by myself. And all of this planning is giving me anxiety. While I’m making all of my spreadsheets and reading all of the fine print on our train tickets my breathing becomes hitched and my hands start to shake. This usually only happens when I’m in deep concentration after hours of studying and practicing physics problems, not when I’m planning a vacation! So, instead of planning I’m writing y’all this short and simple blog post about travel anxiety. Ugh it’s so obnoxious. I’m typically the “go with the flow” kind of traveler. I pack and then I show up and then I see where the wind takes me. Unfortunately, since its peak season and we’re keeping a strict budget, I haven’t been able to be as liberal with some of the decisions pertaining accommodation and transportation, so I’m getting nervous that I’m going to mess up somewhere along the way. I’ve mentioned this like a million times already, I’m prone to getting lost. I can’t help it, it’s like my brain follows a completely different map sometimes. So, I already know that I’m going to end up in the wrong country or something.

But you know what? I’m just going to follow my site’s slogan: expect nothing; appreciate everything, and I’m going to chill out. I have everything printed, booked, and [almost] packed. It’s time to let things take their course and just enjoy the ride.

Cheers!