New Year, New Adventure

The day has finally come. As I sit here, I tell myself I'm not freaking out, but I how could I not be. I quit my job, sold my car, and moved back in with my parents all in preparation to take this year off to travel. As my mind jumps from do I have everything packed to will I have enough money to all the events with friends and family that I'm going to miss, I have to remind myself that this is something I have been planning for since 16 year old me traveled to France on an exchange.

I'm not big into new years resolutions, but in the spirits of this year, I have made one resolution for myself. My one and only resolution is to not over plan and live in the moment. As of now, I haven't been that successful as I do have most of the first month planned out, but hopefully the vagabond life will start to wear on me. Sitting here one last time in the USA for a while, planner me is a little bit stressed about the big unknown of this year. Every time someone asks where will you be at a certain month or when I plan on coming home, I awkwardly shrug and whimper out an I don't know. It is the complete opposite of the organized, scheduled life of the working engineer I lived. As cheesy as it sounds, this year will give me a lot of time to reflect and push me outside my comfort zone.

The preparation for this trip started months ago as I started to research countries I wanted to visit. A while back, my siblings and I attempted to do Oktoberfest in Munch. I say attempted cause long story short, my sister didn't end up going. This time we decided to do St. Patrick's Day in Dublin. This is how I set my course of travel. Once, I knew I was starting in Europe, I figured best way to get around would be the Eurail Pass. The amount of research I did for if the Eurail Pass was worth it or not was extensive. And not only that, but when I eventually decided on that it was, I needed to figure out which option to do. Since, I plan to do a slow, thorough exploration of Europe my thought was the 2 month 10 day pass will be the most cost efficient. Engineer, spreadsheet lover me will figure out if it is in the end. As for other documents, I had to renew my license as it would expire while I would be abroad. Plus with the whole new "real" ID, it was best to do it before my license expired. Future me will be thankful I did it. It only took an hour trip to AAA to do it. Plus, I was able to get my international drivers permit while I was there. Most countries it isn't necessary, but it is always better safe than sorry. Croatia is one of the country that it is necessary and I will mostly likely want to rent a car to explore the country.

The last big preparation was what to pack. With only my backpacks, I spent hours selectively choosing what clothes I wanted to bring. I even went to the extreme of putting on a little fashion show in my room, making sure that I felt every piece of clothing was versatile and comfortable. The one good thing is that my parents wanted me to come home in July, so this gives me a chance to reconsider the choice I made in clothing before I take off again. The first half of the trip is a bit harder to pack for as I will be spending a good amount of time in cold weather countries, but then ending in warm weather countries. Below is a picture of everything that I will have in my possession for the next 6 months.

Everyone keeps telling me how brave I am for doing this trip solo. And every time someones says it, it makes me even more nervous. I wouldn't consider myself a brave person. To me, I think I'm being irresponsible. I am putting my career on hold, wasting all the money I have saved, and choosing to spend my year mostly alone. But, then again, there is no better time than now for me to do this. I have no responsibilities besides myself and I (hopefully) have enough money saved up to do everything I want to do. As for being alone, I know times of loneliness are ahead of me, but I have thankfully amazing friends and family who have planned to visit me. I will not go more than 2 months without seeing a familiar face, which is what is truly calming my nerves. The best is my best friend from college is flying out a day after me to spend the first week with me. I don't think she knows how much this has helped with my nerves.

So with my backpack all packed, my boarding pass printed, I am as ready as I ever will be for the start of my new adventure. So Portugal here I come!