Journey of a Thousand Miles Takes an Eighteenth Step

(12/4/14)

 

Just a few days before I go off on my furthest adventure yet.

 

A friend of mine has graced me with metro/RER tickets. Apparently you have to buy 10 of those at a time, and she had some left over from her previous trip and she saw it fit to give them to me =) *super touched*

 

My colleagues have given me scarves to keep me warm. I already had scarves packed and ready to go, so I just put those away and replaced them with the ones my colleagues gave me.

 

I have last minute packing to do tomorrow. I wonder if I’ll find anything I can shave off from the pile.

 

My journal is packed with loving words from supportive friends. I’ll add stories of my travels to it. I wonder if I’ll fill it up, or will pages be left blank, or will I need to buy a new notebook there?

 

There isn’t much to do but make sure I’m fully packed. A boiled down list of absolute essentials:

 

a.       Passport

b.      Money

c.       Rail Pass

 

Anything else can be bought/obtained later. It might be troublesome, but things like flight tickets are e-tickets which could be reprinted; same goes to hostel bookings. I have a soft copy version of my itinerary. The rest is pretty much replaceable.

 

 

It’s astounding how far one can strip down their life to. Not too long ago I was lugging around a 3kg+ handbag and even that didn't hold all my needs. I needed a separate bag to hold my tablet and documents. Then another bag to hold my food.

 

Now the handbag is replaced by a money belt, strapped to my non-existent torso, the rest in my daypack, and the extras in my big (borrowed) travel backpack. It’s scary, but I feel awesome. And super excited.

 

So right before I go, let me boil down what preparations have been done to get me to this point:

 

1.       Decide on when to go and for how long.

2.       Buy flight tickets.

3.       Decide on whether or not to buy a Rail Pass

4.       Make a rough itinerary of cities to go to.

5.       Find the train schedules to those cities.

6.       Find quotes for hostel prices for budgeting purposes.

7.       And along the way, purchase nitty bitty things like disposable travel bottles and ziplock bags.

 

So, anyone out there who wants to go but think it’s too much work to plan, remember that I had those exact reservations that held me back. But here I am, ready to go on my first Eurotrip. I had help along the way, valuable advice and tips given here and there, but the most precious gift I have received to date is the support from those around me.