I find it particularly
strange or maybe ironic is the better word that when I first began thinking
about my trip to Europe my enthusiasm and eagerness about planning the trip of
a life time could hardly be contained. Now, I find myself dreading each online
excursion for travel planning that quickly went from hypothetical excitement to
pure torturous anxiety. The amount of particulars that go into planning a trip
that will span 6 countries in a mere 39 days is complicated and headache
inducing. Who knew baggage would be the real kicker when booking such cheap airfare
or that night trains do not go to every country at affordable prices of say… 30
euros or less? I certainly had no clue in the slightest.
Between trying to delegate Airbandb bookings (a
great resource and awesome way to travel in a group) and finding reasonably
priced transportation ( ryanair.com/cheapflights. com) to all the countries my naively ambitious mind decided we would conquer in our short jaunt around
Europe, the stress of planning left me feeling pretty worn out and stressed
about time and money. I was left wondering if this trip would be a success or
nightmare that consisted of me, my girlfriend, my sister, and her best friend
stranded in some random little French town with no means of transportation,
communication, or money fighting over the lone sheep in a nearby field that we
would need to slaughter for sustenance. I am pretty scrappy, so I have no doubt
I would survive. However, despite my dramatic anxiety things have slowly
started coming together.
The first sign of success
was our gorgeous color coded calendar (created by the lovely and talented
Megan) that began to be filled in with bookings and reservations. Each of us
had a task concerning a country or transportation between countries to make the
work load more manageable. Megan, my girlfriend and writer extraordinaire, is
quite handy with computers and when my head refused to process any more pages
of information about hidden fees and how far our hostels were from the airport,
she took up the task with due diligence, fingers flying across the keyboard
with lightning speed. Suffice to say things started to get done between the two
of us. We corresponded with my sister who I lovingly refer to as Seester and
her best friend over email concerning our budget and bookings. With only a few
minor hiccups (email can be a complicated and impersonal mode of communication,
something to always keep in mind when dealing with stressful planning that is
already making your head a little wonky) we managed to nail down the details of
our trip simultaneously bonding over our
mutual excitement and stress.
Although much of our
planning resulted in aggressive keyboard handling and yelling at the airline
and bus websites for not being clear, I know I learned a lot about the
different ins and outs of traveling and I gained some much needed perspective
for my trip. I find myself feeling reassured that our stress and headaches will
all be worth the first breath of fresh air; when we land in our destination, we
will have a secure place to stay, a way to get there, and an itinerary that our
loved ones back home can follow so they will have a pretty good idea where we
are off gallivanting to in case we need any assistance so that we can leave the
local sheep alone.
