Decisions, Desisions

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March 27, 2011

As I re-read the entry below, I recall that it was written in panic mode. The reality of my insane mission had sunk in: I was going to a foreign country alone and with no language skills. I was also desperately worried about my wardrobe. How much my point of view has changed over the last six months. For one, researching everything on my trip has boosted my knowledge and understanding about my destination. I’m also not freaking out about my clothes. Yeah, I did buy a new wardrobe which was travel-friendly. But I abandoned the idea that I could blend in with the right clothes – tourists will always look like tourists. I’ve also come to enjoy eating dinner at a restaurant by myself, something I was dreading before. And most importantly, I am way more relaxed and confident about the little details; they are minor points, really. Maybe a museum will be closed when I get there, or I miss a train. And when something doesn’t go as planned, I’ve learned that I should shrug it off and call it a “cultural experience.” Maybe there’s something to the planned chaos I had feared just months before.

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September 8, 2010

This summer I made the ultimate decision that I will be taking a solo trip to Italy for four to five weeks in the summer of 2011. The timing will be perfect - I will have just finished my accounting degree and will not be working yet. Once my mind was made up, the flood of decisions came upon me, like what to do, exactly when to go, how to get there, and what to bring. I am overwhelmed.

Don't get me wrong, I love to plan. So creating this fantasy trip outline is no trouble. It's the specifics, like what train should I take to get from one town to another, and what time of day? Where am I going to sleep? How much to museums cost? When will they be open? And on top of all this point-by-point planning, I have to keep in mind that Italy is a country of chaos, and that I need to expect things not to go as planned and just wing it. Is that an oxymoron - planned chaos? To prepare, I am reading up on my proposed destinations and site seeing locations to determine if I really want to go there. Some are a no-brainer, like the Pieta at the Vatican - MUST SEE! For other sites, I am surprised to find that I have very little interest in seeing, even though everyone in the tour books visits that destination. I don't want to go somewhere just because that's the thing to do. Once I have all my first and second choice destinations mapped, then I will narrow down days to spend in each location, transportation between each point, and finally the actual travel dates.

The part that mostly has me fretting is my gear and packing list. I'll have one large pack and a day pack, but finding the right one is turning out to be a struggle. I am the quintessential Goldilocks - this bag is too big, this bag is too small, this bag is too heavy. The big bag will be a Rick Steves pack, but the day bag... more searching is necessary. There are plenty of packing solutions which will be a breeze when I actually load up the bag. I just need the contents, which is another hardship. I will basically be buying a whole new wardrobe for this trip, avoiding blue jeans and white sneakers and picking up light weight (and wrinkle-free) pants and blouses. Yeah, I don't currently own anything like that. Perhaps too much information, but I'll even need to buy new underpants and socks. Apparently some materials dry much better than cotton. Looking online for the recommended travel clothes has unfortunately turned up a lot of old lady clothes. I am in my 20s! I do not want to look like I rummaged through someone's grandmother's closet! The shoes I can handle, Dr. Martins are precisely the shoe I am looking for. Grandma's waist-hugging slacks... eerh, pass. Every website lists different amounts of clothes I should bring, but a rule I heard a while ago is not to pack more than a week's worth of clothes and to buy separates within the same clothing collection, to maximize the amount of outfits I can create. I will be going by this rule, I think.

There is also some anxiety about what to do with myself when I get there. Travel is fine, and I am totally Ok with touring museums alone with my little English audio guide. But dining - I've never dined alone. Maybe once at a bar and even then I can't recall that I was too comfortable. Definitely something to work on in the coming months. But I do hope to meet people by staying at hostels and "mom and pop" lodging. Theoretically, everyone else staying at a hostel is on the same level as I am - single travelers on a budget. I am definitely hoping to make friends enough to go to dinner as a group or something else fun with my fellow travelers. I am going to study a phrase book to help me with the language barrier. "Please," "thank you," and "bathroom" are the kinds of words I intend to memorize first. I did a lot of miming when I visited France in 2002, hopefully those skills will help me as well.

Another thing I have considered is testing out all my gear and breaking it in before the trip. Everything from my shoes to the shoulder straps on the bags should be broken in before heading off. Luckily there is a walking trail behind my apartment that goes for eight miles and I can load up my bags and take some healthy strolls to get used to walking for a whole day. My hope is that this will also help me to get used to a 20-lb back pack and a day pack for extended periods. Many websites recommend living out of your bag for a week or more before leaving, to get a sense of how the clothes will look when they've been washed in a sink the day before.

I've considered taking short weekend trips on my own to feel out the whole solo thing. I've flown on planes alone, but that is not the same as sitting in a restaurant or maneuvering in a new city by myself. Victoria, BC and Portland, OR would be good trial destinations. I've been to Victoria several times and am very comfortable navigating the downtown area. That would be a fun town to cruise around any weekend. Portland is also a good town, though I've never spent much time there and do not know the city layout at all. This would be a more realistic trial because I do not know much about the city. In either case, I think it will be a valuable learning experience to ease my state of mind when I'm off for a month alone.

There are a ton of details, I just need to start with the big stuff and work my way down. It's a lot to work on, but I have the better part of a year to make it happen. The biggest part was making the choice to actually go. I AM GOING TO ITALY!!! Now that I've got that decision behind me, it's all downhill... until I get there!

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