Days until departure: 5
Number of bags packed: 3.5
Family and friend’s commitments remaining: 8
In five days our great adventure will begin.
When Dave and I chose August 1st as our departure date (first for Europe, with
Australia to follow) I started making lists: lists of administrative to do's
(renew passports, apply for visas, purchase medical coverage), lists of
vaccines we would need, lists of currencies to convert and quantities of each,
and lists of what to pack, what to give away, and what to store in Toronto
while we're away. I started booking hotels in April, train tickets in May, and
then re-booked it all in June (when our plans inevitably changed).
And now, in five days it all begins.
Last night I laid in bed awake and wondered what we're forgetting. Dave packed
more boxes this morning and gestured wildly around our living room, asking
wide-eyed for the millionth time: what else has to be moved? Our conversations
have become cyclical: How many pairs of shoes are you taking? How many
sweaters? Should we bring the Roku or leave it? Do we have enough power
converters for everything that needs to be charged?
The thing that has surprised me most about the action of leaving, is how
overwhelmingly difficult it can feel, but how simple it really is. My poorly
packed suitcase is currently laying on the floor of our bedroom bursting with
clothes, photos and other sentimental objects: The next time I see its contents
I'll be half a world away. Barriers to leaving: like our apartment lease, cell
phone plans, and access to funds, were all overcome. Thanks to careful
planning, determination, and a divide-and-conquer-attitude, I'm starting to
suspect we might actually be able to make this work.
Dave has been my rock these past few weeks and months. I'm a control freak (a well-known
fact) but he never hesitated to take something off my plate when I was feeling
overwhelmed. Three weeks ago I was near tears over an email exchange with a car
rental agency and Bergen, Norway, when he calmly closed my computer and said
not to worry about it — he would reserve the car. (Heads up: Norwegian currency
conversion is hard stuff!)
All the details were finalized two weeks ago. We will be spending a month in
Europe (England, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Norway) before flying
to Melbourne, Australia via Heathrow Airport on September 1st. Our European
journey begins and ends in London, a decision we made to alleviate the need to
lug two suitcases full of Australian travel necessities across the European
continent.
And so, as we tick off the days on the calendar, and our flight to London
looms, here's a playlist full of amped up travel tunes that I'll be listening
to on repeat:
Leg One Travel Playlist:
1.
Arcade Fire — Keep
the Car Running
2.
Wintersleep — Amerika
3.
Jonas Blue ft. Dakota
— Fast Car
4.
Grouplove — Tongue
Tied
5.
The Strumbellas —
Spirits
6.
The Head and the
Heart — Down in the Valley
7.
The National —
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
8.
The War on Drugs —
Red Eyes
9.
Patrick Watson — The
Great Escape
10.
Edward Sharpe &
the Magnetic Zeros — Home
Until next time,
Heather
