Clock Watching

My goal for starting this blog early was to write about what I'm doing to prepare and save money for this trip. I think that I covered the saving up bit last time. I'm now 245 days out (or 8 months, 1 day) and I am a mediocre trip planner in some regards.

Every morning I open up a very large budget spreadsheet that I started almost 2 years ago. I like to keep track at how I am doing savings-wise. The sheet has gone through dozens of redesigns and I've reworked the itinerary section a million times. In the end the itinerary will mostly be a suggestion. The area I visit most is the budget section. I just want to see what's left and how far I have come.

I know that the first month will be planned very tightly. I'll be in the UK and Ireland and it's just a lot cheaper to plan ahead. I know that I will be in Western Europe for a while, and that once I hit Italy I will begin using my Eurail Pass. I have points in each country in Europe that I want to make sure I get to. Besides that, it's going to be a bit of a free-for-all. After Europe, I have countries that I want to get to, but not a whole lot of points.

I haven't had the opportunity to travel much like that. I always had a job to go back to, too much luggage, too little time, or a travel companion who's input counted as well. I know that I will love being in the UK and Ireland. I picked the cities in both countries that I wanted to see the most. Weighed them carefully against each other to maximize enjoyment. However I can't wait until that plane touches down in Portugal and I don't even have a hotel booked or an idea of what city I will be in by the end of the night, or the night after that and so on. It's going to be a thrill like I have never felt before.

Just sitting here typing this is making it harder for me to stay in my seat. I don't want to wish away my time, but I can't help myself. I'm ready to be done with work for a while. I'm ready to pack up. Well, sorta ready, I still have a list a mile long of stuff that I need to buy. I guess I'm more mentally prepared than physically prepared.

Still, I'm 34 days closer now than I was when I last wrote. So time is passing and sooner than I will know it, I will hug my parents good-bye and board that plane to London.