Ghosts in The Attic

Default me is a chaotic whirlwind of spur of the moment decisions and haphazard planning. Yet travel mode me is meticulous to the point of being neurotic. I have printed lists with checkmarks, detailed preparations on my whiteboard, enough itinerary pages to make a small book printed out.

Everything is checked and double checked. Do I have the right travel bag? Did I remember sunscreen? What about charging adapters and oh, where did the blister pads wander off to? Younger me was content to leave everything to chance when it comes to travel, but as I’ve gotten older I don’t leave much to chance. This isn’t my first rodeo and every major trip before this has built a foundation of preparedness and trepidation.

I have planned and replanned my routes, familiarized myself with the metro, airports, and train stations I will be visiting, I have marked hundreds of potential sites to visit on my map, I am a geography major after all.

While a portion of this trip is with the college and on the academic end, it’s all ironed out. For me though, this trip starts in 4 days and will span 4 countries, 8 airports, numerous trains, and even a couple ferry rides. After the study abroad trip is over, I will be undertaking a massive adventure with my husband and daughter that requires an incredible amount of planning, hoping, and praying that everything will align.

Not only that, having free weekends to myself in Spain means an opportunity to travel to majestic castles, beautiful gorges, and roaring waterfalls, all of which I intend to see. Maybe it’s younger me who thinks she has boundless energy, or maybe it’s older me being pragmatic about whether I will ever have this opportunity again, but whatever it is I’m rising to meet the chances head on. With plenty of sunscreen, good walking shoes, and a map of course.