A Real Nail-Biter
Travel makes me nervous. Especially traveling on my own. I’m a natural worrier, and the idea of being trapped by myself in an unfamiliar place pushes me to the verge of a panic attack. On the other hand, traveling with another person—even with someone helpless that I would have to look after the whole time—sounds completely doable. Um, sometimes I don’t make sense.
I have three trips coming up in the next month, starting with my little day-jaunt to Kansas tomorrow. I’ve booked my airport shuttle, printed off my itinerary (along with the maps I’ll need when my rental car breaks down on the Kansas-Missouri border and I have to describe my location to search parties), looked up the weather forecasts for the greater Kansas City area and given some serious thought to how many changes of clothes I’ll need for a two-day trip. Fortunately there are still almost twenty-four hours left in which to cram more restless sleep, over-planning and obsessive worrying. No trip is complete without a full quota of anxiety and gray hairs.
Like
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Whenever I travel alone I always get super insecure feeling and I spend a LOT of money because, apparently, that’s how I respond to feeling insecure. It almost ends up being cheaper for me to take a friend with me and pay their way!
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
That sounds eerily familiar. I’m already making plans for the GPS navigation unit I’m going to get in my rental car, and the books I’ll buy and meals I’ll treat myself to in the airport, and the drinks I’ll slam back at the hotel bar (mmm, bourbon).
July 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Once you have discovered the joys of a GPS navigation system, you won’t ever want to be without one! You’ll want one in your own car, and then you’ll want a portable one for when you’re walking in unfamiliar areas. One of the nice things about sitting in airports and traveling is lots of reading time. Enjoy your trip!
July 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am
This is true; I now have no desire to go anywhere without GPS. On the other hand, the GPS unit (or the person responsible for updating its programming) was also somewhat responsible for a truly aggravating situation that I will blog about shortly, so my feelings are not unmixed.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I want to hear about the GPS experience. One of the recent experiences afriend of mine had with the one he has in his car, was that it could not understand his verbal commands so he has to input everything via fingertips. He claims it does not recognize “Gay.” :-)
Anyway, Good Luck in your travels. I enjoy your blog and I am adding you to mine as a link.