The
trouble with a long-planned-for trip, at least for me, is that I have more time
to become freaked out about it. I bought the tour months ago, the plane fare
months ago, have pre-paid for hotels at both ends of the tour, have even bought
in advance train tickets from Heathrow to Paddington Station and then from
Paddington Station our to Cheltenham. I have saved enough money to have a bit
of cushion. Have done basic research on each town, have bought an inexpensive
phone that will work in the UK. I even bought a device that will take photos
and then post them on the Web (Kindle Fire—makes me feel quite extravagant).
Other
than studying in detail the histories of the sites and recording names and
addresses of all possible places I might want to visit, I have done about all
the prep work there is to do. At one point I realized that, thanks to Google
street view, I could actually take a virtual walking tour before I took the
walking tour, but that just seemed crazy.
A
friend sent me a link to an article about how we’re actually happier while we’re
planning and anticipating a vacation than we usually are when we are on the vacation.
Well, I didn’t need to hear that.
Planning and anticipating has stirred up much anxiety; and now I can expect to
feel worse? The point was that a person should enjoy the planning as part of
the event, and I suppose I should give myself to this. I prefer to live in the
present, to be fully where I am, and in a way it seems like poor stewardship to
spend many hours in the planning of this. There is no guarantee that the trip
will happen—illness or injury, a death, or some catastrophe . . . Would be a
shame to invest in something that does not come to pass.
You
have to consider that the longed-for journey might come to pass but also kill
you by way of a plane crash or some freak accident involving a bog and a
flashlight that stops working. Jim and I had a gift certificate to a really
nice restaurant, so I decided we should go ahead and use it before I leave. I
have tempered my impulse to sort and clean the entire house before my
departure. But I did decide to tackle the writing room and office. If I die on
the trip, I don’t want Jim overwhelmed with all our paperwork.
I
will not, however, try to visit my mother prior to departure, because that
would involve a long journey by car, and who knows what might happen. Stay
tuned.
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