In most chick-lit, a heroine takes charge of her destiny after a major life event causes her to rethink her plans and goes on to live a hilarious, professionally successful, and romance-filled adventure. That's not what happened to me. To be sure I had a professional implosion, a romantic disaster, and a major health scare, but my response was to move in with my mum. That's real life, isn't it? You fail miserably as an adult and your parents are required to take you back?
The story I aim to tell isn't my triumph over adversity to find my ideal career/soulmate/passion for marathons. This blog is going to chronicle what I do and where I go in the meantime...meantime being my real life, just not necessarily the one I thought I would have. Traveling is one of the most pleasurable constants in my life and I'm lucky to have the opportunity to experience all the marvelous places I have visited.
The reason for this trip in particular highlights how when you think you have a plan for your life, you are shown how truly wrong you were. Because after my life fell apart, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, returned to school in preparation for a graduate degree, visited campuses, took tests, wrote essays, paid fees, sent applications...and wasn't accepted.
In fact, this trip was supposed to be a "last adventure" before starting graduate school and becoming a "real adult." Oh the sweet sweet irony. Instead, this trip is about being open to change, adventure, and sleeping in hostels. This is about as introspective as this blog will get, I promise. I have six weeks to see ten countries and I get to share it all with my friend/babysitee/adult-baby/neighbor Sally, who just graduated from university and really has it all together. Hopefully she'll give me some tips.
Here's a photo of her when she was 11:
The story I aim to tell isn't my triumph over adversity to find my ideal career/soulmate/passion for marathons. This blog is going to chronicle what I do and where I go in the meantime...meantime being my real life, just not necessarily the one I thought I would have. Traveling is one of the most pleasurable constants in my life and I'm lucky to have the opportunity to experience all the marvelous places I have visited.
The reason for this trip in particular highlights how when you think you have a plan for your life, you are shown how truly wrong you were. Because after my life fell apart, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, returned to school in preparation for a graduate degree, visited campuses, took tests, wrote essays, paid fees, sent applications...and wasn't accepted.
In fact, this trip was supposed to be a "last adventure" before starting graduate school and becoming a "real adult." Oh the sweet sweet irony. Instead, this trip is about being open to change, adventure, and sleeping in hostels. This is about as introspective as this blog will get, I promise. I have six weeks to see ten countries and I get to share it all with my friend/babysitee/adult-baby/neighbor Sally, who just graduated from university and really has it all together. Hopefully she'll give me some tips.
Here's a photo of her when she was 11:
She's taller now.
So here's our trajectory, which is what you're really here for I'm guessing.
England --> Scotland --> England --> Belgium --> Netherlands --> Germany --> Czech Republic --> Germany --> Hungary --> Italy --> Spain --> France --> England
You can check here for a running commentary and some choice photos, and then of course you can see the whole unedited photo stream at Smugmug.
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