after more than a year of planning, shanima and i are now three weeks out from getting on a plane and crossing the world for a six-week australasian adventure. tonight my brain is running in a million directions, and i thought i would share one of them with you.
more than once lately i have caught myself thinking that we are really lucky to be able to take this kind of trip, and while there is some luck involved, the truth is, we manifested this pending reality. we chose that we wanted to do this, we made it a priority above all else, and we took the steps to make it happen. we were willing to walk away from our jobs and start fresh if that is what it took (thankfully it didn’t), and we dedicated our time and resources to bringing it to fruition.
for the past year, we have researched our destinations from every angle, deciding what we were and were not willing to compromise on, and setting up an itinerary around those must-do items. we kept our eyes out for sales and promotions, for cheap airfares, and for cheaper alternatives to our chosen route and schedule. we spent countless hours turning vague ideas into timestamped spreadsheets, and we dialed in our financial projections and capacity into a budget. we booked hotels on a refundable basis to make sure we had a place to stay at a decent price and then booked cheaper or better hotels on a non-refundable basis once our plans were set in stone. we booked all of our necessary travel visas and researched all of the rules of what we can and cannot bring with us.
as we paved our own digital road, we also spent hours and hours researching exactly what we needed to bring with us so that we don’t overpack. we found clothes that pack small and light and are made of materials that dry quickly, resist stains, and can be worn multiple days without getting too smelly to limit our loads. we went back and forth about what camera equipment to bring along to capture the magic and in the end i was able to come up with a set of gear that is super manageable and extremely versatile (there is definitely a post coming sbout that, don’t you worry!).
this trip is not for the faint of heart. it will challenge us in ways neither of us has been challenged before. i can’t help but wonder who i will become as a result of this trip. what small ways will my overall course in life, my reactions to the world around me, and my choices and priorities be changed by having taken this trip? and how will it change shanima and i’s marriage and our life together? i could go on and on. my mind feels like a hamster on a wheel. and im not sure whether i should tell it to stop running or not.