Life Firsts: Traveling to Europe

If there's on thing that's pretty set in stone about me, it's that I'm quite the home-body. I love the comfort of being home pretty much 24/7. So when I mention that I'm about to fly out for my first ever trip to Europe first thing tomorrow morning, it's maybe a bigger deal for me than others.

That fact is, I am very excited (definitely a bit nervous, but excited). I've never stepped foot outside my home country with the exception of a few shopping trips to Canada. It's not that I am opposed to travelling. Rather, I find myself pretty overwhelmed by the mere notion of it.

Travelling means leaving my comfort zone. It means stepping outside of the bubble I've so carefully crafted between me and everything else. Those that know me know that, while I may not be overly good at it, I do like to decorate. It makes being at home as soothing as possible. And I'd be lying if I said I'm not very excited to get back home to my bed at the end of this grand adventure.

However, how often do you get to fly to another country?! For me, it's not all that often. Whether I've been less than impressive at managing my own finances or too easily distracted by more...local interests, I've let 33 years slip by without seeing all that much of the world. And now I finally get to change that, at least a little bit. A few years ago I had a chance to travel Europe with my sister. Due to poor planning on my part, I failed to get everything lined up like I needed to and had to bail. That being the case, it's nice to know that I'm finally at least getting a glimpse on what I'd previously missed out on.

For my trip, I have the opportunity to spend a few days in Denmark, Poland and Iceland. I'm only half sure what I'm going to do in any of those places. Food will definitely be a big deal for me, but I'm not all that great at being a tourist. I'm not skilled at seeking out unique experiences and hunting down opportunity so we'll see how it goes. Perhaps this will help me get a little better at such things. Fortunately I won't be travelling alone. I'll be with someone very special to me and as luck would have it, she's pretty good at most the things I'm not so I'm sure she'll be able to help balance me in all the best ways.

Put simply, I'm ecstatic for the coming experience. I've always enjoyed flying and it'll be an adventure I can't even fathom at this point to just be somewhere far from home with nothing but time to see whatever I can see. I'm looking forward to seeing the canals in Denmark, the theme park in Copenhagen. It'll be fascinating to try cuisine from Poland and experience the nightlife of Krakow (yes, even at my age). Iceland is a real wild card. My time there will be short, but I'm excited to ask the locals for their ideas on how I can best spend my time there while I have the chance.

Before even taking this trip, I'm already filled to the brim with a desire to see more places as soon as I can get the money together. I've always wanted to see Japan. I've never been to Hawaii. I'd love to know what Mexico has to offer and maybe one day travel to New Zealand or wherever else people speak highly of around the globe. For all the things I've learned and all the things I know, I respect that my scope of the whole of the world has been pretty limited so far. It will be interesting to see how that changes even with this very first experience. It will be interesting to see what sort of affect this trip has on my writing. If I know one thing, it's that whatever's going on in my life at any given moment of note has easily found its way into influencing my story-telling. I have no doubt this will be just as powerful of a motivator as any and I can't wait to share that experience with you in my own way.

Thank you for joining me in my crazy world. Here's to making it just a little bit bigger.