Day 119: The Overwhelming Part(s) of Travel

Day 119: Overwhelmed

I am thinking of Thursday. I am setting foot on a plane and starting the journey to Malaysia. I am calm. I relax, try to take a nap, have a little bottle of wine and maybe read a book. I am utterly calm.

That’s when I love travel. It was mentioned in my post on epic train journeys not being for everyone that I am a person content in moving vehicles. My mind unwinds 80 times over; the stress held deep within my chest releases. I am a calm person on a mission.

To get to this point of calm, however, I often go through many a moment of overwhelming thoughts. For me, it’s not the travel that is tough. It is the planning, or more specifically, choice.

Take me to a restaurant and I can almost never made a quick decision on what I want to order.

Instead of meal options, travel puts an even bigger menu on my table — one with countries and cities and activities from every which section of the world. I could go here, or there, or there, but where will I choose?!

Just like choosing dinner, I’m always afraid that if I choose wrong, I will be left unsatisfied.

I’m experiencing this overwhelming feeling right now on a smaller scale. No, I’m not talking about Malaysia where most everything will be planned for me. I’m talking about the USA and all of our little stops in cities along the way.

I’ve planned almost nothing for this trip, but I feel obligated to provide a stellar experience for my boyfriend who hasn’t visited the States since he was 12, and who has never been to the Midwest. Finally, we’ll be on my turf, but plan all of this I cannot do. I almost don’t even know where to start.

I guess it’s another overwhelming part of travel when it involves planning for two (or many). Normally, I’m a solo traveler, and even though it started out of necessity, it has now become a part of who I am in this sphere.

So, for me, it’s definitely not the thought of how I’ll get around in a foreign land, or how I’ll communicate in another language. The overwhelming part of travel is simply the time before I even travel at all.