Outnumbered & Abroad; T’was The Night Before Leaving

I had never been out of North America before and the thought of “backpacking” through the UK for two weeks with my sister and two other sibling friends seemed exciting, daunting, and a whole lot of unknown. These are the thoughts before we left.

Home the Night Before (Monday, September 25, 2018) - Well it seems only fitting that there is a watermarked camera on the first page of this travel journal army camera may be the most memorable part of my role on this trip. Hanging, what I hope is safely out of my backpack, are both my point-and-shoot camera and my video camera.

My hopes and goals of video blogging the entire trip seem less and less likely as I realize how unrealistic it may be. As most of my big goals and reams seem to dissipate, I am trying not to become discouraged before our journey even begins.

I also fear I won’t be able to keep up with my journaling as I am used to typing. My finger tips on a keyboard are much more adept at keeping up with my stream of consciousness than my pen is to the paper.

I’ve also been struggling with quality due to a recent flare up of carpal tunnel from typings so much. I am hoping that I ease that on this trip, but the pain in my wrists is very noticeable as I slur through trying to write these few lines.

I am excited for this trip to see Lauren in London tomorrow and Wednesday. She is such a role model and inspiration, even though a part of me will always feel like I let her down in her mentorship.

I am worried that I will become frustrated with my traveling peers. Outside of a sports team which had triple the numbers of this adventure and for a third of the time, I’ve never been in close quarters with the same set of people for such a long time. I worry about the attitudes of the others and the use of politically incorrect slang such as “queer” and “gay.” I don’t like hear such derogatory speech about groups, but I have a feeling that Europe is much more welcoming than parts of Oregon.

With those worries written down, I can release them to the void and hope, beyond hope, that our adventures will be many and our memories countless when in comes to the next two weeks. We are set to have a good time! I am praying for all the best and that our funds don’t run out on this trip.