Was up ’til 4am sorting out CouchSurfing and did two more hours after waking. Mailed about 10 prospective hosts. Fingers crossed. It’s supposedly easy enough getting somewhere to stay. I guess we’ll see. Dropped a small fortune on flights (by my standards, anyway.) Budget definitely hurting now, but nowhere near fatal.
So I’m in Paris from the 20th (effectively) and leave on the 24th. From there to London. Spending the weekend at Ade’s. Get back on the Monday. Fly to NY on the Tuesday. Hoping I’ve dotted all my i’s with the Dept of Homeland Security. I may do a return visit to Paris at the end, or I may just come back a couple of weeks early. Or I may wind up in Belgium, even, possibly. See how the budget’s looking.
So between now and the 19th it’s mainly Fateless, mailing stuff home, seeing what I can of Helsinki, getting to Estonia and a little social stuff.
Got my first proper dose of homesickness last night. I think it’s all this sitting still. I’m way fine as long as I’m moving. In part I blame Fateless: sitting still has come to feel like failure which has come to feel like something almost terminal, and very very lonely.
This time last month was the going away party at Gertrude’s. Hard to believe. Feels like forever ago. I’ve seen so much since then – and this isn’t even an especially adventurous trip. When I get the Attenborough-inspired trip together… that’s gonna be something. I think I’d want a travel partner for that though. Not the kind of thing you want to experience solo, ideally. Not that this trip’s been done alone, mind, but there’s something to be said for planning and doing an ambitious thing from start to finish with someone else.
Hard to be maudlin when I think where these boots have been, or where they’re going. Have been thinking about my bed though. Man, that first night back is going to be sweet.
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Sounds good