I must admit that now, with about 36 hours until I stagger with my backpack through the big glass doors of International Departures at Tullamarine for my big trip overseas, the excitement of travel is starting to mix with the trepidation of missing (and being missed by) my family while I’m gone for the month.
The idea of going off backpacking around Europe as part of a catch-up on the things I didn’t quite get around to in my early twenties seemed like such a good idea a few months ago. I still think it’ll be fun, and who knows, it may turn out to be an advance scouting mission for a later holiday or even long term go-over-and-live-for-a-while operation involving everyone later. I’ll just have to shoot plenty of video so they get to see what happens.
I have to admit that the packing, as such, hasn’t actually begun yet. Oh sure, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’m taking, and most of the supplies, such as power adaptors and so on, are ready. Most of what I didn’t already have, I got for my birthday (which was last Thursday).
John spent some time this afternoon pulling, prodding, stretching, testing and adjusting some of the seemingly endless number of straps on the backpack I’ve borrowed, so it now approximately fits me – rather than my sister, who used it last. So now I can carry my body weight in luggage in it, and I won’t break my back doing it. I might stagger around a fair bit, but I won’t break my back.
So in the next few hours, I’ll start loading it up, ready to go off and see the world.
Oh yeah, and today’s news of a Federal election on October 3rd is great for me. This means I get to exercise my voice in deciding the leadership of my country. But since I’ll be away for September, I won’t have to sit through any of the political crap!
