Months ago, back in South Korea, I realized I was going to have a nice little sum of money at the end of my contract and nothing to do with it but while it away on tacos, mountain dew, and pretty dresses.
So, I bought a round trip ticket to Paris. I decided three months would be a good length for my trip. It’s fortunate four months didn’t strike my fancy since apparently there are these so-called “visas” that you need to travel for more than three months in Europe (I’m very bitter against visas right now and prefer not to acknowledge their existence).
My plan when I bought the plane ticket would be to see as many countries as possible. I was interested in wwoofing and other volunteer exchanges like workaway. I also planned to couch surf. I was extremely obsessed with these and other similar websites for several reasons.
First of all, I wanted to travel alone. This is a very controversial topic. Some people say things like, “Wow, I’m so jealous! You’re going to get to know yourself so well and meet so many cool people!” Others say, “Haven’t you seen the movie, 'Taken?’” Well, I have seen that movie and I have enough Liam Neesons’ in my life not to worry :)
When I was in middle school someone said to me, “You’re only smart if you know you’re stupid.” This can be applied to a lot of things in life. In this case maybe it should be, “You’re only in danger if you think you’re never in danger.” Actually, I do tend to give off the vibe that I think that I’m invincible and I do do things like befriend homeless people and walk alone at night. Maybe I’m “naive” or an “idealist” because nothing can convince me that there are more evil than good people in the world. Also, I find most experiences worth having require some measure of risk. However, despite my talk and even actions, I do realize there is danger in the world. I think some danger is neutralized with friendliness, but I don’t try to place myself in bad situations. I’m not worried, because fear and worry aren’t the same as caution. And I will most certainly use all the caution I can muster while traveling alone in Europe.
All that said, my plan is no longer what it was when I bought the plane ticket. For various reasons that would require a whole nother (‘nother’ isn’t a word, but it seems right) blog, I decided I’d rather wait to explore most of Europe and it would be better to spend more significant amounts of time in a few places.
Here’s my fairly flexible itinerary:
August 26th: Leave America! Always bittersweet.
August 27th-29th: Explore Paris while staying on the couch of a Parisian member of the couch surfing community. After rereading that sentence I realized it sounds like it’s a flying couch that will give me a tour of Paris, Aladdin style, and I don’t even have to move. I’m ok with leaving that conception out there.
August 29th-???: Walk the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James). This is an ancient pilgrimage that has many different routes. I’m taking the Camino de Frances from St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It’s a 476 mile walk. I’ll write more about that later!
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| My Pilgrim's Passport |
October 1stish- November 22nd: There are several volunteer opportunities that I’m interested in at this point. I found them through www.workaway.info, which connects volunteers with hosts. Normally, the volunteer works 20-25 hours a week in exchange for room and board. I may volunteer at a hostel and/or with a family who wants a native English speaker to stay with them. I don’t have any dates for these endeavors, but I figure I’ll want to head back and see more of Paris before my Thanksgiving Day (unintentionally) return flight!
I sincerely hope that I keep up with this blog. I’m bringing a Galaxy (Go Samsung!) Tablet on my journey so I should have no excuse not to write! That is, unless I’m TAKEN!!! (In which case, anyone who wants to can feel free to rescue me. I’ll leave a trail of eyes drawn in random places.)
