I have never been skydiving in my life but I feel like preparing for a year long trip is a lot like it. You read a lot, mentally prepare, you get your equipment ready, but you don’t really know what the sensation will feel like until you jump out of that airplane. Luckily stores exist in other countries so if you forget anything you aren’t quite as fucked as a skydiver might be if they remember a missed item mid fall. Plus phones make it easy for getting in touch with people for motivational support but still an exhilerating and unpredictable feeling to prepare for none the less.
I’ve always thought planning a two week trip is a bit of a roller coaster of emotions. First, excitement as you jump around the globe on google virtually narrowing down your list. More excitement as you select a place and scope out your route. Then doubt sets in as you wonder if you have enough time in a particular region, how you should allocate your days between two cities or if all together you just should have gone to that other country. Rinse and repeat until you leave, then your feet hit the ground and all doubts and anxieties are flushed away.
This is no different. Still have doubts about where to start, which direction to head, when to catch flights or when to train. A year is a long time but maybe not that long. The point of the trip is to relax and really get to experience different cultures and countries but then again the faster you move the more you see. A dynamic balancing act that will probably get blown to shreds the minute the trip starts. As a famous boxer once said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”, I am sure it is the same for jumping out of planes and jumping out of “the real world”.
Culture Capital 