Stages of travel
You know, when I started this trip two months ago I thought I had so much time. I was actually really intimidated at the thought of travelling by myself for three whole months.
The first few weeks I was having a great time but felt slightly uneasy. I cannot really explain why. I never felt unsafe or unhappy, but in hindsight I think I was just sort of settling into the whole thing. Getting used to living out of a backpack can take a while. I definitely missed some of the smaller comforts of home, privacy being one of the list-toppers.
Now, as the trip is winding down, I am starting to really grasp the remaining moments and enjoy them to the fullest.
I am also happy to report that I have finally learned to chill out and stay in a city for a few days rather than a few hours. It makes a huge difference not trying to cram a week's worth of sightseeing into a day or two. My diet and sleeping schedule sorted themselves out around the same time.
The arc, if you want to know it in advance
Nothing in this needed updating, because it is about people rather than timetables, and it is the most repeated observation in this entire archive. Three different writers here arrived at it independently over eight years.
Roughly:
- Weeks one and two. Everything is loud and you are moving too fast. You are not unhappy, you are adjusting, and it does not feel like adjusting at the time.
- Weeks three to six. It becomes ordinary, in the good sense. You stop photographing every street. You start recognising what kind of place you actually like.
- The rest. You slow down, because you have learned that seeing less of somewhere is seeing more of it.
The practical use of knowing this: build the slowing-down in from the start. Nobody plans a trip that gets less ambitious as it goes, and everybody wishes they had. Leave the last few weeks loose, and put fewer stops in the first fortnight than you think you can manage, because that is the fortnight you are worst at travelling.
The unease in the first weeks is not a sign the trip is wrong. It is just what the beginning feels like.
Posted 19 July 2005 by Julie Dunn in Eurail Planning