Clothing: I haven't done anything about my clothes. My building doesn't have a laundry room, and despite what I was told my the leasing agent, there is not a laundromat just down the street. As a result, I have not washed and packed/given away all of the clothes that I'm not taking on my trip. Or any of them. When I get there, I will have four piles: one for clothes I'm bringing, one for clothes I'm keeping, one for clothes I'm giving away, and one for clothes which are currently too tight, but might look really good on me by May, if I keep up with my exercise. I am completely overwhelmed by clothing at the moment; I feel like I'm drowning in it.
Exercise: I don't exercise anywhere as much as I should. I was blessed with the type of body that's relatively easy to get into and keep in shape, then cursed with insomnia, hypoglycemia, a bad heart and (the most detrimental to my getting-in-shape plans) extreme laziness. Nonetheless, since there is no way I will survive this trip if I'm out of shape, I've been DDRing for an hour straight every day for the past couple of weeks. It seems to be working nicely, but not as nicely as I'd like, which means that soon, I'm going to have to include morning pilates and planking... and possibly drinking cider vinigar every morning, which is about the most disgusting way to start one's day.
Plane Tickets: Plane tickets are expensive, but doable. The trick, I suppose, is finding the right combination of locations to make the whole thing a) as cheap as possible and b) as fun. Since the second leg of my trip includes a trip to Europe (possibly the UK, possibly the rest of Europe, probably both), and because of where I am and the fact that I don't have a definite idea of where I'm going, I can fly out of anywhere from Rochester to Montreal, and into anywhere from Cardiff to Zurich. Basically, I'm looking at somewhere between $900 and $2000, which, if I want to be realistic, means I'd better find something for $1500 or less. That is just flying. Then I have to find somewhere to stay.
Money: I'm honestly starting to freak out a bit about money. In some ways, I'm not as worried about that as I am about other things, because, frankly, I'm not going to let myself die, which is the worst thing that a lack of money can do to me. I'm young and relatively healthy, and I think I can handle a few nights out in the cold, or without food, if I absolutely have to. It'll just be one more story to tell, right? My main concerns money-wise are my cell phone and my Internet (and, of course, my plane tickets, but that all has to be worked out before I leave, or Europe is out), because I think keeping in contact with the people back home is important. The pre-trip money is kind of worrisome, though, 'cause I have so much stuff I need to buy ahead of time.
Stuff: I need a lot of stuff. Most importantly, travel underwear, and travel socks. Oh, and a tiny laptop. I nearly forgot that part, which is scary, because that's important. My Internet won't help me if I don't have anything to hook it up to. Then there are all the little things, collapsible water bottles, rain-proof shoulder bags, things like that.
Gnome: I might just take Leonard with me - but I'm so afraid I'll lose him. I suppose that's one thing I can leave for a little later. It's the other stuff that I need to be focusing on now anyway.
In Conclusion: I know this seems like a whah, I'm so overwhelmed, save me from myself kind of post, but it's not meant to be. Actually, I'm unusually optimistic about the whole thing right now. I guess we'll just have to see where it goes.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteA few things that might help, if you haven't already thought of them...
1) If for some reason you can't get your laptop, that is of course less than ideal, and would be frustrating because you have the internet connection to go with it, but lots of people on trips like this seem to manage to find internet cafes that let them keep in touch, update their blogs and even call people over skype. I know it would suck, but probably the next best thing...
2) Depending on what it is, there may be some stuff that we have around here and aren't using that you could make use of on your trip. If there's anything that fits into those categories, you're welcome to take it, so... let me know if you can think of anything specific that we may have kicking around (you'd probably be surprised at what we've got).
3) You should make sure you're drinking lots of water when you exercise, especially if you want to lose weight faster. It will accomplish at least three things:
a) nasty toxins from food are generally sequestered in fat cells. when you burn fat, they are released into your blood stream and contribute to lethargy, laziness, etc., which might slow you down in your exercising and make your metabolism less efficient. water will keep your kidneys filtering these out so you don't have to deal with that problem.
b) water is necessary for the metabolism of glucose and, as such, will in this way also make your body more efficient at utilizing energy while you work out.
c) it was discovered quite a while ago that many people interpret their own bodies' signals incorrectly. often people will crave food when what they really need is water. this leads to unnecessary eating which would not occur if one had a sufficient water intake.
d) (yes, i thought of another one...) if you don't have a sufficient water intake your body may retain both water and fat unnecessarily, because it gets tricked into thinking you're going through a shortage of sustenance. when you exercise in this mode, you'll burn muscle and other soft tissue in favour of fat, and you'll also exhaust your glycogen stores quickly, which will then worsen your hypoglycemia and make you more lethargic.
A simple way of saying all of that is that water makes you thinner. But, I hate it when people say stuff like that and don't base it on anything, so I chose to elaborate. Sorry if you've fallen asleep by now. :)