The time for procrastination is over. This next week I’m spending at home I need to strive to achieve that quality that everyone knows I lack; being decisive. My one way flight to Boston is in two weeks! I can no longer justify not having a planned itinerary or knowing where I’m going to stay, or not knowing exactly what I’m going to take with me and what airline I’m flying with. People keep asking me these questions and my response being “I don’t know!”, and then sharing a laugh about how hopeless and unprepared I am with them used to be fun, but now it’s just disturbing and I’m more likely to start crying. My itinerary has changed again and I’ve decided there’s no point even writing my new one down here because I will inevitably end up in a bunch of completely different places.

I’ve been in correspondence with my friends in America, and been pestering people on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum and have a more concrete plan forming steadily in my head. Things are falling into place. Which is reassuring. I’m listening to my Americana music playlist every day and getting SOOOO excited. One of my next plans is to read up on each city I’m visiting and decide on the sights I wanna see most. When I read about these people who don’t even glance at a guide book before they get on the plane, I’m completely incredulous and to be honest I think they’re idiots. I understand the thrill of discovering a completely new place first hand. But if you do no research then you’ll end up being that person on the walking tour in Boston who says “I’ve never heard of the Tea Party”, or “Oh, Harvard is HERE?”… leading to public humiliation and a lot of contempt (from me). If you know what’s worth seeing you can be way more organised, see a load more stuff and have a much more informative and rewarding visit. …Now I feel like I’m giving the impression that I’m some sort of control freak, but to me it’s just common sense. And one of the reasons I find travelling alone so much more enjoyable (and why I have no friends).

Anyway, enough waffling, to the point of this post. I’m gonna begin packing. My mum loves to keep reminding me that for my last trip to Europe I packed for it in about three hours before I had to leave. So this time I’m gonna take my time over it. Set aside a neatly organised area for what I’m taking, and have a list nearby with everything I think I’m gonna need (see how boring it is to be organised!?)

This is my 80L bag from mountainlife. Served me well so far.

Still deciding which clothes to take, although my past couple of trips have given me an idea of which items are the most practical and versatile! Will write about that in another post.