There's a Million Things I Haven't Done, but Just You Wait

Ok so it's been like a month. Sorry about that. And to top off my silence, this post isn't even an update on this month past! It is, rather, an update on the month to come.

First, I want to say thank you again to everyone who has been reading this blog. This blog is both public and personal, and serves several purposes, the foremost of which is promoting my own mental health, and only second to this is any benefit to my readers (which is often also benefit to me: so that I don't have to give each of you the same update and tell each of you the same stories time and again). For some of you I don't know why you keep up with this blog, but I want to thank you for your love for and interest in me. Whether you comment or not, it means a lot to me that people read this blog. It's a mess, a REAL mess, and often is not exactly uplifting or inspiring. So thank you for sticking with me, thick and thin, through update and silence.

Now comes the fun stuff. This post is mostly to announce a change in pace in my life and my blog, as this blog will, for the next month, become a Travel Blog!

As most of you already know, in less than two days, I am setting out on an ADVENTURE! - I am going to spend almost a month on a solo backpacking tour around Europe! I'll be riding trains and crashing in hostels in 8 cities (in 6 countries), plus a few more. I wanted to give y'all an overview of my trip before I left.

On Wednesday, July 6th, I'll be leaving bright and early to catch a bus to London, which will connect me with a bus to Paris (taking a ferry over the channel). I spend three nights there, and then board a sleeper train to Venice, Italy! Three nights later I'm off to Florence, to spend three nights there and move on to Rome. Then it's a night's train ride to Salzburg, four days there - mostly to rest! By this point I know I will be EXHAUSTED - then another night's ride to Berlin, where I'll be three nights before I'm off to Copenhagen for three nights, and then Amsterdam for the same length of time. Finally, I'll board a train to Brussels, where I will spend just a few hours (basically I'll grab lunch and walk across the city from one station to another) before I'm on a bus (via ferry again) back to London, to catch the night bus home to Oxford on August 3rd.

Well that was a lightning fast overview of the next month of my life! I've several thoughts about this, the foremost that I. Am going. To die. This trip is going to be absolutely exhausting. I know that. I honestly should have done more to prep my body! I've never been on a trip like this longer than two weeks, and I've only been on a trip living out of a backpack once, and that was with my family. I've never traveled solo for more than three days, and I've never been in a country where English is not the #1 language! So those are some of the worries. Mostly, I'm worried about burn-out - that a few weeks in I'll be wishing I was back home in my bed with my gaming laptop and a proper kitchen and a reliable shower and laundry machines.

Overall though, the main point of this trip is FREEDOM. I have very VERY few commitments, and I am going alone. If you've never traveled alone then you don't understand how absolutely liberating it is, but it really is, trust me. Yes I am sad that I won't have my friends to share all the sights with - but that's what my phone camera and this blog are for!  - But seriously travelling solo is SO much less stressful. The only commitments I have are the trains I have booked passage on - all but one of which can be easily re-booked - and the hostels I'll be staying in. Other than that? I've no one else to worry about or disappoint. If *I* am ok, then everyone in my party is ok :) If I want to go see the Eiffel tower I can, and if I think it's a bit overrated and would rather stay near Notre Dame I can totally do that too. I have not planned out each day and its activities. (In fact - if you've been to/are in any of these cites, I'm totally open to suggestions for what to see/do/try/taste!)

 Speaking of FREEDOM - let me take a moment not to say HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, AMERICA!! The other expats and I shall be celebrating tonight, and I have Dr. Pepper BBQ pulled pork in the slow cooker downstairs! Oh BBQ, how I have missed you. My act of patriotic pride today, however - not that Dr. Pepper BBQ Pork isn't patriotic, it totally is - was mailing in my overseas absentee ballot request form. I know, paperwork. Yuck. And politics. Even worse. But still! I've never actually voted in an American election before - can you believe that four years ago in voting season I was, as now, in the UK? I was in Belfast, and I didn't get my request form mailed in time, so I missed it). And even though this year is MESSED UP and disgusts me, I can still have a tiny voice in this election even overseas. Or at least I will if no one messed up this paperwork...

I hope you all have a very good 4th of July wherever you are - even if that's just another Monday to you. Next time I update I may be on my way to or already in Paris! I will have pictures, believe me. So. Many. Pictures.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above, yes heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Thanks again for reading
Rissa

P.S. I'm going to admit here that one of the primary reasons I'm spending so much of my trip in Italy is tied directly to a certain video game series. Please excuse the fact that I will spend the next month freaking out that I am going to the real-life version of the places Ezio climbed. Also please indulge the many Bioshock Infinite references likely to come from my first stop. After I turn and head north I'll be out of video game territory but I'm sure I'll find some way to tie them back in :)

P.P.S. Speaking of video games, I have somehow on this blog and on FB still managed to not mention my newest obsession: UNDERTALE. I blame this on several of my friends, and thank them profusely for doing this to me. If you haven't played this game PLEASE do so, and if you have PLEASE message me because I have far too many thoughts about how amazing this game is and I WILL ramble to you for several hours about my love for this game at the slightest provocation. Stay determined, my friends.

P.P.P.S. It's just past 2pm and I've listened to Hamilton twice already today. 'MERICA!