my first vacation... soon

[ChrisC1983]

late april i'm going to CA (from MA) for RuPauls Drag Con with my cousin. it will be the first real vacation of my life.. i've never been to CA or just about anywhere (dragged around with an ex before.. MI TN and FL but we always stayed in the apartment or room..

it will be the 2nd time for a plane and my 3rd hotel room....... she's planned a whole barrage of places to go to. i've never been there so anything i see will be new to me, and therefor interesting so even if i dislike it, i'll enjoy the experience as best i can.


i'm nervous as per usual.. i think i'm excited too. i actually hope i meet somebody there that i can visit again and maybe even go alone next time. i'm pretty easy so i can usually get along with anybody and dragcon isn't exactly a very judgemental place lol

 

[Suzanne]

As it happens, my husband and I are going on holiday in June for 2 weeks, to Germany and Italy; Belgium; Holland; possibly Switizeland too and the south of France.

The last time we did similar was 25 year's ago and never had another holiday since!

I agree with you it is scary; I am trying to not think about it too much, because if I do, all I will think about is the panic about making sure we have everything.

My husband has done all the hotel bookings and there is going to be a lot of driving, which he sadly has to do, as I do not have my licence.

Excited and scared and you will have a good time, just as I will, because we will make our minds over for that!

 

[ChrisC1983]

my cousin did a lot of traveling.. in europe as well. i don't even have a passport but i thought it was interesting.

my cousin did all the booking, planning.. and will be driving too lol. i can drive, but i get lost easily without GPS and it's very nervewracking to drive.. she doesn't mind.

i try to stick to need/should/want to do... and while i could list a pile of things to be afraid about.. i need a vacation, i should have a real vacation atleast once in my life, and i want to go on this vacation. so that lets me logic all the fears to death....... but it still takes a while and nerves are nerves.

 

[Misery]

Travelling can be scary the first few times, yeah. I think that for many people afraid of it though, once they've done it a few times, it stops being a problem.

I remember the very first time I travelled out of state on my own was to an anime convention in Iowa. The first time was by bus, which was 7 hours of absolute boredom.

But the bit that made me realize that yeah, I was REALLY travelling on my own, was exiting the bus stop. Which was in a very open area, with Iowa City spread out in front of me (the bus stop was off of the edge of it, so there was this large open space, and then the actual city). Granted, it's not an urban disaster like Chicago or anything (you couldnt PAY me to go anywhere near that hellhole)... it's a pretty quiet place and despite all the buildings the word "urban" never seems to apply to it (it's really as sleepy as much of the rest of the state). But I remember looking at that and thinking "oh god I have to walk through that now, and I have no idea what I'm doing". No taxis or anything (I dont think there ARE any there), had to walk. Eventually got to the hotel... it hadnt been that bad.

And then next year was the next step: the convention location had changed, moving to Coralville (still in Iowa) and this time, no bus: Drove on my own. Which was kinda scary, but I went and just did it anyway. Coralville is an even more sleepy place (and *very* open, it's kinda "middle of nowhere") and was 4 hours away (I'm starting from Illinois, about 2 hours south of Chicago in a very "rural" area that's mostly grass, trees, and farms, and roads that dont go anywhere), on an interstate road that mostly consisted of unending grass and very little traffic. Talk about feeling isolated...

Fast forward to now: Not only have I gone down to Coralville about 11 times, but I've been to so many other places too. My most recent convention was in Milwaukee, which... turned out to be another sleepy place (I expected LOTS of traffic. What I got was next to no traffic instead). I'd never been there before, but there wasnt any fear about it, instead just excitement. Another convention, another new place to see, the latest on a loooooooong list of places (I go to these pretty frequently). Much of the time I go alone, every now and then a friend comes with (but he never drives and doesnt exactly help much as far as the important stuff).

The only part that I really dont like is dealing with parking garages. They can be confusing. And annoying. But other than that... it's easy now. It's really just a matter of getting used to it.

Though the length of some of the drives can be more than a little irritating. 4 hours is kinda testing my patience more than a bit.

 

[ChrisC1983]

i think we're in full agreeance with cities.. i've lived very close to boston my whole life. i'll agree there's a lot of social stuff to do for social people.. and the museums are super fun if you can deal with the crowds (preferably go on an unpopular day/time.. as i try to do with everything) but i live about 40 minutes north and i'd like to be much further away. i'm fine with a 20 minute drive to the market and if my elderly future resulted in a heart attack or something in the ambulance.. then so be it) but ideally they are just far too much all the time.

see, i excel with patience most of the time. 40 minutes in the car is about 7 miles here (i need to gps everywhere i go, even when i've been there multiple times lol) so now i have about 25 CDs in my car that i can switch to, so 1 way i play 1 CD and then a new CD the other way lol. so with 4 hours i would just end up doing the same thing. and when i was in a plane from FL to MA.. other than the little crop duster plane to go from 1 airport in FL to another.. i basically napped on the flight home. as a passenger, i pretty much instantly fall asleep without music i really enjoy being on. i always slept in cars when i was a kid.. not overnight, just anytime my aunt took us anywhere (she's the only one who owned a car.. so i didn't go much of anywhere, roughly a 1 mile radius on my bike and usually under 0.3) and i'm good with remembering layouts and placement (if i want to be.. i used to just automatically do so much and it was becoming too much for me. so i figured out how to switch it off and on. the problem being, now when i say something outloud.. the stress of doing so makes me forget what i said. writing is fine unless i forget the thought.. but as long as i think it's important, i usually remember it.. more important, better chance and all that.

i was in chicago for a few hours waiting for a greyhound.. went to a museum, it seemed somewhat slow to me for a city but i thought it was just the timing. i don't remember when anymore but it was a weekday.. and everybody tells me traffic nightmares about every city but my only reference is boston.