Sometimes I am a bit paranoid. Travelling is one of my biggest excitements and hence one of my biggest sources of paranoia!
To me one of the most rewarding and enriching things in life is travelling. Until last December (actually only last month when I think about it) Stefan and I were set on staying in Europe this year. I’ve never been to Scandinavia before and we have planned to make a trip through England, Scotland and Ireland for forever. I don’t know why or how but independently we started to look at flight prices and maps and once we confessed to each other we were already too hooked by the idea to travel through America again to let go. And here my mind started to race and compile a neat list of things that could potentially go wrong on our trip!
For the moment Stefan and I are in the process of planning all our time off work for the year. Here in Germany it’s common to do this in the beginning of the year. That means planning the year ahead, checking project charts and schedules, arranging substitutions with colleagues and then finally applying for leave. If you want to stay away from work for about a week or so that’s not so stressful but as we plan to spend 4 weeks abroad again in summer it’s definitely a bit more to arrange now. But those are the technical details.
Besides a few things that need to happen before you (okay a type A traveller like me) can enbark on your overseas adventure like booking flights, booking accomodation, booking cars and getting your passport, visa or ESTA sorted out I always have to cope with a long long list of almost impossible (that’s what people keep telling me!) things in mind that can go wrong. You know what I mean.. fail! Ruin your trip. Make life hard. Provide a great story to share with friends or strangers on the internet. Hi guys!
But anyway today I thought I’ll let you again peek into my mind and show you my 25 fear scenarios when it comes to travelling in what if form out loud!
1. What if I forget my passport or credit card at home?
2. What if we miss our plane?
3. What if the airline messed up our seat reservations and I end up sitting between two people I don’t know for 10h on an aisle seat and they have to pee every 5 minutes? Or worse wants to talk to me? Or the worst, get sick?????
4. What if the person next to me stinks? I can’t cope with that?
5. What if I stink and the person next to me can’t cope with that?
6. What if there is another Denver next to the Denver in Colorado and we messed up and now fly to Alabama or Arkansas instead?
7. What if I get caught when I accidentally try to immigrate with an apple in my carry on item. Do they send me back then?
8. What if they don’t let us immigrate?
9. What if the accomodation stinks?
10. What if they think my Heparin injections were drugs? I really really really don’t want to get too friendly with airport security!
11. What if I can’t bite back a crappy joke at immigration and they don’t let me in? (Okay this is my biggest fear!)
12. What if I forget my phone charger?
13. What if our accomodation has no wi-fi? Is there a 24h Starbucks somewhere?
14. What if we don’t get to see any cool wildlife in the park?
15. Oh shit what if we see any wildlife too close to us?
16. What if a bear attacks? Was that making noise or being silent? In any case I think you mustn’t run?
17. What if this was false information or I remember wrong?
18. What if we run out of gas in the middle of nowhere?
19. What if I break my ankle?
20. What if there is another Chicago next to the one in Illinois and I have accidentally booked an accommodation in Oregon or Louisiana instead?
21. What if I loose my passport on the trip?
22. What if our accomodation is just really really far away from breakfast? Okay this is more one of Stefan’s fears! Nobody wants to handle me pre-coffee!
23. What if I have packed the wrong clothes/ shoes?
24. What if I can’t bring back home 17 boxes of cocoa powder because I decided to take this little backpack with me instead of a decent suitcase?
25. What if I just really really don’t want to go home back anymore?
Okay some of those fears are maybe a bit more likely to come true than others, nonetheless I might overdo it a little here and there. Yet my brain runs wild before going on a trip I am already highly excited and more than happy to tackle a different part of this really big and exciting country again in summer. Adventures are to come, I can feel it!
We are going to book flights this weekend most probably. Fingers crossed!
Have a great weekend and tell me about your travel fears/ pet peeves. I might need to extend my list!
As far as number 6 goes…I was born and raised in Arkansas. It’s really not that bad. 🙂 Beautiful place in many areas! I highly recommend the Ozark mountains in Northwest Arkansas. That’s where I grew up. Bentonville, AR (my hometown) is the home of Walmart. Fun fact of the day. Check out AR sometime on your travels! You might be pleasantly surprised by it’s beauty…:)
Oh dear I see this came across differently than intended. I have never been to the southeast of the USA but I am convinced that there are beautiful places there I have yet to visit! Next time maybe 😉
I was just referring to the fact that I always fear to mess it up and instead of flying to the north as planned ending up on the opposite side of the country 😉
I think #25 is most likely to happen. We’ll get you all situated in the states and then keep you here. 🙂
Also, some of your fears have happened to me (missing a flight, creepy guy next to me on a plane, no Wifi, losing my phone (in Amsterdam no less…I eventually found it….turns out I was just paranoid (cough, cough)) and I survived them all somehow and I’ve never regretted a trip.
I can’t wait to see you again.
#25 is a given already!
I am so paranoid with my phone, passport and wallet. I check on them every few minutes and start to freak out when I can’t find it immediately! And none of my silly travel fears ever kept me from going on a trip or explore something I wanted to see.
7 month to go 🙂
My biggest fear involves immigration/ security… That I have accidentally brought something not allowed by mistake or, an even bigger fear, someone had placed something in my bag!!! I knew border control in Australia were really tough and I was soooo nervous to go through!
Oh gosh placed something in your bag??? I need to extend that list!
I only start to relax when I am past immigration. There’s no reason why I should be jittery about it at all but every time when you mention you’re going to the States there’s always someone with a ‘and they didn’t let them in without any reason’ story. NOT HELPFUL PEOPLE!