A moment of panic

The countdown has begun. Only 13 days to go before we leave for our 105-day European adventure through eight countries and countless cities. I feel like that's all I've been talking about now for the past few weeks and months. Though it's still a bit hard to get excited as the fear starts creeping in.

Will the house be OK? Are the bills all sorted? Do we have the right clothes for the trip? What about shoes? Have we budgeted correctly? Which travel SIMS should we get? What adaptors do we need? Is our Travel Insurance all good? The VISAS??! Are we sure we don't need visas? What about our passports? They still have the 6 month validity, right?

All that plus the sudden realisation that we'll be living out of the two suitcases we take with us - a family of 5 - for over 3 months on the move through Europe and North Africa sparks a mild panic attack, especially for someone who is severely challenged when it comes to travelling light. Part of me thinks it would be incredibly liberating to realise how much 'stuff' we can do without, yet the other part is still worried about the life we'll be putting on hold.

With only the first 6 weeks of the itinerary through Spain, Morroco, and England locked away, it's fair to say that a large part of this nervousness I feel could be for the part that still hasn't been locked away. The part where we will be 'winging it' as we go. There are bookings for France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria to finalise. Ideally I would have liked all this to be locked away before we leave the safety of our Sydney home. I would have liked to change the colours of each box from 'yellow' to 'green' on our Excel spreadsheet indicating 'booking confirmed', but I'll have to accept that it's just not going to happen. Maybe it's for the best? Maybe it's what we need to keep some flexibility and spontaneity in our adventure? Maybe it's just enough to give me that sick feeling in my stomach?

As much as there is this adventurous streak in me, I can't deny my natural preference to have things mapped out in front of me so I know exactly what we're getting ourselves into. I'm sure this trip will challenge that preference on more than just this occassion. It feels like one of those moments where I just have to close my eyes and jump, again.