I'm Wicked Excited

Part of the reason I love travelling is the spontaneity of it. I love waking up in the morning and deciding to get on the next bus to anywhere. I love waking up hungover and stumbling down to reception to ask if it's OK to keep the room another night because we can't be arsed packing our bags. Despite this, I've spent a significant amount of time lately planning my US trip (I have to find something to fill my crap life as it is right now. I've also been making a lot of soup). And although it's partly because I don't have enough time to mess around while I'm there, it's mostly because I'm a bit scared. Scared of being on my own and lost or stranded or without a bed for the night. I'm hoping that by doing this alone I'll get more confident of doing things alone. I guess I'll have to, really. I think it's important for me to do this. Especially since my London Plan is still very much my main plan. People say that if you can travel across India, you can travel anywhere. I think that if I can travel across America for a month on my own, I can do anything on my own. I think it's important to be able to survive independently and I have to learn to do it.

I've planned pretty much a complete itinerary, down to things like '18/7/07 - 1:05pm bus to Memphis'. My itinerary changes almost daily but it's my plan to have it completely worked out before I leave. Is this cheating a bit? How hard is it to follow a schedule? Oh god. I'm so excited about this trip. I'm excited about everywhere I'm going and seeing L again. I just want to make the most of it and I'm torn between just landing in Chicago and seeing where I end up after that, and going with my original plan of the Complete Itinerary. At least with the itinerary I know I'll get to see the main things and places I want to see without running out of time, but sometimes the main things aren't the best things. With the wandering plan, I get to feel like more of a 'real traveller' and just go with the flow for a change. No pressures, no schedule.

I guess I'll compromise with a loose itinerary and maybe a couple of internal flights booked. Greyhound don't take reservations anyway. I can book hostels a few days in advance, I'm sure. Yeah. I think that's my new plan. Sorry for thinking out loud.