The official route.

So. There's my flight route, all laid out. I've booked all of my flights; all that is left to book in terms of major transport is the train down the west coast, but I'm not doing that til I have word on when I need to be back in Los Angeles for fangirl reasons.

Los Angeles - Las Vegas

Las Vegas - Vancouver

Vancouver - Los Angeles

Los Angeles - Albuquerque

Albuquerque - Austin

Austin - Orlando

Orlando - Washington DC

Washington DC - Philadelphia

Philadelphia - Boston

Boston - Toronto

Toronto - Boston

Boston - New York City

New York City - Milwaukee

Milwaukee - Chicago

Chicago - San Francisco

San Francisco - San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo - Los Angeles.

On the map, somehow, it looks more... simple? It doesn't look like much. It's this massive country and I'm barely making a dint. I've tried to do a cross section of cities from major geographic regions but there's just so much more that I would love to do... I'd need a year of my life and access to a vehicle to really do everything that I desire.

There's six sleeps to go and I'm starting to feel a little, no, a lot, petrified. I had my last shift at work today and it kind of sunk in that I AM doing this. People say 'so who are you going with' and you don't want to sound like you're a loser on your own but in a way you're proud of being independent. So I respond that I'm travelling alone but I have some friends in a few cities who I'll be catching up with.

Yeah. Petrified is the word.

The countdown: eleven sleeps

Holy shit. Where did time go? It feels like it was yesterday that it was February 1, 2010 and I was sitting at my laptop looking nervously at the Air New Zealand website for the millionth time in a few weeks. I'd scoured various airlines and done my research and budgeting and it came down to that one moment; that one moment where I clicked on the button and agreed to let them charge my credit card.

And now, it's May 17 and I go away in less than two weeks. Eleven sleeps, to be precise.

I've been buying crap for months; I have this massive pile of various things - toiletries, sewing kits, notebooks, pens, first aid items, bits and pieces of clothing. I've been booking parts of the internal trip along the way. It isn't all planned out but the skeleton is there. And it's feeling more and more REAL as time goes on. The whole three shifts left at work thing kind of made it sink in - when I left on Saturday and it was like 'I have one week left at work.' It's not like I'm going on a vacation. I'm going away for two months. That's one sixth of the year. I'm going away at what has turned out to be pretty bad timing when it comes to the graduate job hunt.

But somewhere deep down, I knew that I had to do this. Europe 2008 didn't quash that burning desire within to see the world. I know this won't either, but it will get me somewhere closer to feeling like maybe I can settle down and have a real life, at least for a little while - before I start planning the next trip, anyway!

This time on Friday 28 May I'll be... okay I'll be at the Auckland Airport, waiting around. But I'll be on my way. There will be no turning back. Not that I'd want to turn back... but the nerves are building up. These trips come with expectations - a shit load of money is spent and so of course there are expectations; I'm putting my life off again and it has to be worthwhile in the long run, I have to emerge from the other side having learnt things, had an amazing time, and have a new perspective on life - or maybe just get my fangirl experience with Zac Efron. Whichever way.

Soon my pretty polka dot suitcase will be filled with my life - my life in a box, if you will, all the things I need to survive in a two month period. I did it with a backpack for four and a half months; surely I can do it in a suitcase.

In the meantime, I'll go back to my holy-shit-eleven-sleeps-to-go planning and attempt to wrap up things in my life before I leave it behind for one sixth of the year.