the trip became reality when the flight was booked
Tomorrow, Friday the 13th of September is departure day. My bag is packed, the table is covered with stuff to carry in my backpack and I seem to be immobilized. By what… Excitement? Fear? Disbelief?
Truthfully, all of the above. I can honestly say I have not anticipated anything more in my life. I am far more excited than if I had been a kid awaiting Disneyland, and am finding it hard to believe the moment is truly here. I fear at some level that it will not live up to all the buildup.
When I was in Grade 4/5, around 10 years old I saw a picture of Machu Picchu and told my teacher, Mrs Atcheson (sp?) that I wanted to go there when I grew up. I don’t know if it was past life recognition or just something awe inspiring but it left me with a brain scar. I have always thought that if I won a round trip to anywhere that is where I would go.
Occasionally I have considered going but was either too poor or with someone that I felt may ruin it for me. I did not want to be worried about anyone else’s good time.
It was last summer as I was on a long motorcycle trip that I realized I was turning 50 in 2013 and that had to be the year. I wanted to book right away in faith that the Mayans were wrong.
It was brought to my attention by my friend Sherry that a mutual friend of ours had a similar yearning to knock this one off the bucket list and so the planning began. As Carol-Ann is a travel agent I was thrilled to learn she was interested in travelling with the same tour group, G Adventures, that I had been following for years. We set the date, and started recruiting. Next to join was our mutual friend Dave and then a client of CAs, Ruth. At dinner before the Oprah Show in Vancouver I asked my old friends Colin & Wendy to come along. They decided that was the perfect way to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
I was also thrilled to learn that my dear friend Lynda would be able to come only to find out the tour was fully booked. I will always smile at her response that she would just have to fly down and ride a bicycle along side the bus to join us. For now though she will follow online.
Over the months we have booked the trip, made our plans, and I booked 4 of our airfares as I was able to find the best deals on Skyscanner. Mostly though, I have worked and worked and worked to get the time off. This made it impossible to dwell on the pending departure until today! When I finally signed off, set the out of office assistant on my email and changed the message on my phone I was very emotional.
I am about to have my number one, make a wish, top of the bucket list dream come true. The strange thing is that although I have done some research, I really have no expectations. I am looking forward to whatever comes our way and whomever we meet.
And now I must sleep for tomorrow the Quest begins
MB from New West
09/12/13
triumphgal 