Departing April 30th

My flight is booked and my bags are almost packed. It took a bit longer to plan and prep than I had originally expected. My final itinerary is as follows:



I fly into Rome, Italy on April 30th at 3pm. From there I am working my way north up the Amalfi coast to Florence, then Venice. After Italy I am taking the train to Slovenia, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Prague, Germany and I am flying home from Holland on June 1st (est).



A few expenses that I encountered that I didn't expect to be so costly were investing in a great pair of Hiking and Walking shoes. In order to enjoy the amount of walking I have planned over the next month a good pair of shoes is priceless. I also had to invest in some smart wool socks (fastest drying, most comfortable material), under armor boxers and tshirts because of their ability to dry fast.



I have to admit that as my departure nears I am every bit as nervous as I am excited. There is no telling what lies ahead. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign."



My next post will be from Italy sometime in May. I am going to post a few quotes that I came across while I was preparing my trip. These quotes have inspired me in many ways, hopefully they inspire you as well.


“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” - John Steinbeck



“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller



. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” - Freya Stark



“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain



“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” - Martin Buber



“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux



“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson



“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu



“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” - James Michener



. “The journey not the arrival matters.” - T. S. Eliot



“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill



. “Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien



“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” - Seneca



“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” - Rudyard Kipling



“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” - Clifton Fadiman



“Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins



“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang