All trips must have the crucial 3 P’s: planning, packing and panicking. I am a master at the last one. I want to clarify that I don’t panic to the point where I’m hyperventilating (although I still have 5 weeks until my trip, so you never know), but there are moments that come like a tsunami, and the unstoppable wave of questions start to drown me a little bit. Am I doing the right thing? What if I run out of money, it’s not like I actually saved a lot for this trip. What if I struggle to find a job when I come back? What if my plants die at home? What if the storms and rains don’t stop in Thailand in Vietnam and I won’t manage to see much of it? Or worst, what if I get stranded there in a flood? 
So, that’s my last P – the panicking. I’m not a fan of it, but it doesn’t stay around for long, and the effects aren’t as bad as they would be after an actual tsunami. I’m not too bad at telling myself to get a grip and to just DO IT SCARED. That is my slogan for this trip btw, ‘Do it scared’; but I’ll get to that later. 

Now, the planning. The tricky, stressful but enjoyable part of this trip of a life time. I actually haven’t done a lot of the planning, my aim is to go with the flow, to meet people in hostels, make friends and decide then and there of what to do each day. As I’m typing this I still can’t believe that there’s no plan of action, no list of sites to see on what day and all tickets and accommodations booked. Heck, I still haven’t booked my first hostel yet. I have always been the type of ‘traveller’ that likes to maximise the holiday, get up early and do and see as much as possible, go to the yummiest food places, and coolest viewing spots and get as much out of the holiday as possible. But this time it’s different, I am going alone, for 4 months, I have timmeeeee. Isn’t that beautiful? 
I do have a list of things that I’d like to do, like a yoga retreat, a surf camp, hike up few mountains and see some cool caves and temples. 
But there’s no structure. There is just freedom.

And my not so favourite P – packing. I am not a bad packer usually, because I usually have everything! I’d like to admit, I am an ✨over packer✨. Because you just never know what you might need, and I love being over prepared. But that is my enemy for this trip. I’m only taking a 40L bag – and even though it might sound like a decent amount of space – it’s really not. When that backpack got delivered and I saw just how small it is, and how little I’d be able to take with me, my gut was squeezed like a stress ball. “How the f*** am I going to fit everything I need for 4 months. For different climates and activities?”.

Unfortunately I still don’t know the answer to that, I haven’t finished packing. Done one trial and that took me to the last P – panicking. And then I had to circle around and go to the first P – planning. So I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube on how to pack light/minimalistic, and it’s truly amazing what skills these people have. I have 5 more weeks to gain that skill. 

Wish me luck. 

Aggie x