So it's Saturday night and I have been home since late afternoon. Attempting to pack and still the bag is empty (why is putting it all in the bag so scary?!); Googling and AirBnB-ing and Kayaking and online banking; cleaning and re-arranging and throwing out; and panicking. Quietly, gently panicking. I mean what was I thinking booking a trip to North Africa and the Middle East . . . alone?!
the bag . . . yet unpacked
It's gonna be awesome. That's what I was thinking. It's going to be a journey of discovery and soul searching and seeing and smelling and learning and saying and fumbling and finding and doing. I am going to spend the next 33 days in the places I speak of, read about and liberalize viciously in reference to and in defense of . . . places I have never been. I am going to learn some Arabic, see the desert and travel to Israel and Palestine, and then see my boyfriend in Barcelona. I cannot wait. Except for that part where I'm completely terrified and desperately want to cancel every leg of the journey, I cannot wait.
So here is the plan, should you want to follow along:
Monday, 14 October (time to start writing dates and times like the days and times where I will be, right?): Fly to Zurich overnight, then to Marrakech the following morning.
15 October - 22 October: I am booked in a room in Marrakech. I begin tutoring in Arabic on Friday.
22 October - 3 November: Probably Marrakech, maybe some Fes, Casablanca . . . this leg is not yet booked, but on the 1st I'll head across into Spain, making my way up to Barcelona (a night in Madrid? Or Valencia?)
3 November - Overnight flight to Tel Aviv out of Barcelona
4 November - 8 November: Tel Aviv (I have a room booked in an apartment with a stranger named Eli), Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jenin
8 November: Fly back to Barcelona to meet up with Cherif!! The reason this journey all began - seeing my beautiful boyfriend (he's studying in Copenhagen 'till mid December) - will take over the final week abroad
8 November - 16 November: Travel with Cherif from Barcelona to Berlin, then one city he says is a surprise, and on to Copenhagen
16 November: Fly back to NYC
Well look at that. I mean that list. I mean that I just did . . . looked at it. And now I want to go again. I am terrified in the best way possible. Okay, I can do this. Wish me luck. And in return I will do my best to try to not try to sound like Judy Dench in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but I make no promises. I am on my way to meet my gay lover after all . . .
- - Adam
So here is the plan, should you want to follow along:
Monday, 14 October (time to start writing dates and times like the days and times where I will be, right?): Fly to Zurich overnight, then to Marrakech the following morning.
15 October - 22 October: I am booked in a room in Marrakech. I begin tutoring in Arabic on Friday.
22 October - 3 November: Probably Marrakech, maybe some Fes, Casablanca . . . this leg is not yet booked, but on the 1st I'll head across into Spain, making my way up to Barcelona (a night in Madrid? Or Valencia?)
3 November - Overnight flight to Tel Aviv out of Barcelona
4 November - 8 November: Tel Aviv (I have a room booked in an apartment with a stranger named Eli), Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jenin
8 November: Fly back to Barcelona to meet up with Cherif!! The reason this journey all began - seeing my beautiful boyfriend (he's studying in Copenhagen 'till mid December) - will take over the final week abroad
8 November - 16 November: Travel with Cherif from Barcelona to Berlin, then one city he says is a surprise, and on to Copenhagen
16 November: Fly back to NYC
Well look at that. I mean that list. I mean that I just did . . . looked at it. And now I want to go again. I am terrified in the best way possible. Okay, I can do this. Wish me luck. And in return I will do my best to try to not try to sound like Judy Dench in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but I make no promises. I am on my way to meet my gay lover after all . . .
- - Adam
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