The journey begins . . . packing

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