24 days

It's usually like this.

In the past, major trips seem so far away. Then they are here. 

People are asking me, "are you excited?"

News flash -- I'm a funny guy. 

Not funny in making you laugh -- but as one friend puts it - quirky.

There may be some original injuries at work here of not wanting to get too excited. Part of my dear mother's effort to prepare me for a changing world. 

But maybe that is the point of the trip. Of reclaiming my life. I've only traveled a few times by myself in the past 25 years. Clearly, this will be the most ambitious. And that's why I am doing it. 

I am reminded of the time our main sewer line to the street went out in our first house in Salem. Homeowner for the first time, I quickly concluded -- while it was a new dilemma for me -- there was no alternative to the option of fixing it -- and soon.

I found someone who could come out the next day. He said he could work on it immediately. The estimate was $3,000. 

I tried to find others who would come out and look at the job. But no one else could be there for a week.

Based upon the best intelligence I had at the time, I said yes.

The next day the job was done. 

The bill came. It was $1,500.

I felt elated as I wrote a check for that amount.

I don't know what to call that part of human nature -- maybe it's comparison.

But I want to travel. By myself. And be comfortable doing it. So I'm planning a trip with exaggerated elements -- flying alone to a country I've never seen.

I am counting on the fact that after this trip -- other solo trips will cost half the emotional effort of this and feel the same sense of elation at planning a trip in August to -- say, New York City.

Or as Hoffman said in Way the Dog, "You think this is bad. This is nothing. You should have seen....."