Not gonna lie, 4+ months of waiting was challenging! It seemed so far off. I tried my best not to fall behind in planning and prep. Traveling to 12 countries in 12 months is not something to be left until the last minute! I tried to tackle one thing every day, whether it be making an appointment to get my travel shots, or signing up for a new credit card with no international fees.
But, how time flies! After Christmas, I got 3 colds in about 5 weeks. Normally, I never get sick, but perhaps the stress of planning got me, and my body was more susceptible to sickness. Also, I had two sets of friends and relatives that visited me in Jan. / Feb, which was amazing, but also fairly time consuming. Time was ticking...
I used every single second of every day over the last 3 weeks. I budgeted just enough time to get (almost) everything done, with no wiggle room. I had a moving truck on Thursday Feb 25th, moved the last set of boxes into storage on Feb 26th, dropped my car off at my cousin’s place, and flew out the morning of Feb 27th.
Because things were so hectic trying to pack 17 years worth of stuff into an 8x10 storage unit, I did not have as much time as I wanted to visit with friends. I thought about having a going away party, but there just wasn’t any time! The weekend before I left, I was packing and moving all day long! To any of my LA friends that I did not get to see---trust me, I wanted to see you, I just ran out of time!