Looking to the future (No Pictures)
I tend to be a rather... depressed individual. If I am being fully transparent, for the longest time I managed to keep going by saying, "I want to see movie X" or "I want to play game Z" or some variation thereof. The concept of future plans was really a foreign concept to me. I never knew when movie X or game Z were not going to be enough. After a breakup that nearly destroyed me, I sought help. I've been on medication for several years now, and I am honestly thinking about the future.
The Japan trip was sort of testing the water. It was a huge undertaking that I had to do months of planning for. It was the culmination of discarded dreams and crushed hope rekindled. It was "the future".
Now it is the past. Something in the past I can look back on and smile. I have pictures to keep those memories alive, and frankly... I can smile.
But, now the future is barren. I have no concrete plans once more. What I have instead are nebulous ideas. Quick two to three day road trips. Maybe a long weekend at Niagara Falls. But what I am really looking at, is planning the next big trip. The world is out there, and I want to see more of it. I want to sample the foods of various locales.
With that in mind, I am putting out feelers for next time. Things I want to be pretty set on:
1) I want the trip to be somewhere in Europe
2) I am aiming for a 2025 or 2026 time frame
3) I want to once more step outside my comfort zone
With that third item, I am backing away from my original goal of going to an English speaking country. Partially because that really limited my choices. So once more I plan to head to a country where I may not be able to converse with the locals due to language barriers.
Places on my short list:
1) Rome (this is a current front runner)
2) Berlin
3) Copenhagen
4) Stockholm
5) Reykjavik
All 5 of those sound like they could be very interesting to visit. And I should be able to get a flight over for a relatively reasonable price. I really want to narrow down that list a little more. I am really leaning heavy on Rome for one reason... I can theoretically visit two different countries while there. So that seems like a good deal to me.
