Wednesday, December 19, 2018

hamsterwoman answered a question earlier this week about the first time she traveled of her own volition as an adult, ie. planned the trip, chose the destination etc. As I was reading her post, I kept thinking about when was my first trip that I planned and decided to do as an adult.

Now, with Bear, I'm the planner. He would be happy just sitting at home if I didn't pick where we were going, booked everything and basically took care of all logistics. I do make sure he's ok with everything before I reserve it and I make sure there is a gym and plenty of food and stuff he would enjoy. Occasionally I assign him a task to do or something to book. He did book plane tickets to visit me in London in 2005, and did book one trip upstate in 2006 I believe. But mostly I'm the planner; I have always been the planner. And with friends it is usually me who coordinated get together or any travel. I have a good sense of direction, despite not being visual, so that just seems natural to lead people around the unknown locations.

As I was thinking about when I started planning as an adult, 2005 came to mind where I went to England from January to April and then again from June to August for a research trip for graduate school. I was based in Kew Garden area in London and have also spent three weeks in Norwich that June to visit the archives there. That was the first trip where I really utilized the internet. I found tickets on British Airways website and then my Dad got me a travel agent to talk to. The travel agent offered me something more expensive and I realized it was just easier to do it myself. So I told her no thank you and just booked it thought the website. I never went to a travel agent again after that. I used National Archives website to find a bedsit room near the archives with the use of the kitchen, which worked out really well. And for Norwich I used some local internet site for finding a room. I booked with a woman with two kids, since that seemed pretty safe. And I planned all the local day trips to Cambridge and Ely, to Yarmouth and to Brighton among other places. That trip was the first one where I flew on the plane by myself.

But as I thought about it, I realize that I did planning much earlier. In 2004 I spent six weeks in the summer in Toronto studying Medieval Latin. I booked the course and accommodations in the University of Toronto dorm, probably online, and the return bus (in person at the bus station) but my parents drove me there as we made it into a trip - first Montreal and Kingston and then they dropped me off in Toronto. But one in Toronto I was on my own and did all the outings and museums and such, in the midst of studying.

But the real start of my true adult trip planning came when I was 19 and doing a Study Abroad in London from January to May 2000. The trip to London itself was booked for me. I just had to give money to the program and they took care of the plane, housing and small trips to Canterbury, Bath, Lake District, Warwick Castle, Oxford and Stratford upon Avon. And going to the theater two or three times a week. (The program was from the English Department with two professors from my university coming with us and some local professors. The classes were in the building next to the British Museum. I took "19th Century Literature", "Shakespeare" and "Art and Architecture in London". For Shakespeare, we read the plays that we could see in London that season. And for "Art and Architecture" there was a lot of site visits. It was a really wonderful semester. Other than missing Bear it was pretty much perfect. I wrote him letters and emails but he communication was not the same as it would be now with Skype.)

But I did the active planning and choosing for all the other side trips. The program was 40 people, and there were 7 in my flat. I shared a room with a girl named Anna, and she and I traveled together. The Amsterdam trip was with a bunch of others the first day but it was really just the two of us. And her sister for a little of spring break trip. We did two 4 day weekend trips - Amsterdam that February and Paris that March. We booked plane tickets together through the travel agent and hostels through my guidebook. And then I was basically leading around based on the guidebook I had. I was the one decided on where we would go for the most part. Anna did find a good hostel for us for two of the nights - she was a Christian and wanted to stay at a Christian hostel, which was a nice place. Although I did have to sit though a Valentine's Day play where they recommended that we give our heart to Jesus instead of having someone break it. It was mostly amusing. And some did ask me questions, but genuinely not maliciously, about me being Jewish and atheist. I met some interesting people those two days there. It was a good place to stay.

Spring Break though was the real planning. We took out a map and decided where we were going. We were doing Eurostar trip since you can just buy a ticket for a number of stops and you can go wherever. I loved that. So we picked Belgium - we went to Brussels (which I didn't like much especially as we had to lug our bags) and a little town that starts with M where we stayed with Anna and her sister's family friends. They owned a Chinese restaurant there, so that was a feast. We also went to a party there, which was unusual for me. We also did a day trip to Brugges (I loved it). Then we took the train to Zurich (I liked it), Venice (I was not impressed - I like big cities and Venice just seemed run down), Florence (good visit) and Rome (loved it), Nice (ok) and Barcelona (awesome). For all the cities, except the little M town in Belgium and Barcelona, I was the one who chose what we were going to see. Anna was the one who really wanted to see Spain and Barcelona and I was tired by then, so I gave her the guidebook and she made all the decisions then. That was pretty fun - I loved all the Gaudi stuff. From Barcelona we took a plane back to London. So I think this trip was my real first planning trip, even though a lot of decisions Anna and I made together. It still felt like I did the bulk of it. After that trip I realize that I was also more confident about the whole planning thing and travelling. Doing that Study Abroad was great in general since even though I was with a group and there were technically Professors in charge of us, so safety net, I had to cook for myself for the first time all the time (I had a meal plan in college so that didn't count) and generally take care of myself.

Thinking about all the trips I took, I remember first trip without my parents or grandparents that wasn't summer camp (and my grandmother worked in the summer camp and my cousin was usually there with me, so even that didn't count). When I was 17, my parents let me and Marianna go on a four day tour bus trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto. It was with the Russian company in Brooklyn, so it was all Russian Americans. There were 4 other young adults, college students, that traveled too so it wasn't all old people. i still can't believe our parents let us. It was a tour group, and things were organized but still. This was before cell phones too. The bus driver either got lost and there was a major traffic on the way back and we were like 6 hours late. We got off at one point and took car service. I got home like 2am to a very nervous parents. It was a good trip.