Around Europe in 21 Days -- Prologue

I quit my job.

Those who follow me on Facebook and Instagram know this fact by now.  What you may not be aware of is *why* I quit my job.  There are a number of pretty concrete answers that I could give, but ultimately what it boiled down to was:  I hated my life and what my job was doing to me.  I was coming home absolutely miserable every day, and generally feeling utterly purposeless.

Other little known fact: I'd been feeling that way for at least 2 years.

So why leave now?  Well, long story short, I got just the kick I needed when my assignment was about to lead me to a fairly uninspiring position in the middle of Wisconsin, a choice that was made with little to none of my input.  My options were essentially take it or leave it.  So I left it.  In February.

This was actually a pretty bold move, as I had nothing really lined up for afterwards, except the vain hope that I would be accepted into a master's program, a decision to which I wouldn't hear about until mid-March at the very earliest.  At best, this void left me kind of panicking and floundering, particularly as I had also recently lost a big part of my support network.

Other other slightly less known fact:  I also became single in February.

I'm well aware that I've never really gone into the details about my relationships, save for the fact that I am in one as implied by the fact that I've done something with them/gone somewhere/received or given a present.  Per the norm, I'm not *really* going to get into it today either.  However, my ending of a relationship is pretty seminal to this tale.  The long and short of it is, after being in a serious relationship for 3.5 years and engaged for several months, we found ourselves in irreconcilable place, not burning with anger, but cold.  And so we left.  On good terms, mind you, but we left, all the same.

So, let me set the stage for you, friends:  It's February.  I'm both recently unemployed & single, living above my sister's garage as a part-time babysitter (in a really nice au pair suite, I'll grant you, but still mooching above a family member's garage), all the while, waiting for the letter that will change my life.

CUE THE DRAM-COM MONTAGE.

Needless to say, I was kind of spinning my wheels.  Some days, it was easy to keep myself occupied -- a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old certainly have enough energy and gumption to keep a girl busy, after all.  Other days, I would binge an entire season of a show, play a videogame for 10+ hour straight,  and generally feel like every parent's worst nightmare of an offspring.  Hell, my parents didn't even KNOW that I had quit my job.  After all the heartache they'd given me about every other decision I'd made in life until that point, nothing would have set me off faster than another of their long tirades about how I was dishonoring the family (side note:  This is not a cute Mulan-inspired exaggeration.  I have actually been on the receiving end of a 2-hour lecture on this subject.)

And then in March, I got hit with another big shift:

I got into school :)

I don't mean to minimize the importance/significance of this achievement; it is the culmination of a year of intense effort + a decade's worth of work, but this is the story of Victoria's grand tour, not her academic/professional trials and tribulations.  And really, I am very pleased.  However, this still kind of left me in the awkward position of... not... having anything to do between April and August, which was honestly very hard.  There's nothing that sends me into bouts of depression faster than idleness.

Surprisingly, it was my dad who first came up with the suggestion that I should travel.  "Go.  You've earned it," he said after I'd told him everything that was happening up until that point.  "Take the time now to relax and enjoy life.  You won't really have an opportunity like this again in a long while, if ever."

While the advice was pretty sound, true to form, I sat on it for a few weeks, unsure of where I really wanted to go.  What my dad really had in mind was a long weekend at the shore, or maybe a stay up in New England, or something of that nature, which had its own pros, but didn't quite feel like what I was looking for. 

It wasn't until a brunch with my ex-fiancee in early April that I even gave the idea any thought.  Over coffee, eggs, and fond reminiscences, DG revealed that he had also recently left his job and was going to take some time to travel - a one way ticket to Thailand to explore southeast Asia for at least a month.  Dang.

"Have you thought of traveling at all?  You really ought to with all the time you have."

"Yeah, my parents said the same thing, but I haven't really thought of where I'd want to-"

EUROPE.

It hit me as suddenly as that.

I'd wanted to go to Europe for years, ever since high school when my sister told me that she would take me to France as my graduation gift, but then my dad forbade us at the last minute because we were, and I quote, "too young and beautiful."

Well, Dadz, now I'm old and haggard, so perfect timing!

Joking aside, a circuit of Europe made more sense the longer I thought about it.  Aside from wanting to finally visit the one European country where I'd studied the language extensively (5 years of French, kiddos, gotta make it pay off somehow), GGKK lives in Austria, and she'd been inviting me to visit for years.  I certainly had the time, was privileged enough to have the ability to save enough money that I could make the trip, and frankly was WELL overdue for a solo vacation of my own making.  I have never really planned a vacation for myself.  When going on holiday or traveling, it has always been with at least one other person, and while I've generally enjoyed myself, I find that I'm usually more than happy to say, "Ok, we can go there if you like," versus offering up my own suggestions.  I'd never really felt comfortable or confident enough to do so. and so as cliche as it might sound, I was intrigued by the idea of not being beholden to anyone else and truly finding out what it was that uniquely interested me. 

What would it be like to be my own person for once?

After the hemming and hawing for an extra week, I finally settled on a 3-week stay in the Old World - a full 21 days - backpacking from hostel to hostel in several different cities across several countries, the general plan being:

France
Italy
Germany
Austria

Perfect.  Now all I had to do was decide exact dates.  And buy travel gear.  And arrange hostels and other lodging.  And choose activities and plan itineraries.   And plan out travel across the continent.  And stay within a budget.

...What could possibly go wrong here...

So my dear readers, as you might have guessed, the upcoming series of entries in my blog will be dedicated to the life and times of this spazzy goofball as she makes her way around Europe, and not just the pretty bits either.  We'll have all the ups and downs, the scenic vistas, and the scary shitholes, and much, much more.

Next time:  Planning phase.

Until the next.