Around Europe in 21 Days Pt. 1 -- The So-so'est Laid Plans

"Be VERY careful.  Don't talk to any strangers, and don't walk down any quiet alleys.  You will get robbed or raped and no one would even know."

^^^ My mom's immediate reaction upon telling her that I was planning to travel by myself in Europe for 3 weeks.  Is it... is it because I'm too young and beautiful, Mother?

Fortunately, the support was there in other places, because I would have totally lost it and given up on this excursion otherwise.  Why?  For those of you who remember my Italy series, you will recall that a.) I am prone to panic, and b.) am somewhat vexed by the idea of international travel.  Add to that the concern that I could even afford this trip in light of the fact that I would be staring at a big ole' student loan bill soon, and we have a base recipe for regret.

But, being the everlasting fount of positive energy that he is, SJH was able to talk me out of my Negative Nancy doldrums.

Pictured:  Pre-planning discussion

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.

A Tale of Two Cities 第1章: The Place for You

Guess where I've been!

Last year, when DG transferred to his new job, he mentioned to me that one of the perks that might come of it was a business meeting in Hong Kong.  He asked me if I'd want to vacation in the area if that actually happened, to which I answered, sure, of course, why not.  Like most things that sound fun and exciting, I brushed it off as an interesting, but not-so-likely possibility.

Note to self:  do this more often.  Maybe more good things will happen to you this way.

Then in December, DG got the green light from his manager, which meant we had to start planning.  Since neither of us had an exhaustive amount of vacation time, we decided to limit it to about a week abroad, plus travel time (HK is 13 hours ahead of EST and a 15+ hour flight, which meant we'd be losing a couple of days in transit alone).  Early on, one of the questions DG posed was, did we want to spend the entirety of the trip in HK, or did we want to visit another place in the region because, honestly, how often were we going to have the opportunity to be in Asia?  After some hemming, hawing, and weighing of options, we settled on half and half of our trip in Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan.

Time to hit up TripAdvisor

 

True (love) (horror) story

Continuing in my tradition of terribly drawn comics, I combined two of my favorite topics for your entertainment -- valentine's day and menstruation.

I apologize for nothing.

And then it kicked me in the stomach.

Hearts and kisses.

Until the next.