A friend of mine loves airports. He loves watching people come and go, waiting and meeting in those wide, brightly lit halls. He loves speculating about them—who they are, where they’re going, why they’re leaving. What their stories are.

I’d say airports are among his muses. He’s so fascinated with them that he’s written a series featuring his friends and how they would be at an airport. I’ve read two of those shorts. Sadly, I’m not in any of them.

No worries, though. Because in four—count ’em, four—days, I’ll be that person in the airport. Another face in the crowd of people waiting to take off. Another story waiting to unfold and be told. With this story being four years in the making, it ought to be a good one.

From dreaming to doing

It still hasn’t completely sunk in that I’m finally going on my Eurotrip. It isn’t the exact same trip I’d dreamt of back in 2012. I’m not going to Russia, since that received a firm no from my parents. And I’m a year late. But hey, there’s so much more to explore aside from the world’s largest country, and despite my struggles with patience, I believe that the waiting makes the getting all the more sweet.

I also believe that there’s a time for waiting and a time for doing. There’s no question I’ll be doing my share of the former in airports, stations, and lines, but I sure should do more doing than waiting. More leaping and risking, less regretting. If I don’t, you have permission to shake some sense into me.

Keep rolling, rolling, rolling

Yesterday, as I was packing my clothes, I told myself that I really needed to learn to roll them properly. The only way to do that was to practice—and maybe get some tips from the Internet. True enough, it did make packing easier and more compact. Then I realized that rolling was a skill I needed to practice not just in packing, but more so in traveling.

I’ve always been big on control. I research and plan things beforehand, and I overthink like crazy. But while there’s a security in knowing what’s going to happen next, like I read somewhere, it doesn’t exactly leave space for surprises. What makes a story more memorable than those little plot twists that keep you guessing? So while I do have a roadmap to guide me through the next four weeks, I’m going to roll with the punches and see what’s beyond the bend.

It’s been four years—four days more to four weeks in Europe. Follow me on Instagram (@marianwanders) to keep updated on my travels!

P.S. How awesome is it that by year-end, I’ll have visited 3 of the 6 destinations in my Valentines list? ♡♡♡