Being PC in the UK/British Isles/GB

I've got a lot to learn.

This trip is meant to be

They Might Be Giants updated their blog to say that they will most likely be in the UK this summer for a festival and a show. I'm on my way.

Oh yeah, Puerto Rico

I forgot to mention this too. My 2011 resolution is to travel more. Another way I am achieving this is by being a chaperone on a school trip to Puerto Rico in mid-February. Nine days. Twenty-seven 8th graders. Two chaperones and myself. It'll be exciting. Well, in the very least, it motivated me to get many of the shots/vaccines that I was behind on.

I'll post some pictures and stories from the PR trip is said and done. Look forward to it.

A new year, A new plan

It has been awhile since I posted. I have thought and re-thought my summer plans. Oh yeah, I should post that I did not get the job I was talking about in the previous post. But it is okay because it is better this way.

The new plan is this: One month, one month and a half in the U.K. The biggest thing that makes me nervous about traveling by myself is that I speak no other languages. I have talked with many people who have traveled alone and only speak English and they say they did not have any problems. Also I am thinking that since this is my first trip alone why not focus one 1 - 3 countries like England, Ireland, and Scotland! If I see everything I wanted to see really fast (which I doubt will happen) I could head over to France or Spain for a while. If I leave countries unseen then I have something to come back to. I think I would like to spend the summer in England drinking tea and looking at rolling green hillsides. I like castles too so I think this might work out very well.

The biggest thing I am worried about is what to do with Ness and my apartment. I don't know who I can get to stay at my place who I trust. I got an AmEx card that will be my cat-card so for vet appointments, emergencies, and food/toys it will be taken care of while I'm away. Forward thinker, right? If I can get a person to stay in my apartment and give me most of what my rent is while I continue PG&E and internet/cable, I would be happy. Who wouldn't want to live in SF for a foggy summer?

List of UK sights I want to see:

• Windsor castle
• Stonehenge
• City of Bath
• Westminster Abby
• Irish pub
• "There once was a Pattison in Limerick"
• Aberdeen
• Prince Harry
• Tower of London
• The Tate (hehehe)
• More Loch's
• What else am I missing?

Ideas submitted by Zac...

• The Globe (in London).
• Guinness Factory Tour.
• Dover / Canterbury.
• Portabello Market (Notting Hill!)
• Rosetta Stone / Elgin Marbles in British Natural History Museum.
• Look for Big Nessie.

My job future

A week ago I applied for a job internally where I work. I have yet to hear back if I got the job or not and this decision greatly impacts when I would be able to take this European vacation of mine. In my current position as receptionist I have most of the summer free and getting 2 - 3 months off to travel during the summer would be very easy to do. If I was in a new position I would not be able to take summer off because of an upcoming school event that I would have a big part in, but in turn I could take a month off during the school year which is a true luxury. With this new job I would also be making more money so I could travel much easier and not have to worry about cash.

Part of me wants to stay a receptionist because it is easy, comfortable, and I am good at it. On the other hand I have more potential and creative energy which is wasted sitting behind a desk/computer/front door while making small talk about how foggy San Francisco is this time of year. I am trying to advance myself in other ways while I sit at this boring job. Last year I took a piano class then I took swimming lessons. This upcoming fall I have signed up for a beginning acting class at the local community college. Hopefully this will lead me to new friends, discovering more about myself and another reason to get out of the house more often. Summer is almost over and a large portion of my friends are returning to school, either near or far, but that means I won't be seeing as many people during the work/school week as I usually do. Time for new friends and new hobbies. Monologues, here I come.

Perhaps while on my European journey I can practice my scales on the piano, then swim across a river where I can reprise my role of "Gendarme" in Scapin.

25 Hours After the Intial Thought

It has been 25 hours since I started planning my trip and the more I talk about it to friends, coworkers, and family, I couldn't be more excited! I just got off the phone with my parents who (I'm pretty sure) support me in making this decision. Mom seems a little worrisome about me travel alone, but I think we both know I can handle it. The part I'm most worried about is becoming lonesome while traveling. I figure that I will be gone no more than 75 days and I can easily keep myself occupied away from my Google Reader and work.

Where do I want to go? Good question. If my good friend Katie, and her sketch comedy partner Leah, plan to do the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the third time in 2011, I can end my trip there. I have a coworker who travels to his summer home in France every year who I know would be happy to feed me and perhaps shelter me for a night or so. A couple I met as exchange students in college have moved back to Sweden and I know they would be besides themselves with joy to see me again. Many families from work travel throughout Europe every summer and many of them stay in England. Aside from Edinburgh, the French countryside, Sweden, and London... I'd love to visit Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, the islands of Greece, Paris, Dublin, and other places that are not coming to mind. I'm getting excited already. Please feel free to send me any input, well wishes, and money my way.

Creating A Self Fulfilling Prophecy (hopefully)

This evening I am making a promise to myself: Next Summer, in 2011, I plan to travel to many countries. Yep, that is my promise. Many countries in a three month time span. I am thinking Europe. Maybe South America? But most likely Europe to see history and culture. I really want to understand myself and the world a little better so why not travel for three months by myself. None of my immediate family has done anything like this (except for my brother who was in the Navy, but I don't think that counts since he wasn't alone), and my friends who have journeyed far and away only say fantastic things about their memories traveling. I don't think it is very feasible to go for an entire year, but three months is completely possible. If I start planing now and saving some extra cash I can do this. And this blog? Well I'll try to document my journey of preparing, and then hopefully of traveling. Thoughts for the future, how hard would it be to sublet my apartment for three months? Would my kitteh, Ness, hate me for leaving her in the care of somebody else for that long? Can I save enough money to make this possible? Can I muster up the courage to talk to my boss to try to get an entire summer off? Would I get terribly lonely and rush back home to where my friends and family are? Who knows.