1. Make a physical packing list, because every time you think you’ll definitely remember that thing without writing it down… you’re wrong.
2. Go with a friend who you can text any time about logistics, so that bubbles of intense discussion about train routes and stopovers can rise and pop in tight hour long increments over many days, rather than having to sit down and get through it all at once, or else absolute silence until you’re in the actual train station. There is a time for that sort of travel, when the road dictates the day and you feel free like a fish in fresh water. This is not that time.
This also leaves space for random sidebars, for example; how prevalent Italian dialects still are, for example, Sardo, from Sardinia, which is also where Sardines got their name, though these days most Sardines come from Portugal and Sardinia exports cork. And also how there are still traces of Phoenician around, which is pre-Latin, and that Sardinia some really special Nuraghe sites: a type of ancient megalithic monuments specific to that area made between 1900 and 730 BCE, which are now on the list of places to go for season 2…
3. When your mind is boiling over and each burble shouts out in a little tiny voice illustrated with a neon subtitle, “email this!” “Write that person back!” “Book that!” “Update this!” “Buy a sleeping bag!” “Research this and that and that” “Buy dog food!”, there is only one response: take the dog for a good long walk, and leave your phone at home.
4. This is not the time to start something new, however tempting the offered shift at a new lovely farm-to-table catering company, or the winning smile from the person next door. Ground. Take the day off to do computer work cuddled between the dog and cat on the couch. Build up the walls of your home with good mortar and soft brick, so that when you return you will know exactly where you are. Maybe even go buy that special chocolate bar, with a pretty card, and write a note for your future self to make that homecoming feel just a bit extra sparkly.
5. Build antidotes for your anxiety into the trip itself, like starting off by sitting down with a mentor and discussing right-ways for a journey (little teaser for episode one…), and adding hot springs to the road map because you’re synced and will inevitably be bleeding. Hello moon goddess, can I have an easy one please? Oh, that goes against the spiritual and medicinal nature of bleeding? Riiight.
6. Tend your body. All your aches and pains are coming with you, so attend to them now.
7. Expect the unexpected.
8. Every moment of rest counts.
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