Travel requirements

So the latest .....

I realize that as I try to actually plan travel that I need a bucket list of the places I most want to go.  Makes it more helpful for creating the budget as well.

So far I have made plans to go to Tuscany next spring.  I chose this trip as my first long distance travel alone test because it is a "stitcher's retreat" so I am incorporating a hobby that I love and will be meeting others with the same love.  Seemed like the perfect starter trip.  I have already been going to Tulsa once a year on my own for a "stitcher's retreat"   and finding that for the most part I have a good time a make some new friends.  None of the new friends have become permanent friends but at least it makes for good times during the moment.

Now the next hurdle is finding the flight to Italy, and a hotel in Rome for a couple of days before the Retreat begins.  I will be taping my parents for ideas since they have traveled  to Rome a few times and stayed there prior to the beginning of Cruises on the Mediterranean.

There is always the fear of getting it wrong, when you only think you will get there once you do want to get the plans right and have it be the best possible trip you can afford.  Here is a VERY big anxiety point.

More later.......

where to start?

I have always had the bug to travel but for years this has not happened for me.  When I got married my husband did not share my desire.  Then the children came and there was no money.  Later, I went back to school and became a Nurse thinking then we would have the money to do something even thought we were also putting children through the big money pit I will call college.   Unfortunately my husband passed away at the young age of 51 and leaving me a widow at age 48 with a family to support on my own.

So far this means I have only gotten as far as Tulsa, Oklahoma.  However, determination is starting to set in and I really have the bug to get out there and see the world!  But first....my daughter's wedding this October.  After that, who knows.  Of course, once again there will be that issue of money and the need to save so that I can achieve my first trip without my husband to somewhere I have never been before.

Which brings me to my next stumbling block.....traveling alone.  most deals seem to be centered on travel for two.  I'm really not sure I want to try to get someone to go with me on my adventure.  One, they may not want to go where I want to go, and two I would have then coordinate their schedule with mine in order to work out all the details.  After 28 years of marriage and 4 children I think I am ready to just worry about my schedule for awhile.

So let the adventure begin sometime after October 18th.  Time will tell.......