Plan D

As some of you have heard already, my grand adventure has been postponed. I found out last Friday that foreigners are only allowed to be in the collective EU countries (except for the UK and Ireland) for up to 90 days in a 180 day period. I had been under the impression that the policy was in effect for each country not all of them as a whole. So, that means that I cannot go on my 10 month adventure – at least without the risk of being discovered and deported or paying individual visa application fees to acquire a visitor visa for each country I plan to visit after my 90 days are up. Neither of which are options.

It’s looking like my Plan D (since I’ve changed my plans so many times already) is that I will stay at SPU through the end of August and travel all of September, October, November, and most of December. I’ve picked a few countries that are most important to me and will be hitting those places. I’ll just have to go back at some other point in my life to see the rest of the places I had to cut out of the trip.

It’s extremely disappointing that my trip will not be beginning for such an extended period of time and that it has been shortened significantly. I don’t doubt that I will still have an amazing experience, but it’s just hard to let go of something I’ve wanted and been planning on for such a long time now. In reality, it’s probably a much better scenario anyway. I will be able to save more money since I will be putting off quitting my job. Plus, I’ll be able to stay I was at SPU for three full years, which makes me a bit more marketable, especially in this volatile economy. There’s still no guarantee that I’ll be able to find a job once I return in December and start looking, but it’s more likely that if I did find a job before I left that they would hold it for me for 4 months rather than 10. (It’s probably still an unlikely circumstance either way, but I can hope can’t I? J) Plus, when I return after traveling I will not have completely drained my savings account. There will be a significant chunk missing from it, but there will still be something there to help me get started on my next phase of life.

I’m reconciling this idea and am beginning to take hold of it. If some other opportunity came knocking I’d accept it in a heartbeat. For now that does not seem to be in the picture and I think I can accept that, let’s just hope I can survive another summer conference season.