Lucky You! Or so my friends tell me when I tell them my 22-year-old granddaughter has suggested we see a little of the world together. Sounds like a delightful summer travel proposition, and it is. And yet, and yet. Not so easy.
If I were traveling with a friend, we might pick a group tour to take us where we wanted to go or sign up for a cruise or for some other organized means of getting from A to B to Z. We would have all transportation, hotels and sightseeing taken care of and someone in charge should there be mishaps.
But a 20-something is not the right fit for an organized tour. Fellow travelers are likely to be much older than she is. Where's the fun or excitement for her in that?
All of which means the trip is DIY. We start our planning: She and I agree on some basics. We'll meet in Amsterdam where she'll be finishing a study course at a university there. Then we'll head north. I've always wanted to go to Scandinavia and my former travelmate (my recently deceased husband) feared being cold and would never consider Sweden or Norway--even in the summer! She and I settle on Oslo and Reykjavik. Destination determination is the easy part.
We will split the rest of the chores. She will research things to do, see, sip and eat once we get to Oslo and Reykjavik. She is of a generation whose fingers fly over their cellphone keypad. It will take her seconds to come up with a coffee shop near our hotel and the scenic walking route to the sculpture garden. She'll figure out the train or bus schedule for a day trip. Since I have the credit card, I will book flights and hotels.
Therein lies the rub. Booking everything is a week of anxiety, stress and confusion. Finding hotels with the right set up for sleeping arrangements, in a central part of the city, at an affordable price--and without the dreaded little line of red type: "Book now. Only 2 rooms left at this price."
At last, I have booked our flights from Amsterdam to Oslo to Reykjavik plus the flights to each of our home airports and the hotels along the way. To quote Thomas Jefferson (in Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton"): "What'd I miss?" Are all bases covered? Hotels and flights are still sending me alerts to buy coverage to cover mishaps. All of which feeds into my initial misgivings about traipsing around Europe without a guided tour. To say nothing of worries about infirmities of age--will I sleep OK when it's daylight all night? Will my GI system rebel against the changes to my diet? Will we find quiet places in the cities to sit and people-watch? Should we book day trips in advance? Ah, Oh and Oy.
I leave in two days. I'll let you know how it goes en route or when I get back. Stay tuned for Lessons Learned.
painting: Travelling Companions, Augustus Egg