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What better way to learn about the ones you love,  then to hit the road with them.

Yesterday was Eurotrip meeting numero 1. A table of girls, 5 laptops, a ball of nerves and some cold hard accommodation options made for an interesting before lunch cocktail. I spent most of the morning looking at 4 and 5 star hotels online, in a desperate bid that one would hear my silent cries for decent and essentially cheap options. I failed to find anything and spent the rest of my day sitting on my hands biting my tongue, as the girls booked hostels. Hostels. The word reminds me of hospital. And hospitals bring back no fond memories to me. To further stinge our Euros we booked everything with the impression that 4 of us are travelling. However, last time I checked there was 5 of us young, fearless, geared up females. Shotgun being the little spoon I guess.

For me, the struggle with accommodation will be the worst. I have lived in my sheltered little burrow since ever. Never have I lived out of home where I am currently the only bird still in the nest; which pretty much means I have run of the place. I very rarely sleepover anywhere because I find I sleep way better in my own environment. Add to this the five star hotel standards that comes with working in such properties and you can see why 5 months on the road could pose a problem.

As I finally get my head around the mediocre sleeping options, I'm moving onto the next challenge at hand; packing. Supposedly it is an art form only a handful of experienced travellers can master. This fine morning I attempted a trial of culling my life down to a single 65 litre backpack and the results are as bleak as last weekends weather report. I could tell you what I managed to squeeze in, but the list for the latter is much longer.

There is no room for;

- more than one jacket. This means that should I get cold outside, i’ll need to hop into my sleeping back and roll around town. And should I decide to buy new clothes along the road, I’ll need to wear the jacket 24/7 as it will no longer fit in the bag.

- Books. They are worth their weight in gold to me and unfortunately are just as heavy. Praise the penguin collection. With tiny text and not enough budget for a hardback I can hopefully squeeze a few of these little guys in. Sanity pending.

- My cat. I’m not even ready to talk about separation anxiety yet.

- My oversized sombrero. Upon arrival in London we are apparently giving jet lag and sleep the finger and ringing in the first night on the other side of the world with an ‘Around the world’ themed party. My instinct for every dress up party is to first see if If I can incorporate the Puss in Boots look from Shrek into an outfit. Sadly, the boots and sword combo wont fit, and my option number 2; sombrero isn't looking too promising either. I guess I could wear it on the plane.

- ‘Princess mood’. When the girls went to America there were rules. Everyone was allowed one princess moment. There's even an official sign for the princess moments. And they made fun of each other for being princesses which really took the focus away from the would be bitching. Here's hoping when the attitude surfaces without invitation, we can embrace those moments and laugh them off.

- Chocolate. I share addiction similar to what I imagine someone hooked on Heroin feels. I generally like to have it with me at all times. But on the road it would melt. Devooooo.

- proper underwear. Katie so kindly pointed out the other day that sexy lace briefs and thongs take up far less room therefore are more travel appropriate. GULP.

- My dignity. I'm going to have to leave it safe and sound at home. If I take it with me there's much chance ill loose it and spend the whole trip mourning.

I'm already starting to learn new things about my friends. For example, Tina’s name is actually Christina. If I learned this off the kindred spirit that works at Flight Centre I can only imagine how much closer sleeping in the same bunk bed sector will bring us. Also Tina is somewhat a ‘booking whore’. She booked the most accom for the day, with the quickest times. Thank gosh I was only left with the task of booking one place, for 2 nights; Salzburg. After some 6 hours of deliberating and thorough research I finally booked something. And I got my hotel; Crown Plaza, for the same price as what we would pay at a hostel. Can have cake and eat it too!

Its getting quite clear that home will not be the place we are staying or the possessions we drag around the world with us. Home will have to take shape in form of friends. That I can warm too. Lets hope they can handle me :)