Summer 1994 • Final Plans

July

There was just one small detail I sort of neglected to mention to my parents: my Air Hitch ticket was one-way only. My parents didn't learn this until November, and what a conversation that was!

I didn’t know when I was going to come home. My plan — as crazy as it sounds now — was to work as a seasonal laborer in the French vineyards, picking grapes to earn enough cash for a ticket home at the end of the trip. That was it. That was my entire plan. Seriously.

Oliver, my host brother in France, had assured me on the phone that I could find work no problem. So I rolled with it.

August

Then came two letters that made everything feel real.

I received warm, excited letters from Katrine in Norway and Dorte in Denmark — both friends I had met during my Rotary exchange year in Australia. They welcomed me with open arms and told me I could stay with them whenever I made it that far north.

Awesome! Now at least I had three solid places to stay: Olivier in France, Katrine in Norway, and Dorte in Denmark. All I had to do was get there.

Everything was falling into place. I had a (one-way) ticket, a massive backpack, a camera full of film, a few addresses, and a whole lot of nervous excitement.

I was really doing this.