Day 1: From here to there

Leading up to our trip I kept telling people that we were going to Poland. And yes, we knew that we would be flying in to Katowice, Poland on a Wednesday with a week and a half to explore and get lost anywhere our passports could get us before meeting up with our trekking buddies and guide for a stroll through the High Tatras. But it should be known that I did zero prep for this vacation. I didn't buy any new gear. I didn't do any special training beyond my daily workouts. And most importantly - we didn't book any hotel rooms or hostels. We packed the day before our departure with warm weather clothes appropriate for sight-seeing in cities and some layers and gear, warm and cold, for our hike. We fit it all into two backpacks, grabbed our passports and made our way to the airport.

On our way I asked Jeremy, "Are you just pretending to be cool about not having a plan? Or are you actually that cool?" I thought maybe Jeremy was trying to impress me with a bit of go-with-the-flow spontanaeity when he responded, "No. I've just been really busy." Me too.



So with that I booked a hotel room in Katowice just so we wouldn't have to think about finding a place to sleep after a long flight overseas. On our longest stretch, from Chicago to Frankfurt, I watched The Big Chill for the first time. If you're not familiar with this delight from the '80s it's a movie about a group of former college buddies getting together for a funeral-turned-long-weekend. There's lots of coffee, food, mid-life crisis and making out. It made me miss my friends. It also made me long for the '80s - when you could non-nonchalantly show the boob of a one untouched and curly-mulleted Glenn Close crying in the shower. And maybe I was just tired but this movie left me confused. I wish my sister (my go-to expert for all things movie and plot related) had been there just so I could ask her "Wait? She slept with who? But her husband doesn't really care? And now she's letting him impregnate the creepy mom from Big Love?!" And was it normal in the '80s to look 45 years old but act 25 when you're actually a 30 something? Clearly I wasn't using this time on my flight to contemplate the kind of person I want to be in life or my goals for this adventure. Instead I was watching The Big Chill. Maybe twice in a row.

When we landed in Frankfurt, 7 hours ahead of Oklahoma's central standard time, it was already Day 2. So you know what that means... to be continued...