Without a Hair Dryer

Tomorrow I’m boarding a plane at 6:00am. I’ll be traveling for almost 24 hours straight. When I finally touch ground, I’ll be in Porto, Portugal.

This is a big deal to me.
Be careful. I’m about to get sappy.

When I signed up for Habitat for Humanity Global Village, it was following a whim. I was feeling claustrophobic in LA. It was the very start of 2010 and I knew that I couldn’t make it through another year living the same way I did in 2009. I needed something solid and totally selfish to grasp onto to get me jumpstarted. So when an old friend from high school raved about his amazing Habitat trips, something resonated. It wasn’t something I had considered before, but after hearing about it for one evening, I just knew it was something I was going to do. It was just a fact. I never had a question my year would go any different.

And so began half a year of planning and plotting and saving. I fund-raised my butt off. I sold a ton of my stuff. I campaigned with every person I know. I babysat a million hours. I did focus groups for cash and invented book and DVD drives. I threw garage sales. I got donations from EVERYWHERE. What I thought was going to be the most difficult part- raising the money to go- ended up being the most enlightening experience. Once I put it out there that this was something I was going to do, the support that came back blew me away. Some of it was surprising, from places I never expected. Those I did expect to support…somehow didn’t. The people in my life lifted me up and I have never been so grateful. Already I have received what I wanted—a life changing experience and to feel connected to something again. I’m connected to every single soul who has wished me luck or sent their support. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Ok…..now on to the fun part. The trip. It somehow ballooned past doing a Habitat for Humanity mission into a life mission.

The first part: I’ll be in Amarante, Portugal for 10 days. We’re building for the Costas family, a family of four who live in a one bedroom hut with no plumbing. This part of the trip is the most mysterious for me. I have no idea what to expect. Can I swing a hammer? Should I have been schlepping bags of cement around the last few months in preparation? I’m not the first one you’d see doing manual labor. But the best part about it is that I’m actually excited to get away from my desk, my blackberry and my comfort zone. I’m excited to just BE in a place and see something I had hands in benefit someone else.

The second part: After Portugal, I’m taking another 7 days to travel to Spain and Italy alone. I picked Barcelona, Venice and Rome after getting tons of suggestions. This is the scary part. I hadn’t anticipated traveling alone when I started. I’m a social animal. I love people and energy and most of all, I love support and to share experiences. Traveling solo seemed like an intimidating and lonely idea. I wanted company. But it seems the Universe had other ideas. But now, as I’m about to embark on this crazy journey, traveling solo seems….perfect. Liberating. Even enticing. Answering to no one. It feels….fantastic. I’m sure there will still be moments when I get lonely and I want to share my experiences with those closest to me. But that’s why this blog is so handy.

The next part of the process is where it gets tricky and where my blog title came from. This trip is a real departure for me. I like creature comforts. I like my routines and picking out my outfits based on my mood. I over-pack for a trip to Target. I like to take my time to get ready and get attached to my favorite things. But that mentality doesn’t mesh well with a 17 day trek across Europe. Granted, I’m not going on a safari through desolate wilderness. I’ll be in lovely, popular cities. But still….caravans full of HFH volunteers, foreign airports, hostels, trains and lots and lots and lots of walking doesn’t work well when carting around 3 suitcases, even with the traveling wheels. So I’m backpacking it- trading comfort for convenience. I’m leaving the hair dryer at home.

Part of this “life mission” is seeing if I can do something new and completely out of my comfort zone. Traveling without a hair dryer is definitely out of my comfort zone. Don’t laugh. If you had grown up with crazy curly hair with a mind of its own, you would be uncomfortable too. Someone in my family made a joke if I was aware that on Habitat trips, you don’t always get to shower every day and there’s no time for make-up. You know what? Thank God. When I heard that jab, after my initial offense, I was just happy that I not only knew that this trip meant changing and letting go of my habits, but that I also didn’t care. I welcome it.

I’ll be updating this blog periodically. I haven't planned out what I'm blogging about so they could just be random musings from a displaced LA girl. (Watch out, typos and misspellings and awful grammar abound!) Or they could be pics of pigeons. Who knows? I’m using this time to detach from my routine here and hit the reset button. Remember what I love doing and discover new things I hadn’t considered liking. Pushing myself to write because that “I’ll do it someday” clause is up. Seeing what exists outside the LA bubble.

I’m really friggin excited.

LA, I love you but I’m ready to get the hell out for a while. See you soon.