Estimated Departure Time: 29 hours

About nine years and three months ago, my mother and I took a blurry picture in front of an Amsterdam canal; and in not so many days, we'll be taking a blurry picture somewhere in France. I still have to checkout from school, so that I can be free to truly hop on a plane and take another crazy trip with my mother.

The first time around I was having a quarter-life crisis. I had just quit my job, moved myself out of a cute little house into my old bedroom at my mom's, and was having serious doubts about the current relationship I was in. Plus, two weeks before our plane lifted off, our nation's naivete was crushed along with the Twin Towers. It felt like the perfect time to travel around Europe with my mother for six weeks. Traveling in a foreign country with another individual where you both don't speak the language means that you are basically with that person nonstop and only have that person to converse with, to understand you. While you are out exploring, it can also feel a little isolating and smothering at times. Miraculously, we only fought once. It started on several roundabouts in Arles and stretched into the street of Nimes. I think the cause was navigation--either too much or lack thereof.  I can't quite remember. Besides that tiny incident, I had a memorable, life-changing time. I returned home with a new sense of purpose: went back to school to teach, bought a house, and dumped the boyfriend.

This time around I wouldn't say I was in any type of crisis except for the yet-unfixed leaking faucet in my backyard. I love teaching, I live in a house that I own (although it feels like it owns me too often), and I am joyfully, blissfully affianced. It's been a tough road getting here, so I feel that I can accept and love the peace that I am in (I type this as I look around for the universe ready to strike a blow). I don't know that I will experience any self-discoveries or epiphanies while traveling with my mother this time around, but I do know that I will fully enjoy the experience and discovery of a new territory and a chance to reinvent the mother-daughter trip. Hopefully, this time without any navigational tiffs.

Thank you mom for this experience. I truly appreciate it, and I can't wait to sit down on the plane, buckle my seat belt, and adjust my tray to the upright position.

Scratch that. I hate flying. I can't wait to land on the other side of the Atlantic and taste that first cup of real coffee.

Welcome to the journey...