There are quite a few emotions that you go through when you decide to do a trip like this. I cannot speak for all the other travellers but this is how we felt. You go from excited to nervous in less than 10 seconds flat depending on what your mind decides to fixate itself on. You are overwhelmed and uncertain most of the time with these brief moments of exhilaration scattered in between that keeps the dream alive. Then you get that one moment when confidence makes its appearance during the planning stages and you hand in your resignation, just to feel fear creeping in. The first thing you want to do is take it back. Just tell everyone that you were kidding and just hope everybody, including yourself, forget about the whole thing sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately we told so many people that we are doing this trip that we kind off had to go through with it. Peer pressure reached a whole new level for us. Determination and stubbornness gets you through the couple of weeks prior to the trip. The more people say you shouldn’t, you cannot the more we thought: Challenge accepted! Somewhere along the line you also get used to justifying your route, your choice of vehicle and everything you plan to do to every Tom, Dick and Harry who has an opinion – and trust me there are a lot of those. You learn to listen to those who actually have something to say and you get quite good at just nodding and smiling at the rest – without telling them exactly what you think of their “opinions”.
It however reaches a whole new level of bullshitting to convince your family that this is a good idea and that everything will be okay. You have to tap into that never before reached confidence-levels to reassure them that you thought this through and everything will be fine. In the end the only one that seemed convinced by your performance is you.
Then it is the day that you get into the car, reverse out of the drive-way and start your epic adventure – all the while thinking: crap, what are we doing?!
Wandering Off Track 