>> Four countries, four major cities and 16 days; close friends and many adventures—one amazing vacation.
Tonight, on the eve of my 16-day trip throughout Europe, it still hasn’t hit me that I’m about to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m excited and nervous, and looking forward to getting this party started, to quote Pink.
Tomorrow I’m heading to Europe to visit four countries: Switzerland, France, England and Scotland; and explore four major cities: Geneva, London, Edinburgh and Paris. I’ll be staying with some friends in the Geneva area and meeting up with another friend in London, before wrapping up the trip on my own in Edinburgh and Paris.
The weeks, and months, leading up to tonight have been a whirlwind of activity. From the half marathon training and changes at work to getting ready for my 30th birthday and an Indian wedding to pattern debating, I have been one busy girl. I’ve been so busy, and time has flown so quickly, I haven’t had much time to over plan my trip or over think the eight-hour overnight flight or having to switch airports in Paris. I look at this as a blessing.
I also haven’t fully investigated all that I want to do, so I am leaving a lot open to last-minute decision making. This is very unusual for me—I’m the one that makes all the plans. My Google Calendar is my bible. I’m a managing editor by trade, so I’m constantly organizing for myself, for the publication and other staff members. I make a lot of lists. I have to do lists for my to do lists. Leaving details of my trip to chance is an anomaly in my overplanned life.
And I have to say, I’m thrilled. I’m ecstatic to let go—of the plans and worries and organizing, even for just a little while.
The plans I had to make, such as accommodations and flights, have been hammered out for months. I have a sketched out idea of what I want to do on each leg of my trip, and I have a general idea of a timeline. I even identified yarn stores to hit up in each town. But while some of my itinerary has been solidly nailed down, there’s still a lot up in the air. What a thrill!
Maybe I’ll see the Louvre on a Thursday and watch the changing of the guard on a Sunday. Coffee along the Seine before taking a stroll through the Latin Quarter or spending a day in Swiss museums. My trip is what I make of it.
As John Denver would say, All my bags are packed I’m ready to go …
Well, my bags are packed. And I’m ready to go. I don’t think I’ve ever been as ready.
Admittedly, I’m a nervous traveler. I get worked up about the possibility of missing my flight or forgetting something. Well, I’ve never missed a flight (knock on wood) and forgetting something is generally fixable.
So this trip feels different. I feel different. I’m looking forward to traveling with this new me, and see where our trip takes us.
And of course there will be friends. Close, good friends that I’ve missed. I look forward to seeing them and living in their European lives for a little while.
There’s also the part of the trip where I’m venturing out on my own. Absolutely alone. For a moment this terrified me, but just a moment. I don’t know if it’s my nearly 30 years of age, or the fact that I’m in a different place now, but heading off for a week traveling by myself sounds amazing. I look forward to some exploration and quality alone time. And since I’ll be disconnected from my computer (eek!) and 24/7 smartphone/internet connectivity (double eek!), I will definitely be alone. My internet activity will be limited to free wifi connections and my very small smartphone screen and keyboard combo (triple eek and where’s the sedative!).
It’s definitely going to be an adventure.
I hope to blog from the road. And of course Tweet, if nothing else, there will be pictures.
Stay tuned.
Be inspired.
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Kate has been a fantastic resource for all things digital, whether redesigning my website on Wordpress, fine tuning my social media profiles, or understanding Google Analytics. She's an excellent communicator, and I will absolutely hire her again in the future.
Kate is a wealth of knowledge who served as a tremendous mentor for all of our team members while constantly improving processes and workflows. She’s a tremendous project manager, pays great attention to detail, and is able to demand results from her team with respect. At LoganSquarist she has built and led a team of dozens of volunteer contributors committed to her vision of a community resource. I would happily work with Kate again anytime!
One of the best things I've ever done in my career is work with Kate Hamilton. Her enthusiasm for all things editorial, not to mention her energy and passion for any project she's involved with, is contagious. In addition to being a natural born leader, she's also a creative type, a thinker, a stickler for details, and someone with incredible vision and the drive to get things done. I always marvel at how she is constantly teaching herself new things. She always seems to be ahead of the curve on anything related to social media, and she also has an eye for design. This lady rocks! And she continues to be a mentor to me and others in journalism and communications.
I met Kate through the Association of Women Journalists (AWJ) and immediately was impressed (and inspired) by her creativity, drive, work ethic and use of social media. Her passion for journalism, digital media and communications overall is evident in the projects she takes on, including LoganSquarist, an online news outlet that she founded that uses social media to socialize the neighborhood. What I admire about Kate is her vitality as well as her desire to keep learning and growing personally and professionally. Kate is a modern-day renaissance woman who is multitalented (ask about her travel, knitting and marathon exploits!) and who brings instant value to any team or organization.
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Kate has an incredible amount of drive when it comes to LoganSquarist. In the six months that I’ve been involved, I’ve watched the site grow from a pet project to a respected community publication. This success can be attributed to Kate’s technical and leadership skills. From building out the site to off-hours community management and a consistent flow of content, the site improves by leaps and bounds on a weekly basis. When it comes to team management, Kate delegates tasks in an organized and efficient manner, making her an all around great and inspiring person to work with.