D-Day

D for Departure Day. The big day I've been waiting and preparing for.
It's exciting. It almost feels surreal - I've been thinking about this, talking about this for so long it almost became a myth but now it is indeed happening. It hit home last night that I'll actually be leaving. Funny thing is that I'm leaving now that I'd almost got used to being t\at home. "Don't get stuck", a friend told me once. "Don't stay anywhere for too long." Here's to you, Hikaru!
Now, of course, sitting on the train to Rostock I have my doubts. Have I made the right decision? Will I regret doing this? Probably natural to think like this. What drives me on are the bunch of booked tickets and the thought that I'll regret it more if I don't do it now. As my Taekwon-Do teacher said to me: "Do it now while you're still young. Give yourp plans - whatever they are - 100%. If it still doesn't work out there's nothing to regret." On the whole, I've never received so many good wishes. And encouragement. And good advice. Thanks for all that! I really appreciate it.
I also go with a certain melancholy and a hint of sadness. I have to leave a lot behind. That's the price of travelling I suppose. You gain a lot of excitement and new experience but you always have to lose something else, leave something behind instead. Give and take. Can't have everything.
So, I bid a fond farewell to family, friends and home and I look forward to embracing the world.
A few quotes that come to mind:

• "It's a dangerous world, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road and if you don't keep your feet there's no knowing where it will lead you." - Bilbo Baggings in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings


• "The Road goes ever on and on
  Down from the door where it began.
  Now far ahead the Road has gone,
  And I must follow, if I can,
  Pursuing it with eager feet,
  Until it joins some larger way
  Where many paths and errands meet.
  And whither then? I cannot say.
  " - Hobbit walking song, JRR Tolkien

Tolkien wrote a lot about travelling in his own way. His characters were globe trotters of a special sort. But the one that really hits the nerve for me is not he. It's actually Captain Jack Sparrow, the popular character from Pirates of the Caribbean. I'd like to make that the motto of this trip.

"Give me that horizon."