It's been a while...

Meg and I haven't blogged in a while, the reason being that we are both busy being scholars, and also because there isn't much news to report. We still haven't booked our plane or interrail tickets, and a good half of the hostels we plan to stay in haven't been booked yet either, but none of those things are especially urgent.

It's about 6 weeks until the trip and that sounds so soon it's almost scary. One thing everyone keeps saying to me is that by the end of our travels (or probably sooner than that) Meg and I will be completely sick of each other and possible tearing each others hair out. We've never travelled together before, we both have a tendency to become irrational when intoxicated, and we both get grumpy when we're tired (well, I know I do). This is a surefire recipe for tension and I have no idea how we will cope with it. Hopefully we will be so excited and happy to be travelling around Europe that we won't have time to think about how annoying the other is. Ideally we won't be annoyed by each other at all, but that is very idealistic.

One thing that will help is to come up with some ground rules, I think. Here are some ideas I have come up with which could help prevent trauma and catfights instead of harmonious, platonic friendlove:

1. Stay together no matter what. Of course I don't mean we have to go to the toilet together, or be in plain sight of each other at all times. What I am worried about is that going out for some refined drinks in a bar may lead to Meg wanting to ditch me in favour of a dashing European beau. Scurrying back to the hostel alone in the dark is not an appealing thought, and neither is lying awake in the uncomfortable bunkbed worrying about the health and safety of my compadre. No matter how cute a boy is, I would like to make it a rule that if we go together, we leave together.
   
   
2. On a related note, it is important that one person isn't sat around miserably being hounded by sleazy European greaseballs while the other is enjoying being the life of the party. Of course empathy comes into play, and many situations can be endured for the sake of the others happiness. However, there needs to be a code for cases where one of us feels ill, or depressed, or angry, or exhausted, or whatever, and strongly wants to leave. In such instances, the unhappy camper should notify the happy camper that they want to leave, and then they should leave within a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I always hated when I was a kid and wanted to leave, and my mum would appease me by saying "5 more minutes", but of course it was 3 hours before we actually did. 10 minutes to wrap things up is fine; half an hour more conversation (no matter how fascinating) isn't.
   

That's all for now, but hopefully Meg will agree with these guidelines and come up with some of her own. I remain optimistic that we will return from this trip as closer friends than ever rather than hating each others guts. Wish us luck!

Mojo