James O'Brien

Organising travel is both exhilarating and exhausting, I’ve concluded this weekend.

I’m now at the “pointy end” of organising my forthcoming, reasonably lengthy holiday. And while some people like to organise their holidays to within an inch of their lives, I’m a little more relaxed about things. That said, I do like to know I’ll have a roof over my head, and I have prepared a spreadsheet which covers the key issues of accommodation and transportation. This time around, my friend Sue is also coming along for part of the trip, and so I have an added – welcomed – sense of responsibility to make sure we have plans in place.

There are a couple of very exciting things I’ll be doing on this trip. I’ve booked some side-trips to Turkey and Iceland.

In the case of Turkey, it’s a place about which I’ve heard a number of people say “oh you must go there”. I’m co-inciding this trip with the Anzac Day commemorations, and am in the midst of finalising some plans in that regard.

In the case of Iceland, it’s a place which has fascinated me for a number of years. Every couple of years as I’ve planned a trip, I’ve tried to find a way to visit. Unfortunately, it’s always seemed a little expensive, and a little too far. Since both the GFC and the volcanic explosion a couple of years ago, the economy of Iceland has changed to the extent I can now afford to visit. I’ve found a nice little place to stay in the centre of Reykjavik, and have booked myself on a two-day “adventure holiday”.

In the midst of all this, for the very first time, I’m using airbnb to organise my/our accommodation. That’s involved a fair bit of searching, some to-ing and fro-ing, and behind-the-scenes, a bit of apprehension about staying in apartments owned by individuals, rather in a hotel or a hostel.

BUT it’s coming together, and I’m beginning to feel quite bloody excited.