Cedric in the South

I can't believe I'm really sitting here. I checked my bag a few hours ago. I said my goodbyes. My cell phone left with my brother when he dropped me off. I used up all of my quarters calling my girlfriend one last time. I'm on the brink of adventure and there's no turning back.

It was about five years ago that I first started throwing around the idea of a backpacking trip after college. Back then it was just a wild dream. Whenever someone asked that cliché question: "if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" — I always answered with a hesitant "I don't know." There were so many possibilities! How could I decide which one to pick? I've spent nearly my whole life in the Northeastern United States, so the world just seems so big. But the more I thought about travelling, the more excited I became.

That's what brought me here: JFK International Airport, New York, waiting anxiously to board my nonstop flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I bought my plane ticket two weeks ago. That's when this trip started to feel real, and that's when I realized that I was entirely unprepared. In a frantic rush, I started prepping. For gear, I found an extremely helpful Virtual Wayfarer packing list on Youtube. I used Memrise to brush up on Spanish. I made my first hostel reservation using bootsnall.com. I signed up for the Travel.State.Gov STEP program in case of emergencies. I used these instructions to pay the $160 entry fee into Argentina.

Now I am sitting in an airport, feeling like no amount of planning could have prepared me for this moment.