Subtle Glow

I am not well travelled, and it is one of the things that I would like to change in the next few years. I could list more than twenty desired destinations - none of which I have ever been to see.

Mostly, I just want to check them out. I want to know more about other cities and cultures other than the faux-glam, materialistic, consumer society I currently know and love.

For starters, a friend and I have been talking about planning a trip to Italy. Actually, she is planning for the trip, I’m still just talking about planning for it. There is a part of me that doesn’t really believe I’ll actually be able to take the trip. The main reason: Money. I’m not good at saving, and I doubt I’ll be able to save enough to cover even the basics of the trip, let alone food/incidentals/entertainment once we’re there.

After talking with her the other night, I think I have more than just the one reason to be worried. Her and I seem to have VERY different ideas about what this trip will be. For her, she wants to stay “among the people” - meaning hostels and renting an extra bedroom from someone and the like. Shared beds, no private bathroom, etc.

I, on the other hand, want to make the most of the trip. And for me that means knowing I have a comfortable, PRIVATE place to relax and unwind after a day of walking, touring, and sightseeing. At the very least… I’d like a room with its own bathroom. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
She wants to go for her 40th birthday, so she is very much pushing me to do things “her” way - a common habit she has that I tend to passively resist most of the time. It’s stupid, but she’s more of a control freak than I am (though I do give her credit: she’s doing a great job trying to change this), and for the most part this method works for us in our friendship.

Maybe it’s because lately I feel like she pushes back on every decision I make, concerning MY life, and tries to convince me to do it another way. You know what? I don’t care if I’m not making the “perfectly right no way it could go wrong” decision. I just want to live my life the way I see fit. Basically my point - and what it all comes down to - is that I told her she may want to find another friend to accompany her on the trip. If I make it to Italy when she does - I think it would be great to meet up and all that. But honestly, I don’t think we’re going to be in agreement on this one. I want to do it the way I imagine it - and if I can’t afford it that way (one of her arguments why we should stay in random people’s houses along the way) then I don’t want to go.