Making a wish list vacation happen: New England

In my bucket list countdown I knew I would eventually include New England, the six or seven most northeastern states of the United States. Beyond the simple bucket list items my desire to visit the area increased as I delved further and further into my genealogy research, finding the names of the towns my ancestors settled in when they immigrated to the US. And then, as this blog may suggest, I wanted to go there to take pictures. I had seen countless pictures of the array of fall colors and small towns in addition to Hallmark movies that captured the character of the towns and the people in them. All of those inspired the trip that I would hopefully soon be taking to capture on my own. 

However the timeline and planning for the trip took longer than expected. With timing from work, other trips and family commitments it took me several years to finally block the schedule and book the flight and hotels. 

With an estimated time frame for the trip now set, I tried to figure out the details. Where was I going to stay? Where was I going to go? What am I going to do once I get there? I started looking at maps and reading countless blog posts to gain inspiration. There are so many blog posts that will tell you the top places to go, where to find the “hidden gems” that everyone actually knows about and how to see and do it all in any variation of time of a long weekend to over two weeks.

I noted as many of the ideas as I could in a spreadsheet, broken down by state. Many of them overlapped some areas of the lists and grew slowly, other columns would fill within one or two readings as they differed based on each blogger's experience. 

As my list grew, so did my anxiety. How was I going to fit in all these must see/ must do things and eat at all of the recommended restaurants in the short amount of time I had? Should I try to request more time off from work? Maybe I shouldn’t go on the trip if I can’t make it the perfect trip that includes everything. It all just piled up. But one day I set aside the list, pinned the major places I wanted to go on a map (Burlington, Bar Harbor, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Dorset) and figured out a route. 

The great thing about visiting New England is it is very small and close together by comparison to some of the western states that there would be less 20 hours of driving among those locations. My trip to the national parks of Colorado has similar driving time and that was only one state! 

So while I still have my list of many things about New England, I am winging it. I booked my hotels in Burlington, Bar Harbor, Worcester and Dorset because it is a busy travel season and the hotels were already expensive and filling up quickly. For those reasons I had to do a little more planning that my great Freedom Road Trip a few years ago rather than just totally going with the flow and booking the next hotel when I arrived at one location. 

As the day of departure approached I started to think about packing, but not creating my usual lists. For how much I was looking forward to this trip you never would have guessed it based on my state of packing even just a few days before. The evening before is when I finally checked the weather for good and packed the clothes to go with it. Though I temperatures from upper 50F to low 70F is an odd temperature to plan for. In some parts of the world that is shorts and t-shirts and in others it is parkas and full cold weather gear. The fact that I was flying added another layer of complication to the equation. Everything I would need for two weeks in six states would have to fit in one or two suitcases (carry on plus maybe one checked bag) and a backpack. 

My packing method included going through every dresser drawer and closet and pulling out items to throw in my suitcase. I was not paying attention to outfits or too much or too little of one color. Unfortunately, as it stood, all of the items I pulled were not going to fit, not to mention my camera gear, laptop, a book and toiletries I still needed to pack. So I laid out all of my clothes on the floor by type and sorted through them. Some clothing types were cut in half, others only by one or two items. And with that and a bit more shuffling I was packed in two suitcases and a backpack before midnight for my early morning flight. I am still not entirely sure what I am going to do when I get there, but I will figure it out. 

See you soon!