Packing and Excitement.

"Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone – we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; more when we attempt to describe a particular scene, we will begin by quarreling about about its relative situation. Let our effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of travellers". These are the words that Elizabeth Bennett says to her Aunt when they are discussing their holidaying in Derbyshire in my favourite of Jane Austen's novels Pride & Prejudice; as I feel that this is likely to be my Bon-Voyage post before my holiday that it seemed quite apt, especially as I will be connecting flights and taking trains, tubes and taxis in order to accomplish it.

Well, as of 3:00 P.M. PST this afternoon my holiday officially began. As one might imagine I am in a state of bliss; despite the fact that my plane does not leave for another 46 hrs and 20 minutes. While I am excited I also have a tiny bit of trepidation, not of the trip itself but rather how I can get 12 days of clothes, sundries camera, batteries, 2 mobile phones and my mP3 player into a carryon suitcase and a rather large purse. I know I will enjoy myself, after all that is the purpose of a holiday, I will try to be good and not spend too much on trinkets nor, when in Ireland, drink too much [I only get one free pint of Guinness on the tour] and not to take more pictures than is in the Louvre’s collection. In my final preparations for my trip I have discovered, not to any surprise, that I am not the first to do the Janeite trip having found blogs of others, and books where others have taken the same steps before me, the earliest that I have found being Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends by Constance Hill with illustrations by Ellen G. Hill. For each Janeite the experience of the journey is as unique as our interpretations of Jane Austen’s works. The chance I have of being able to attend service at the same church that Jane was christened in is an experience that I am particularly excited about. I have still a few more things to do when I return for my Everything Austen challenge which will await me when I return, though I may throw an Austen book in my bag to read onboard but as to my watching Colin Firth as Darcy I am resigned to the fact that, lest I be able to watch it on a BBC Pride & Prejudice marathon on BBC1 or BBC 3, I will have to wait until my return for that pleasure. I will endeavour to savour every moment, remembering to look at the world outside of my camera lens at least 3 times as much as I look into it. The clock on the side will flash 0:00 on the day my sojourn commences whilst my plane will not leave the tarmac for several hours after that. I am intending to finish Emma tonight though in my excited mindset and with packing still to do I may not be at liberty to provide my opinion on it until I have returned.