With just over one weeks to go, I’m getting into planning mode. Downloading my guide books onto my iPad, learning (and then quickly forgetting) a few phrases in the local language, wondering if I have the right shoes, outfits, suitcase and currency for my next destination. Soon I’ll be on my way to Armenia – the first ‘new’ country I’ve been to in over a year. Its about damn time!

This is the part of the planning process that I like most.  The fun of “theoretical” planning. While on dull conference calls I allow my mind to wander, thinking about what to pack and what my travel itinerary will be.  I’ll cruise the aisles of Target looking at travel sized toiletries and small trinkets to take along in my bag.  I think about what I’ll see, do, eat, experience and feel once I set foot in Yerevan.  I’m way better at the theoretical planning than I am at the physical act of planning which mostly centers around packing (the activity that I traditionally avoid until the very last minute).

Los Angeles – Moscow – Yerevan

There’s a special sort of giddiness I get when visiting a new country.  The chance to see and experience something brand new doesn’t happen so often when you’ve become a “responsible adult” with a job and rent and bills to pay. But I try to keep those experiences coming as often as possible.

I feel almost child-like when I get to visit a new country.   Like I’m not 100% sure what the “rules” are or how I should behave exactly and what is customary vs. what is taboo. It may sound funny, but when I’m in a totally new culture, I feel like much of what I do has an invisible question mark behind it. Did I just greet that person politely enough? Was I allowed to take a photograph of that sacred shrine?  Is white a color of renewal or of death in this country? Sure I can read all the guide books on a particular place, but I always believe there’s a bit of mystery that you can’t erase until you visit a place in person.

Doing a little prep work with my new ebook Travel Guide

Strangely, I’m even excited about the prospect of my lay over in Moscow.  Not that I’ll have time to do much more than rush to my next gate, but at least I’ll be able to look out of the airport window and see Russia (hmm…do I sound a bit too much like Sarah Palin?).

So here I come, Armenia.  I know very little about you, but so excited to meet you.  If you’re reading this and have any tips to share about Armenia, please leave me a comment below or on the blog’s Facebook page.  Anything from your favorite coffee shop to the best place to watch the stars come out at night.  I always treasure travel suggestions that come from fellow travelers.

Just over a week to go and I can’t wait.