My ordinary pre-chaotic packing rituals have begun. As I’m staring into my room just now, I see a sea (haha pun?) of random clothing, supplies, and necessities for an experience that not many can say with such certainty.

I am going to be shooting a documentary in Africa.

It doesn’t even feel real, to be honest. Yet, that reality is only less than 36 hours away from the truth. I would be going to Africa. I would be seeing the sights that would be on TV and the internet. I would be actually talking to people that I could only dream of talking to. I would be visiting another country in….Epcot!

Okay. You may be wondering, “Why the hell does Epcot, a super fantastical journey of adventure (otherwise known as a theme park) have absolutely anything to do with this trip?” Well, let me tell you. When I was a kid, my mom would always pop a video of Disney’s Epcot into the VCR to get my butt to sit down and behave. It was one of those movies that was certainly shot in the 1990s. Basically, a whole bunch of unaccompanied 9 and 10 year olds running around the park to each different country with a whole bunch of Disney cartoon characters running around with them. Seems dumb, right?

WRONG. I WAS ADDICTED. I would get so excited when the group of overall-dressed and oddly dyed t-shirted band of misfits would go to a different country and talk to the “locals” about there cultures and stuff (at that age I was more obsessed with the different rides in each country. I was most obsessed with the big splash ride In Norway.) Regardless of who had the best rides or coolest buildings, ever since then, my mom would always tell me that I was dedicated on traveling the real world and seeing the real countries, rather than the pseudo Disney counterparts. My mom would would always tell me I was going to travel the world one day.

She was right. I have traveled the world. I have been to 3 continents already (North America, Europe, and Asia), and I will be adding a 4th to that list in the near future. Instead of experiencing the rides that were in each country in Epcot, I have experienced the rides in emotion when experiencing a new location for what its worth. However, I don’t believe I’ve experienced the “Spash Mountain” of rides in the real world just yet.

But I will in a matter of hours.

I wouldn’t lie to you and say that I’m not nervous about this trip, because I certainly am. I am nervous of what my eyes will tell me. I am nervous that I will see or hear something that I know I should, but don’t want to. I have this feeling in my stomach that scares the living daylights out me for some reason.

But I also have this excitement that has inhibited me from sleeping more than 3 hours a night for the past week.

I can’t quite explain to you why I’m nervous yet, because I really don’t know why I am in the first place. But despite the nerves, I couldn’t be happier at the moment. As I am sitting in my bed typing this blog to all you readers out there, I am staring at backpack ( I am literally bringing a 60 liter traveling backpack with me. Honest to the cause, much?) comprised of a few TheNorthFace shirts, a pair of chinos or two, and a bunch of other random items.

Generally, one friend in particular would always give me crap about wearing TheNorthFace apparel around Omaha for something of a daily regime. She would always mock me, saying, “Why, do you go on crazy adventures or something?”

To think of it, yes. Yes, I do go on crazy adventures. And I have a premonition that the craziest one is right around the corner….

Time to get my 3 hours of sleep.

Cheers.