Personally, I don't have any fears regarding Steemfest itself. Last year, there was a moment of about 4 minutes where I felt a little out of place. This was right after registration. Then, I bumped into @quinneaker. My 'Hello' and his look of: 'I don't have a clue who you are', quickly turned into a: 'Hey! I know who you are, we spoke before...' from him, and a warm hug, changed all that in a mere second. Hey, being recognized by Quinn, and get a hug? Not too bad for someone who only just joined Steemit four months before.
Then another 3 seconds of awkwardness in the hotel lobby, when I bumped into one of his friends Luca, whose friendly personality pretty much did the rest...

So this time around I am not too worried about those 3 to 4 minutes of awkwardness, because this year, I actually know people. I am not worried of getting bored at any of the talks, because there are so many of them, I doubt if I will even have the time to go to all those I want to listen to.
And if for any strange reason I do get bored, I could always start a betting wager for those who so desperately want to touch @ned's hair.
How many people can touch his hair before he has enough?
Who can touch his hair first, second, etc.?

Or maybe I can take bets for the total days of @anomadsoul's 'no shower days'.
Either way: I'm sure I can think of something.

But there are always fears...

Yes, of course there are some fears. If you wouldn't know me, you'd think I can be quite organized. And to a certain point, I am. I like to plan ahead. Every trip I make, I promise myself that I will do things ahead of time. Like pack.
Sort the last things that need sorting before a trip. Print travel documents etc. etc.
But somehow every time, I always need to do something at the last moment, or something else comes up. And before I know it, I am stressing to get everything done till the deep of the night, get barely any sleep, if any at all, and then I also have to drive a long way, travel by plane with children who did sleep when I didn't and then try to be in a good mood on arrival. I hate it.
Those are the moments that I wish I had the organisation skills of a professional. Or my mother.
Unfortunately, I don't.

Take yesterday for instance. My daughter's boyfriend and I got in the car for the drive to his house.
The car goes: Blub. Try again: 'Blub, blub.' Not good. Now, my daughter is starting her internship tomorrow.
So I sort transport for her. But meanwhile, I am losing my mind, because what if that battery can't just be charged and it turns out I need a new one? That's an extra cost I didn't anticipate. So fingers crossed...Bad news...I needed a new one. ARGH!!! Another 100 euro I won't be able to spend in Krakow! Good thing most of our trip will be catered. I'll just cut down on the kids' allowance. I hope they'll like the walks...😜

Then, also yesterday, one of the kids tells me the awesome news that our toilet is clogged. Again!
Ever since we moved here, this has happened 4 times.
The first 2 times I solved it in the same way I did yesterday. There's no way around it: scoop poop.
It's terrible, it's horrific, and trust me: it's the last thing I anticipate doing just before a trip like the one coming up. Or any time really. But it has to be done, or it will just be shit. So there goes me, geared up with old clothes, rubber boots and gloves... Well, this way only lasts for about a month. So when I return from Steemfest, I have that chore waiting for me. Something to look forward to... 💩🤢🤮 @anouk.nox had the idea to make this into a very descriptive part of the post, but I'll spare you the details. However, if you insist, I can take pictures the next time. I'm LOVING living in rural Ireland, especially these kinda moments....NOT!

This is the story of my life. Even positive thinking doesn't change this. And I am a damn positive person dammit!

So in order to prevent anything else crazy from happening or to let it ruin our plans if it does, I plan some more.
My daughter will not be staying with my friend after all. So I don't have to do the detour.
This made me decide that we will be leaving our home on Monday afternoon, and drive to Belfast during the day.
The road is crazy in the beginning, and I'd rather meet that during day-light. I can still bring my daughter to her internship, bring the dogs to the boarding kennels, come home, vacuum the car, pack up, collect daughter from her work and then it will be a GO!

If we leave here around 4 p.m. it will bring us to Belfast at about 8 p.m. (three hour drive plus one hour pit-stops). We can then get something to eat, make our way to the airport car-park, where hopefully I will get at least a few hours of sleep and then at 4 a.m. we'll be on our way... No, not on the plane yet, I just took 2.5 hours for check-in and passing through customs. Once we've made it through that, and the plane is leaving on time and arriving on time without any craziness: then there will be NO FEAR!

I was a bit worried about the weather and if we'd have appropriate shoes for this. But one look at the weather forecast changed that worry into a big smile. Turns out: it was about 21 degrees in Krakow today, 14 degrees higher than here! Next week it's promised around 17 degrees...absolutely something I can live with.

Only a few more days guys!!! I will see YOU at Steemfest!