Planning days are here again

(Written 2/26)
The guidebooks are on my kitchen table, the borrowed dvds sit in my living room. The moleskin notebook with the pretty watercolor by a Portuguese artist still sits empty. And it's only now I am glad I kept my camera's instruction manual. For years I have simply, and naively, been pointing and clicking.
How did I choose these two vastly different places, miles and miles separating them? I don't have a specific answer, I really don't. I suppose I was just drawn there during those stressful days of staring at Google maps. The Nordic countries have always been on my list but the end of March is still a very daunting (read: COLD) time to try to attempt a visit there.
Istanbul's history is almost as old as the written word itself. I already know the shapes, sounds, colors and tastes are going to draw me in.
Lisbon is more of a mystery and that's what I want. A place more traditionally European but coastal and seemingly modern and abuzz with life little publicized.
It's been so long since I have written like this. Today I mentioned this idea to a friend and she seemed so supportive and interested and it was perhaps just the push I needed to get back to it.
How can I, basically undaunted, book a solo European trip but be completely apprehensive about writing again? That's a question I haven't thought long enough to answer. And I'm not sure I want to.
So thanks for visiting; I'm happy to have you along for the ride.