  Paris For trip planning purposes I am planning one 2-3 day city a week for three weeks. Let me clarify: I am going to three cities in my first week overseas- London, Paris and Barcelona.
Last week I planned London. This week I am planning Paris. Next week, Barcelona. I am doing one a week so that I can really investigate each city, but also because I could go crazy trying to figure out three at at time And I started with London because I wasn't excited about it at all. I figured that I would learn about London and grow excited about it. And that happened! What also happened, which is the subject of this blog, is that I became extremely blocked about Paris. As I became more excited about London, I became more blocked about Paris. Now, part of this has to do with my experience in Paris last year.
When I was there last year I spent all of my time wandering around from cafe to cafe ordering coffee and trying to get the waiter to speak to me in French. I was on a crusade to convince people of the totally untrue fact that I could speak French. Now, I can't have unlimited coffee, I can't spend unlimited amounts of money on said coffee and yet, when I think about Paris all I want to do is be there.
As soon I get to thinking about "OK, what am I going to do? Let's research, let's plan! " I go all dreamy and imagine myself walking down narrow, twisty streets admiring flowers and staring blankly as the Seine roars by. I am getting a little dreamy right now! Paris Springtime, wandering the Champs Elyses wearing a sundress..... OK. So- you see how I am not getting anything done!
The other part of the blockage is the edge of panic ("Oh my God what am I doing? ") which increases in equal intervals with my excitement and singlemindedness (You will have noticed that I write about little else). It was fine to think about London, that was just 2 days, they speak English, I am familiar with the city, etc. However! The train to Paris takes me away from the place I started, puts me in a country where I speak 2 phrases (Parlez Lentement, sil vous plait [speak slowly, please- a totally useless phrase because they could say one syllable per minute and I still wouldn't speak enough French to understand them], and Parlez vous l'anglais? [Do you speak English- which earns me a great number of haughty looks and, finally, some comprehension]) and drops right into the country with which the US has the most cultural animosity.
Essentially, going to Paris will whip me out of my comfort zone and place me squarely into where I want to be- hyper-learning mode. (What am I doing!? How exciting!- I am staring to feel schizophrenic) So, imagine how every single time I think of Paris, I become dreamy (Sundresses, springtime), panicked (What the hell am I doing? ) and excited (I can't wait! ) you can see how my brain is saying no to all this. Thus, resulting in a big ol' Paris block. However, I seek to destroy the block by sheer force of will. I have been forcing myself to read the Paris section of my travel books with the air of a disinterested traveler, and I am going to go to the travel book store and have a couple hour session of reading up on Paris in particular. But now, I really need to get back to my daydreaming.... What? I'm at work? 
