In no phase of life is the worrying and the "fussy" habit more
noticeable than in travel. This is, perhaps, partly because the lack of
self-confidence, which so often unsettles the worrier, is peculiarly
effective when he has relinquished the security of his accustomed
anchorage. This applies surely to the over-solicitous attention paid by
the traveler to the possible dangers of rail and sea. Here is a verse from
Wallace Irwin:

"'Suppose that this here vessel,' says the skipper with a groan,
'Should lose 'er bearin's, run away and bump upon a stone;
Suppose she'd shiver and go down when save ourselves we could'nt.'
The mate replies,
'Oh, blow me eyes!
Suppose agin she shouldn't?'"

A common direction taken by the worrying habit, in the traveler, is that
of taking in advance each step of the journey, preparing for every
contingency, and suffering beforehand every imaginable hardship and
inconvenience. I do not vouch for the story (though I can match it without
going far afield) of the gentleman who abandoned his trip from Paris to
Budapesth because he found he would be delayed in Vienna six hours, "too
long time to wait in the station, and not long enough to go to the hotel."
It is the imperative duty of every traveler to discover interests which
shall tide him over a few hours' delay wherever it may occur.

It is by no means a waste of time to familiarize ourselves with the
geography at least of our own country; to know the situation and appearance