Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos Says It's 'Bittersweet' to Leave Home as She Packs Her Bags for the Show

All packed and ready to go!

On Wednesday, June 12, Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos shared a video on Instagram of her packing process for the show ahead of her June 13 departure.

“Excited, nervous, and overpacked… but, mostly ready to get this golden journey started,” Vassos, 61, captioned the video set to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”  

The reality star’s grandson Maverick appeared in the background of the video crawling on the bed as Vassos sat on the floor going through her three suitcases (one entirely filled with shoes!).

“This is a little bittersweet ‘cause I’m leaving my family for seven weeks and that’s a little scary,” Vassos said in the video. “But you know, in the end, I could maybe have the love of my life and someone to share my great life with.”

Vassos wrote that she was “feeling all the feels” as she packed for the show.

“I’ve never been this vulnerable and grateful at the same time, I’m thankful to have the most supportive friends, family and viewers a golden girl could ask for,” she continued. “I’m not sure what this journey holds, but if it's anything like my suitcase, it’s sure to be FULL of surprises! Here I go…"

In the video, Vassos described packing as “a disaster because I have no idea what to bring because I have no idea what any of the dates are.” As a result, Vassos said she packed a “huge variety” of outfits, including a dress she borrowed from her daughter Allison for an evening date.

“See you in L.A.,” the mom of four concluded. “Stay golden!”

ABC announced Vassos as the first Golden Bachelorette at the Disney Upfronts presentation in N.Y.C. in May. Vassos appeared on Gerry Turner's Golden Bachelor season and took herself out of the running for his heart to be when she excited during Week 3 to be with her daughter after she gave birth.

“I think there’s cultures in the world that revere the older people and they think that they have knowledge and they have this experience of life, and I don’t think that’s super true in our society,” Vassos told CNN. “So, I think [The Golden Bachelor] showed the side of, we’re not old. We don’t have canes. Some people on the show had hearing aids, but nobody could even see they had them. Growing old now is very different.”

Even though it didn’t work out for Vassos the first time around on the show, the school administrator believes she can find love on The Golden Bachelorette.

“I believe in the process,” she said. “If it ends up in engagement, that’s great. If it ends up in, you and I are going to get to know each other better in the outside world, that’s perfect also. I probably won’t rush into a marriage right away – and not only because of what happened with Gerry and Theresa. I think it takes some time to really get to know somebody. Out in the wild, in the real world, you need to spend some time there.”

Turner, 72, ended his season engaged to Theresa Nist. They got married on live TV five weeks after the Golden Bachelor finale aired, but the couple announced their divorce three months later due to the fact that they couldn’t agree on where to live since Turner resides in Indiana and Nist, 70, hails from New Jersey.

Vassos told CNN she did not Turner and Nist’s divorce coming — and said she wouldn’t relocate to be with a man.

“I applaud them for doing that and I also applaud them when they discovered it wasn’t perfect,” Vassos said. “That they called it quits and it’s not the end of the world, and we have to let them live their journey and follow their hearts and it wasn’t right for them.”