NEW BLOG - MY LIFE IN TWO BAGS
NEW BLOG - MY LIFE IN TWO BAGS
Never Overstay Your Welcome
I quickly discovered that “no visa necessary” is a bit of a misnomer. In truth, you purchase your 30-day visa on arrival from Immigration for 35 USD. I admitted to the official processing my visa that my travel would have me in country for 32 days. He rolled his eyes at me before stamping my visa approval and passport.
Green Bag Takes a Powder
Where I faced down an incredibly unhappy gate agent. You see, I opted to use the self-service kiosk for my boarding pass, which means I unwittingly circumvented the ticketing agents checking my proof of vaccination and verifying my ticket out of Colombia. Which means now, annoyed gate agent needs to check these things. I showed her my proof of vaccination, but I hadn’t booked my ticket out of Colombia yet.
Grief and Running
Because I do not sit still long enough to grieve. And I am not talking about the loss of my dog almost a year ago. I mean, I am, but she was only one loss in this myriad shitshow of grief in my head right now. I am talking about my divorce eleven years ago. I am talking about all of the mental and emotional drain my fifteen-year marriage cost me. I am talking about the loss of my children’s love and affection because I have never been willing to reveal what a disaster shitshow that marriage was and how much it broke my spirit, so instead I accepted the “bad guy” role for leaving it.
Tranquila
I want to integrate this into every wrinkle and facet of my existence. It may seem subtle to most, but to me, this response is everything. Not dismissively “don’t worry about it” or “forget about it.” Not forgiveness where forgiveness isn’t necessary.
Tranquila. Be peaceful. Be at ease. You are well. All is well. Tranquila.
Dog In Bali
Love is not taught to animals by people. Hate is. I have now watched feral animals in many countries. Not all. I can’t pretend to have a perfectly worldview grasp on this. But I know in Greece and France and Croatia and Italy, many feral cats roam the streets. And when they see a person, they do not hiss and spit; they come up and beg not for food, but to be touched.
The Bus From Nowhere to Nice
Oh, that bus doesn’t come here. You are looking for BlaBlaBus (yes, the actual name of the transport company). They pick up waaaaaay over here on the outskirts of town.
Taking Time to Calm the Panic
I’m still in cocoon stage with this one. Big parts of me want to crack the cocoon wide open and go back to being a happy, fat caterpillar. Bigger parts of me can’t wait to see how I’ll emerge this time.
Turning Travel Backpacking into an Extreme Sport
Green pack needs a name for when I plant it in the chair across from mine in cafes. At least if it has a name, I won’t feel quite as silly when I order drinks for it. And, no, hiking through the high-noon heat carrying packs that equal just shy of half my own current body weight cannot possibly be the reason for my current slap-happy bag-naming state.
Language Barriers
I was feeling incredibly lonely and disconnected at the time, and I had been recognizing a sad and terrible trend in the minutia of life; that we all move through life with zombie-like repetition and complacency.