March 21, 2023
A busy day of travel! Today I will perform my most impressive feat, getting to a foreign country with no phone and only having my laptop when I have wifi. I woke up early at the hostel, had the wonderful staff print out my visa for me and started writing all my travel numbers and info as a hard copy in my journal. This way, I can always ask someone if I don’t have wifi how to get through. I said goodbye to my wonderful new friends knowing its likely many I won’t ever cross paths with again. This is one of the most complex parts of travel. Recently, I got a tattoo of the word Saudade. This translates roughly to a longing for places you may never return or people you may never see again. I think it sums up solo travel pretty well. Because even if I return, it will never again be like it was before.
I wandered over to my ferry from Gili where I was informed that because of the celebration in Bali, they did not believe the 3.5 hours I allotted to get to the airport once the ferry got to the island would be enough. This is not ideal for when you’re already phoneless and stressing. They encouraged me to book a later flight to be safe so I did that and had to blow another $120. I hate doing this but better safe than sorry. This ferry was a lot rougher on the way back with big waves and lots of rocking. The AC also decided to bust so we slowly roasted our way to Bali. Once I arrived, a driver rushed me to the airport. He was kind enough to share lots of fresh fruit with me he had gotten during the celebration which was a nice little treat.
He drove fast and I was able to make by original 5:30 flight, which while wonderful, meant i wasted that $120 for nothing. I got on the plane, checked in with my wifi and was hopeful for the next part of the adventure in Vietnam.
When I arrived, I got easily through customs and had a car waiting to pick me up. He struggled to find my hostel and dropped me off about 4 blocks away. Not ideal without a phone. BUT, i safely made it, met up with my childhood friend Ellie, and we joined the hostel crew for a night of bar crawling and dancing. If I can survive this travel day I can do anything. I’m not gonna lie, it was rough, but I did it. And now I am on to the new adventure in Vietnam.
Tomorrow I’ll get a phone and be able to write more promptly and add more pictures. Travel is overcoming adversity, and today showed me that I can handle it all.
