Feeling Good

FYI I wasn't on the verge of anything. I was just thinking of ways to re-route my life. I had been out of work for nearly two months. There was only $46 left of a combined severance and late commission check in my bank account. The kindness of friends and strangers alike kept the lights on and I was beginning to think this was the end. My Etsy account never took off. While I'm pleased that people favorite everything, I can't eat off virtual hearts and Pinterest shares. I had begun to apply for up to fifteen jobs a day. I wasn't using auto-fill and at times I was forced to reformat my resume; it was a chore. The unemployment process was confusing and ultimately denied my denial and asked that I apply again in a month. I had a decent interview cancel on me. I had another offer me a different role that I had already settled for. I interviewed and basically begged for the job and an hour later I was hired. I got a job! However, I got it on two hours of sleep. On tears of desperation. With an i and n missing in the word "maintaining" on my spell-checked, proofread and professionally printed resume. I got it in $15 tax week pants and humidity soaked hair. I also got it halfsies for it is basically temp work under the guise of a career move. So all the while I dreamed of backup plans - of winning the lottery or switching majors to fine arts. I watched videos of installation projects as thesis and I prayed that the government wouldn't shut down when I won. Now I work in an office bustling with people. I use a Windows computer and I actually like 10. I sit in the hallways on my lunch reminiscent of high school and I wonder if they like me. However, all of this is evidence that I and I alone control my own destiny. No one has won the Powerball and the deadline for Maine's intensive is in February. I still have unemployment. I still have North Carolina. I still have an Etsy. I now have a cat. I have several new and free coffee mugs. I pick new hairstyles to wear off YouTube every night. I have friends in low and high and far places. I also have a hundred people to talk to about this or that. And I'm getting paid for it. I even upgraded myself with a SunPass. Things are looking up I guess. I'm feeling good.

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

I will make this brief. I am on the brink. 

Too Little, Too Late

I've been gone for a while and in this time things have gotten heavy in the travel editorial/advice/trend world. There are a zillion new publications in the online blog and travel zine realm. There are also all sorts of new innovations and destinations - Cuba, Ecotourism, Missionary Trips etc. With all these "developments" comes a whole new wave of interest, criticism, thought, planning etc. In my opinion, it's like going to Mars or setting out to find the "brave new world". Someone has to do it, there has to be a pioneer and then everyone follows suit. There will be growth and changes, but for now there is zero perspective in how it all turns out. That is where people like me fall in. We provide some experience - not all, but just enough to encourage those who are on the brink of discovery. While I myself have not stepped on a plane since 2013, I advocate for travel on a daily basis. No matter where I am or who I meet I am asking if they have a passport and what are their plans. I am also delving into all these hot topics hoping to be of use when the things become a thing.

The Case of Traveling with Affluenza

In the past weeks I've found myself in the midst of people who travel but in a different way. These are the people of extreme wealth who have others make the arrangements. They simply have a destination in mind and someone else makes it happen. They strongly believe there are people paid to do this. Why should they ever have to deal with the stress of planning their own vacation? It doesn't stop there. They don't want to check in. They don't want to claim bags. They don't even want to see their accommodations upon arrival. They have it just so that all checks and balances are already in place. All they have to do is "vacay" but I don't know what that has to do with the art of traveling. What title do you claim if you are barely a tourist and you don't even want to stay a while? I guess you are the affluent pseudo traveler, eh?

Imagine telling someone you spent the summer of 2013 abroad. It wasn't for school. It wasn't for work. My grandmother didn't pay for it. I wasn't with a rich boyfriend. No. I quit my job, took the majority of my own hard earned cash and went for no good damn reason. Just think about the luxury of being able to own that despite everything that happened. It all rolls off the tongue because you are proud and full of a memories. You then go into detail of how you were someplace new every 3.5 days and you arranged it all. There was no agent or tour guide. There was no chapter or group. There was only a few planes and a lot of trains. There were no rental cars and you only took a handful of taxis. You feel like you can conquer the world. 

"Well when I went to Rome it was with my travel group and everything was taken care of. We arrived at the airport and took a bus to the city. Then we simply pulled up right in the city center and we were allowed to wonder. We then found a bite to eat and came back to our hotel when we felt like it. Our bags were already in our rooms and everything was arranged going forth!"  - Blind Date/Alpha Male

Well must be friggin nice!? 

I'm sorry I couldn't even begin to challenge the notion that his time was nicer than mines. Logistically, he had an amazing trip! He didn't touch anything - not even his own bags! He didn't sign anything. He barely even walked anywhere. What a way to travel in style! However, after that two hours of freedom you were slave to a tour guide and the fifteen other weirdos in the caravan. You went everywhere they did and if you tried to wonder off you'd be left behind. Not like you could figure it out on your own when that happened because all your shit was left at the hotel you yourself didn't check into. In all honesty, you are brave. You allowed someone and many others to hold your life in their hands all the while in a strange country you've never sat foot in before. 

Is my wonderful story being challenged because I pulled my own 360 carry on? Really?

Just when I thought that would be the last of that. I just assumed he would be the one in a million. I started collecting my bosses trashed "Destinations" magazines which not only advertises but highlights luxury tour trips. There are a zillion of them and they are all over the place. I saw ones from the South of France all the way to the Phillipines. Now if I could go to Asia I'm not sticking with a group of pasty retirees from Florida. I want my own experience of eating whole fish and oyster omlettes. I want to ride a bike. I want to surf. I'm not going to have someone teach me to make a Singapore Sling in an hour long course or visit "shoppes" for one hour. The audacity of taking all my money - all that money and making me stick to times!? No way, Jose!

It made me wonder what is most important to the wealthy and independent. Is it the idea that you can say you've been there or is it the opportunity to immerse yourself? I'm beginning to think it is all about what little I had to do versus all the things I could do. There's so much more to it and that is another or several blog entries. But why would you pay for a cruise experience while being on dry ground? Frankly, there is no one to ask these questions to. They are all too busy tromping my lil hillbilly excursion to Europe and throwing away really pretty travel mags. 

Must be nice….

Wunderlust and All of the Things

I told myself I would never get caught in the rigmarole of life again. Then I come back here and I allow it to happen just at a slow pace. And now. Well now it is as before. Not as heavy but just as thick. I can say taking a break from life as it was and as it is happens a lot. There isn't a day I don't stop to pinch myself. There isn't an hour where I don't look out into nothing. There isn't a weekend where I go inside myself and disappear. I fantasize about a life where this is not fretted upon. I want to go and never look for approval … not even of myself. Wherever my mind and heart takes me I will just go.

Work

I work about 30 hours a week for and with a friend. It is a small slow paced environment full of rolling change. I am accommodated. I am asked if I'd like to come in later or take a day. I drink coffee. I sometimes have a highball of whiskey. I am left to my own devices. Most of it is beyond me and I've settled with that. Not above me. Beyond me. So I do as I am told and I sometimes dabble in wins. However, most days I am keying away at things I may never understand. This is the work I have longed for. I can sometimes get there in two minutes if I catch all the lights. I am home at the hour when no one else is. I never fight traffic. I sometimes catch the bus. I have grossed just over $1000 after taxes working for almost two months. I have never called my mother in the night. When I made $1200 every two weeks I called my mother often. I was always worried about the wrong things. Now I have learned that trash bags are all the same no matter where you get them from. I have Obamacare and I did keep all of the same doctors I have not seen in over two years. If I get a roommate or side hustle I will be rich. I will be the richest girl alive.

Home

I live in 500 square feet. This is not the smallest place I've lived in. However, this is the most shit I've had in the least amount of space. I have learned to build things to organize it best. I have parted with my most daunting decorative burdens. I have a tiny kitchen with mediocre appliances. I have cooked meals of wonder in this kitchen. Kofte. Tuna Casserole. Pho. A few weeks ago I baked 36 cupcakes and 12 muffins in a night. I seldom vacuum. There just isn't much to it to notice a need. I DIY'd a hamper and spray painted it teal in the courtyard. I don't get much mail because I've been off the grid. I burn incense. I have a bowl of limes and blood oranges. I have people over almost every other day. I lived in 1600 square feet for a year and I never had a single person over. I brought a case of wine from the Carolinas and I feel the need to share. The overall theme to this place is to keep all the doors and windows open like Cleopatra and have parties every night. The air blows in. The glasses clink. The conversation flows. 

Love

I've met who I thought was the one. I've been a Shiksa for a night. I took a call with someone who had pet raccoons. I've been offered to travel with a poly couple for a year. Someone told me this is dating. I haven't done it in long time but something feels off. I don't care for it but I do it because I am bored. On this dating site I've been in 1547 search results just tonight and apparently, allegedly 301 people "like" me. The guy down the street that drives the green truck hits on me 2.3 times a week. Maybe something is in the air. The one texted me till my eyes bled. The other invited me over for Chinese and has since messaged me odd tidbits like "today is the Ides of March, stay away from steak knives". At this rate the idea that I may come back, meet the love of my life and be married and with child in a year … well it has been postponed. I give myself until age 38 when Debi Mazar did it. I really don't love anyone but myself right now. And it shows.

Travel

For the past few months I have told myself over and over this blog is dead. I have said just because I am standing still doesn't mean I don't have the potential to go anywhere. I continually meet people who travel for business or work. I continue to talk up the importance of obtaining a passport. The other day I helped a woman on a motorcycle at Walmart put three bags of stuff into a mini backpack. There will soon be ferries to Cuba. JetBlue has $200 flights to Malaga. My boss throws away his monthly issue of Departures and I snag it. My French is getting so good. But so is my Russian, Politics, Catalan, Boolean, Portuguese and Farsi. I am not putting all my eggs in one basket. Ever. Again.

So I am loosely bound to my new identity and I can take it with me. I can also leave it behind in the right hands. I can come and go. In a book. At a gallery. Through a gaze. On his sofa. In the passenger seat. By the lake. Anytime. Whenever I want. Forever.

Forgiveness

It has been about a month since I've posted and I've been itching to say something. However, I thought it was best to meld into life as it was and see if I could juggle this and that and everything in between. I have been doing everything different. Christmas was … intimate. New Years was … casual. I kept the tree up until the second week of January. I started working just a few weeks ago. I take the bus versus drive the car. I invite people over for drinks. I let people see me without makeup. I spend my off days organizing my place and trying new restaurants. It is so different being normal again. I've been dating. I've been doing laundry. I've been baking. All through this, in the back of my mind …

I am still hurt.

Now I don't do resolutions. I come up with a word for the year and let it center me. These past few years my word choices have been too spot on. Last year I just let go of the concept because I feared what would come of it. Like I mentioned this holiday season was strange. It was so informal. It was long. It was too perfect. I simply forgot. But when someone reminded me of this hurt that I've suppressed, they gave me my word for 2015. It is "forgiveness". This is a word I do not believe in. I do not practice. Yet I have dwelled on pain, resentment, regret and mistakes for almost two years now. They phrased it like this - I don't need to forgive her. I need to forgive myself for what I did and for what I am still doing. 

I am doing way too much.

So what exactly does this mean? For me? For the blog?

Well, I see a bright future ahead when I release myself from these feelings. When I let go of this failure and disappointment. When I can move past the violation and the distrust. I strongly believe everything I learned will show itself. I left here a girl and came back a woman. Who can I hold responsible for this transformation? That bitch I made a mistake in traveling with. I forgive myself for making that mistake. I am letting go of the emotions that came with making that mistake. I no longer feel guilty about my choices. I can see the reward. Not only am I better person but she will learn too.  Someday what she learned will show itself as well. If I forgive myself, my vision will be clear, so I can see when that happens. 

forgive |fərˈgiv|verb ( past forgave ; past participle forgiven ) [ with obj. ]stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake: I don't think I'll ever forgive David for the way he treated her.• (usu. be forgiven) stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for (an offense, flaw, or mistake): they are not going to pat my head and say all isforgiven | [ no obj. ] : he was not a man who found it easy to forgive and forget.• cancel (a debt): he proposed that their debts should be forgiven.• used in polite expressions as a request to excuse or regard indulgently one's foibles, ignorance, or impoliteness: you will have to forgive my suspicious mind.PHRASESone could (or may ) be forgiven it would be understandable (if one mistakenly did a particular thing): the arrangements are so complex that you could be forgiven for feeling confused.DERIVATIVESforgiver nounORIGIN Old English forgiefan, of Germanic origin, related to Dutch vergevenand German vergeben, and ultimately to for- and give.

I am spending 2015 learning how to forgive. Happy New Year. Let's move on.

Come Fly With Me (Happy Holidays)

I've had a month of nothing but travel and I am exhausted. I bet you are too doing all that holiday stuff with your families and friends. I'm gonna get some much needed R & R. 

Happy Holidays!!!

Come fly with me in 2015…

To Finally Be

I came "home" last Wednesday. I still cannot believe I am here. A few nights ago I borrowed a can opener. I'm surrounded by boxes of things I no longer fit, like or want. I walked twenty minutes to the grocery store. I took the bus clear across town out of boredom. This has all happened too fast. I have changed. It isn't about the city and the skyline and the lost friends. I personally have changed. I've barely spent any time with myself in this apartment. It was supposed to be a household of two. I may have took this space by myself but I keep inviting others in. 

My potential roommate didn't like it. I figured his complaints were only a few and the place was the only thing I knew of. So I contacted the owner and made my own arrangements sight unseen. I was moving in within the week. I had to do a number of things to rush it. I shipped myself clothes, food. I turned on utilities for a place I'd never stood inside of. I also took the train down at the 11th hour knowing I could lose my deposit if I were late or didn't show. I don't know if it was the nerves or the motion but I threw up three times on the train. I wasn't in an aisle seat so I tormented my seat mate. Even with shipping things I wound up with four bags when I should have had two. I was bogged leaving. I couldn't even sleep for the combination of worry and excitement. I had a hotel room just in case and I barely slept five hours with two beds. 

I am moving slowly. I also have comfort in purging things. I'm no longer sentimental. Frankly, I am no longer attached. I sat a chair out on the curb I've been lugging since I was sixteen. I "accidentally" broke a plate I had deemed ugly but only kept because my mother gave it to me. I have a growing pile of random things I don't even understand how I got in the first place. I can't even go into the amounts of expired food and medicine that was on the verge well before I put them in storage. I also cannot believe how many shoes I have. I recall getting rid of about twenty pairs of shoes and I still feel overwhelmed by whats remaining. I find myself opening something and telling myself "this is nice" when I chose it and have owned it. 

The freedom is the most overwhelming. What do I do with myself? Should I read a book? Should I watch all 3000 HD channels I have? Should I take this new commuter train all the way to Sanford? I'm honestly bored. I'm typically up early, still waking to my mothers pills alarms. Once up I'm not hungry so I find myself analyzing light switches or washing things in the dishwasher because the water is included. I find myself noticing pointedness of spoons. I have a hundred bottles of thickened nail polish. I bought headbands a few days ago just to discover two unused packs of them. I'm scared to check my printer ink head for it may be fused to the insides of my printer. I threw away an entire box of things from my childhood including weird magazine clippings and clothes. 

I've narrowed down the things I cannot live without to one tote in the corner of my closet. I cannot find my trash can. I hate all of these sheets. I had bought Christmas cards in 2012 with "Seasons Greeting" in many languages. So it felt good to sit down and make out these cards to the people I love. I had just enough forever stamps. I messed up my address at least seven times so I'm down quite a few envelopes. I've done laundry twice. I walked to Panera and ogled at all the lines for brunch around here. I've missed a lot. I see now this place isn't so bad. It may even be too much. But it feels good to finally be.

North Carolina

Oh boy. Time to say goodbye. Farewell to chicken and biscuits. No more "hi you"s in the grocery store. Hats off to incoming winter. I can't find my winter scarves anyways. I've been packed since June. Anything acquired or bought just gets packed up too. I have always been prepared to leave, just waiting for my cue. And just like France, as I am leaving, I feel some strange tie. I guess it'll remain because my mother is determined not to leave. At least I'll have a room where things will stay unchanged. There will be evidence of my stay. Maybe when I come back the food and the country greetings welcoming. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all…

#NotAllTravelingFriends...

In talking about travel and Europe and friendship …

It was said why would I go abroad accompanied again to dissolve yet another relationship. It was said jokingly but trust I don't wish for that to happen again. Does lightning strike the same spot twice? I really don't know. I just know that I value my current friendships even those newly formed. I believe that if I hand picked any of them, with blindfolds on and in a third world country - we would make it through. However, I'm not going to justify what happened against what could or may happen. The only thing I can do is redeem the happenings that would make anyone joke that I'm "the bad travel friend". Reality is this post has been written, updated, edited, deleted, started over and over again. I'm really trying to redeem my entire experience. Of course, I'm not doing it through this blog but this one post is supposed to be the code change. Right now, I'm supposed to explain that I did have fun … we had fun! Seriously, not everything was bad! In fact, there really were more good times than bad. There were epic nights, many bloopers, happy disasters and inside jokes. I can also say there were highlights to the trip and unforgettable little things that made everything seem worth it. 

My Flying Nun (Ally, Angel, Savior, Friend)

About a month ago I was gently reminded of how long this journey has been. I was out at breakfast and my phone rang. I had a phone call from someone I hadn't spoken to in a very long time. Now I don't indulge in the idea that once we aren't talking daily I no longer need your contact information. I keep every phone number and business card. I have every physical address book, date book and journal. I am not into the digital business of making space for new and getting out with the old. So boy was I glad to hear from someone who believed in the same. She called me out of the blue and within hours we were talking just like old times. Nothing had changed or did it?

Yeah So Orlando

Going home was a last minute decision. It was all so random and poorly planned. There was just an inkling that if I left at that particular moment I could actually get things accomplished. I know now that maybe a great amount of time and money was wasted on the trip. However, hindsight is 20/20.

And We Are Back ...

I cannot believe I'm actually saying/typing this … I have not opened my computer for more than a second for over two weeks. I've simply forgotten it exists. I had to dust it off to touch base. 

I literally just shaved dust off the top of my laptop. 

So yes I went back to Florida … for absolutely nothing. Yet again, not a single thing was accomplished. The food was good though and quite necessary.

I joined a virtual book club. So constantly reading a book has become the new normal and I feel guilty when I choose another form of stimulation. I normally take on a book and immediately neglect it. So I'll finish in months versus a few weeks. Now I find myself on some imaginary deadline and always manage to miss the online discussions because I am behind. We are on our second book so this time I'm trying harder. 

I got sick … all over. First I began one of those Pinterest exercise regimens which killed me. Then I fell doing something I really shouldn't have been doing taking my right knee out. Three different braces later my support knee threw in the towel. Then just as everything goes back into place I get whammed with a case of "Ear, Nose, Throat". All of these lovelies are not really treatable. 

So yeah I came back and started a two week vacation from myself. Wherein I stayed on pain meds, compresses, book chapters and NyQuil. And of course I am still in the process of clearing my late Grandmothers house which is a full-time, non-paid job - rain or shine, in sickness or in health and whether I like it or not. I REALLY don't like it.

Florida was the calm (albeit pointless) before the storm. 

I'm almost 100 pages in a book I should be done with. The estate sale is this weekend. In between the two I rode in a Veterans Day parade and saw "Interstellar". I guess you can say I am superwoman. However, in order to do it all I had to let go of one thing.

The blog. Many others blogs. The food blogs. Pinterest. My entire online life.

And no my phone doesn't count because I mostly used that for eBay research and the dictionary for reading what is turning out to be a very complicated sci-fi novel. The movie watching helped otherwise I'd be on page forty looking up galaxies and stars. Surely, I attempted to update statuses on social media but I failed miserably at that too. I said my piece on November 4th and 5th. I also did my normal "Ooh Rah" on Vets Day. This is so people wouldn't think I was dead. 

So yeah. I'm alive. I'm back. Just beat up a bit. It'll all be over this weekend. Then everything will be back to normal.

Two Turns : 85 East to 95 South

This last month has been nothing but road trips to places I don't want to be. It is exhausting - more so than any train trek or airport layover. I am tired yet I continue on. We'll be back on the road in a few more days and this one will be a doozy. We are attempting to put each others lives back on track. We have had a breakthrough of sorts with my mom and I've been offered a temporary job. In my eyes, this is the best things have gotten and will ever get with North Carolina. She can move on. I can live. Vice versa. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to going back to life as it was. Let's just say I'm taking a lot of naps and eating regionalized foods. I will no longer have the luxury. Back to rush hour traffic. Back to monitoring milk and gas prices. Back to forward. 

I am hopeful that this will be my last and final road trip. I don't want to rewind.

A Moveable Feast Indeed

The preparation and excitement for modern day travel drowns out the obvious noise. The  necessities and the fear gets all masked in packing and planning. It's apparent now that I had read and heard many things before going but I wasn't listening or interpreting. I had read "A Moveable Feast" many times. It was a bible of sorts to refer to when the chips were down. I never took it literally. The same goes for the act we all take for granted of charging and filling our devices. We get ready with all these seasons and playlists. We've played those songs over and over again and gotten no references. Maybe theres a time or place we go back to but nothing stands out as relevant now. The same goes for the movies, shows, games and apps that sort of blend into our lives and make days shorter. We set our iPods up for a 45 minutes commute, a road trip down 95 South or a 2 hour flight to NYC. We pack up the paperback books, manage our Amazon wish list and check the Netflix queue but there is no real intent to finish what we start. I guess all of the above are just tools of solitude. Now I wish I had considered it all apart of an unwritten guide.

Everything Ends With Pride

I've been telling myself I cannot wait until this year ends. I like to think of 2013 as bad but necessary. 2014 though was just really uncalled for. This has been a rotten year and I cannot wait for it to end. I am open to a new year, with new beginnings and new faces & places. I've been a nomad for far too long. It will be so amazing to just put my feet on the ground and make a home even if it's temporary. Today I got out of the shower, I managed my ordinary routine, my new normal and I just imagined what could be. I wouldn't have to navigate this life. There will be a place for me and my things and it will all feel right. Seriously, as much as I try to commit to this, my everyday, it just doesn't feel like mine. This is what not having a home feels like. I'm out of suitcase. I am surrounded by boxes. I am collecting a life I yearn to live. I just want some place to put it all. There is no shame in admitting how much I need that.

Everything Starts With Friendship

We all have our hangups. I'll admit that mines is trust. I was raised to believe you can't trust anyone and nothing in this world is free. Funny how I every time I set out to prove this theory wrong it eventually bites me in the ass. I guess mommy was right. So it's faIr to say that her saying of "friends are far and few" is prophecy. I didn't cultivate that many friendships, relationships early in life. So maybe seeing is believing. Enough with the sayings! Did I - have I … made in mistake in trusting, valuing and cultivating a friendship knowing what I already knew?

I did.

"Thumbs Up!" and Other Forms of Winging It

This Summer I immersed myself in the thing that is David Choe. I'm not going to provide any links to this character nor will I encourage you to seek out who he is and what he is about without caution. He is an artist. He's a Korean-American artist who was born in L.A., raised up in the 80s and 90s and made a lot of money doing commissioned graffiti work in the new Millennium. I like to think of him as more a graphic artist who branched out into the art world with graffiti and Korean personality notoriety. Dare I say it but he's a nobody who created a brand with zero creation at all. One of his earliest branding stints was traveling the states with no money or expectations. He documented this in a multiple season low budget Vice show called "Thumbs Up!" In the show, he basically train hopped and hitchhiked across the United States. Of course in-between the kindness of others he was sponsored by many casino wins and various collaborations with fellow affluent Korean-Americans. Since then he's been featured on Anthony Bourdain's show touring the culinary genius of L.A. and created his own dirty Asian ran podcast. At this point, he sort of misnamed as the "Facebook" guy who made a million drawing graffiti in the original HQ in exchange for stock options. The reality is he does a lot in the art world and gambles his fortunes which keeps him on the up and up. The show "Thumbs Up!" well that's an entirely different monster that continues to inspire people to just go.

Travel Re-Designed and Re-Defined

I've been absent from blogging for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, my grandmother took ill and eventually passed. I didn't expect her death to affect me but it has in a "life is too short" kind of way. She was always suffering some problematic, yet preventable disease along with old age. However, she seemed to move upward despite her issues and always outdid the youth of our family and our time. She had planned to travel a lot this year and to my surprise my mother had agreed to accompany her. Let's just say when she took a turn for the worst it was revealed to me that she really hadn't done all she wanted to do in life. The same goes for my mother and now down to me. A few weeks before her death my grandmother was reluctantly transferred to hospice care. She sort of outlived all her ward neighbors and put on a good fight. However, she went into a vegetative state just a few days in - never speaking again. This left a lot of unanswered questions and many a story told through others that claimed to have known what she wanted. I honestly don't believe what anyone has to say about what she may have or may not have done with the remainder of her life. I only know that she left here unfulfilled. And I only know this by the remnants she left behind and her seething jealously of others freedom.

10 Things About Your Passport No One Will Tell You (But I Will!)

A good friend of mine is making the voyage to Europe in a few weeks. His birthday is in days and I kinda talked him into letting me get him a passport cover (you can get the one I choose here). It is the one thing he hasn't gotten and I feel like it is one of the tokens of travel that makes it all "real". This is someone I've known since childhood so it's fairly easy to know what he likes. However, I found myself asking him basic questions trying to gauge his style of travel. This is his first trip abroad and he asked me to use my best judgment. As much as I love being that person for him and many, I realized I was just as confused as he is now. I remembered that no one told me anything about my passport. I almost failed you too. So here goes ten great things to know about your trusty passport…