This is less of a travel tale than a random and hopefully useful piece of info that I thought I’d pass on. Around 2002, I became lactose intolerant (no, that’s not the useful piece of info). I have no idea what caused it, but it started more or less overnight, although it took me a few weeks to figure out what was wrong. In order for me to be able to enjoy dairy products without any ill effects, I got in the habit of carrying Lactaid with me, in case I found myself at a pizza joint or craving a milkshake. Well over a decade later, the condition seems to have disappeared, since I can eat whatever I want with no major issues. But the habit of carrying pills in my pocket continues, with some minor changes. When you’re traveling, having Immodium in your pocket could be the difference between enjoying a leisurely day of sightseeing and an uncomfortable day of seeing the inside of different bathroom stalls.
Category: Travel Misc
Looking Back
I don’t even know where to start. It’s been a fantastic year, with more memories than I can remember (ironic, isn’t it?) I spent over 95% of that time on my own, which meant a lot of walking through new cities, down random streets with no itinerary or schedule, with nothing but the thoughts in my own head. Some of the insights that I came to about myself and about people in general were both common sense and revelatory at the same time.
A Year In Numbers
The time has come for me to wrap up my trip and return to the real world. It’s been an amazing experience, with lots of lessons learned. Since I spent so much time on my own, there was a lot of introspection and self-analysis (much of it booze fueled), some of which I think is worth sharing. Over the next few days/ weeks, I’ll try to type some of it up and post it. But for a quick starter, here’s an overview of the last year in numbers:
Travel Burnout
Travel burnout is a thing. On the one hand, I think that being tired of traveling and exploring the world rates pretty high among first world problems, right up there with “My Ferrari is in the shop so I had to take the Jag to get to the helipad” and “The maid service moved the bathroom tap and the water came out way too hot. It’s hard to find good help these days.” Despite how ridiculous it sounds on the surface, you can get tired of travel. How that manifests to you and how you handle it can vary wildly. For me, my burnout results in a complete apathy towards planning, which can very easily end poorly.
Taste Of America
You can learn a lot about a country by their food. Cultures that use every part of an animal or plant in whatever way they can usually have a history of poverty or scarcity, and some of the recipes they come up with are ingenious. Some things that sound disgusting to an American palate can end up being surprisingly tolerable when properly prepared. But just like you can learn about another culture based on what they eat, it stands to reason that you can see what other cultures think of America based on what we eat. So when I saw a store called Taste of America, I had to check it out.
Blurry Photos
One of the first things I did when I got my phone was to disable some of the Google location services and to turn off embedded GPS data in photos. The former helps Google (and others) track where you are at all times. Google has other ways of knowing where I am, but if I can make it a little tougher for them, I’m OK with that. I also didn’t see much need for having every photo include the GPS location for where it was taken. But early in my travels, I turned both of those settings back on.
Attempted Hustle
I know you’re probably getting tired of hearing my stories of being hustled and scammed, but I wanted to share this one with you. I had a taxi driver who tried to hit me with three different scams in a single trip. I was a little impressed with his creativity.
Converting Foreign Currency Back To Your Home Currency
I’m sure that you have read and memorized the tips in my post about how to get the most foreign currency for your dollar when you travel. In case you need a refresher, here it is. So here you are, walking around a foreign country with a fistful of Euro, Yen, Dinars, or Dong, enjoying your trip. But as your trip comes to an end, what do you do?
St Patrick’s Day in Bangkok
One thing I haven’t really mentioned is that I was having a bit of a rough time over the past few weeks. I was in Saigon, staying in hostels, touring the city during the day, and hitting the local watering holes at night. Which is a good time, but it wasn’t sitting well with me. I think one of the problems is that I’ve been feeling a little homesick. If I didn’t have other commitments in Southeast Asia over the next few months, I would have considered heading home for a break. I don’t know what a vacation from your vacation is called, but it’s what I needed.
Know Your Prices pt 2
After my taxi incident, you would think that I would have learned. And I did, but not thoroughly enough. I blame exchange rates. I think that every country should use the US Dollar*. That would make things easy.