travel is messy
- lisasaperbloom
- Apr 30
- 5 min read
Written by Lisa Saper-Bloom, Founder, 1 2 3 Go Solo! LLC
I recently had the joy of being the guest, on the Soft Power Project Podcast, with host Sherry Fang. What I love about Sherry and the wonderful opportunity she provided me, was her ability to be real. In fact, Sherry insists that her guests stay in their authenticity and allow for moments of vulnerability.
Just a few minutes into the podcast, I stated, “Travel is messy.” It is undeniably true. Travel is messy. It’s not the perfection of an Instagram photo or the perfectly packaged itinerary and plan. Travel comes with unexpected, inclement weather, airport delays, and an array of unplanned challenges.
In her podcast, I shared my surprise when I couldn’t book my trip to Uganda online. I kept clicking pay now and then the computer spun and spun. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually I called the airlines. I was informed that I had to purchase the ticket in-person, down at the airport. When I questioned why, the answer I received was that that part of the world is too corrupt to purchase a ticket online.
Well, nothing was going to stop me from going to Africa. And because I am a person who loves the tropical weather at the equator, Uganda, “the pearl of Africa”, was where I was going!
I was on a self-created “mission” to help Ugandan women with AIDS, give birth at a safe birth house, through Shanti Uganda. Shanti, meaning peace, is a non-Government Organization (NGO) out of Canada. It is run by Ugandan midwives, and yoga based. With my background and work at that time in my life, I was ready to work with women in labor through massage, yoga, and aromatherapy.
While it was a thirty-day, trip-of-a lifetime, and the most beautiful experience, it did get a little messy. Not only in the beginning with the mentioned purchase of the plane ticket, but also with the phototoxicity I experienced from being in tropical weather conditions on the anti-malaria medication I chose. Let me be clear, I am NOT one for pharmaceuticals, but not being well informed before I left, I promised my husband I would take it while there for thirty days. My last week there, I went to a local hospital. I was accompanied by one of the midwives as I did not speak the native language Swahili, and I did not want to get “mzungu-ed” (charged white person or foreigner prices).
Of course everything was fine in the end. I was a healthy, thriving woman then, and I still am to this day! But for the moment, it was messy.
During my stay in Africa, I was fortunate to take a five-day, side trip to Kenya for safari! This of course was the top of my travel list at the time and a dream becoming reality. When we went out the first afternoon, it wasn’t long before torrential rains came down! The band Toto wasn’t kidding about the rains down in Africa! The dirt roads quickly became mud rivers! And!... the van broke down! Our driver, James, went to seek “help”. What my Canadian roommate heard at the time was “help”. So the seven international passengers in the van (three of us from Shanti Uganda--one American (me!) and two Canadians, plus 4 of us from other parts of the world and other African travel) put on our rain gear (as if THAT was going to help protect us from the rain!--haha!) and set outside to help James. Well, James had disappeared. With that, our soaking-wet selves got back in the van. Some began to question his whereabouts and felt anxious, while others of us thought through the scenario practically. Before long, James was back. He tracked down another van that took us back to camp. Again, messy, but it all worked out in the end. The next day was EVERYTHING I imagined safari to be, including five cheetah cubs and mating lions!
Another messy story I shared with Sherry was the time I was heading to Costa Rica for a yoga retreat. It was February, two years ago. Dallas Fortworth Airport (DFA) happened to freeze over. THOUSANDS of flights were canceled. Because my trip was three days out, I thought I would dodge that MESS! But no such luck! I had to reschedule my flight not once, but twice. And it just so happened that the day of travel, I checked my itinerary and noticed my connecting flight was not scheduled. It turned out the two different airlines did not communicate properly to one another.
I SCRAMBLED to find another flight! Fortunately, I was able to get on a 1:30 pm flight. But when I looked at the time, it was already 11:15, and I am a two-hour-early girl at the airport! I had to LEAVE right then and there! Thank goodness my bags were packed! But I did not have a place to stay for the night! In my husband’s concern for me, I told him I would have to figure it out when I got to the gate! I said I needed my boarding pass in hand before I thought about it! My husband happens to be a QUICK thinker. While we headed out the door, he was on the phone with my mom as my aunt and uncle happen to live forty-five minutes from Miami Airport (my new, unexpected, international connection)! I went to the airport with my new flight number on a post-it note as the airline’s app did not update fast enough (with all the MESS of cancellations and rescheduling flights). It was undoubtedly MESSY! But I made it! It was a trip I will never forget! The beauty. The magic. The colors and the animals. It was truly divine and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Thank you Sherry and Soft Power Project, for not only asking me to be my authentic self and show my vulnerability, but for ALLOWING me to be just that! Travel is messy. It is not the perfect Instagram post. But it is FUN! You come out of the different styles and levels of messiness a wiser, more worldly, experienced, story teller and traveler! I invite you to get in this mess!
As the famous quote from Ibn Battuta goes, “Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” Once you navigate some of it, you realize if you let go of thinking you need to control it, the trip is not only well worth it, but beyond the price you paid for it. Embrace the mess.
To work through your solo travel fears with practical advice and coaching:
If you enjoyed this blog, subscribe to my website. You will learn how you can get 50% off Session One! Or!... use coupon code SHERRY2501 when you schedule a Pay As You Go session. Once you subscribe, you will earn incentives to receive the same on Sessions Two and Three!
1 2 3 Go Solo! 3 sessions and you are ready to Go Solo!
Comments