Road Sick

Listening: On the road again, goin' places that I've never been, seein' things that I may never see again and I can't wait to get on the road again.

What's my problem? I miss the smells of...

On my way down here to Atlanta, I got bumped yet again. I think that this may be the fifth year in a row that I've been bumped at some point during the holidays. Last year, I got four hundred dollars, which became five hundred when they done fucked up our vouchers. This year, I walked with four hundred Delta dollars, three seven dollar vouchers for food and a night at the airport Hilton for taking the bump. This year's ticket's retail value (as it was bought with miles) was a hundred and thirty dollars. That's a two hundred and ninety one dollar profit even if you don't take into account the room at the Hilton.

Think about it. It all starts with one bump and a little bit of flexibility. For those of you in the white collar world with weeks of vacation to burn, I think that this could be a really great option. If you already have the time that you have to use every year, you could get bumped one year and have your flight taken care of for your next year's vacation.

I have to say, I'm itching. I'm itching to travel. I feel like (I would assume) a heroin addict in rehab feels looking for a fix, but knowing that it's not coming anytime soon. I have these Delta dollars, and I know that I can't use them anytime soon. I'll be too busy working. I have to see this new venture through, at least for a year.

Last night, I watched The Namesake. There were a few wedding scenes in the movie with these amazing flowers. They made me think of the flowers that I saw in southeast Asia and about how the smell of jasmine flowers permeated the air with the lightly sweet fragrance. I missed it. I missed it a lot. I can't wait to get back to it. I think about the completely different way of life and I want to see it. I want to be there.

I've been reading the beginnings of Pies' travel blog, and I feel like I'll be living a little bit vicariously through him. I'm really quite excited for him. This is his first foray into the world of solo travel.

I remember when I started my solo travel career five years ago. I took a month and traveled around Europe. At first, I was extremely tentative. At my first stop, Amsterdam, I stayed at a hotel where I didn't really meet any travelers or connect with any people. In Prague, I stayed at a hostel. I met some people there and at different sights, but I still wasn't able to make any good connections happen. I made one American friend in Vienna, spent my entire time in Strasbourg alone, and then fell into a good groove in Paris. Paris is where I met Jade, a girl I still keep in contact with. I even got together with her this summer. In Cinque Terre, I met Lianne, a girl who I have visited in London. She has visited me in Boston. I think that we continue to be good friends.

The point is that it took me a while to get into the groove with meeting people during my first trip. On my second trip, I met my first person at the airport. Cara and I got along right off the bat. Shared a taxi to Sukhumvit Road. Hung out at the weekend market together. It was a good time.

I hope that Pies can get into it faster than I did. I'm sure he can. He just needs to get some liquid courage in him, but not enough to bring out the belligerent Pies that we all know and love. That could cause more problems than I think he could imagine.

Anyhow, I don't know what I'm going to do with my Delta dollars. I don't see myself taking any real vacations this year. I may take a few "weekend" trips somewhere, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. I have to find a way out of this country sometime in the next few years though. I got the itch. I need the scratch.