The Uncertain Traveler
I'm unsure whether this project will attract readers or not so I'll try to insert many photos so that there is visual stimulation at work. Also...I don't edit much and my English professor once told me my essay was "wordy as hell" but gave me an A- on the it so read into that what you will.
Having said that:
The fundamental question is: Why do a blog in the first place? Well...I have kept diaries and logs of certain projects I worked on throughout my film and video career going back into the '80's. I was writing poetry when I fell in love the first real time. It was pretentious crap but felt good. Then, in Italy in 2002...typing away for three weeks of Roman and Venetian heaven. Got home...all the pictorial data was corrupted. The disc is still sitting in front of me at my desk; still corrupted with over 500 unforgettable photographs taken with a growing "eye" for framing. I have rarely been so frustrated. The text survived, fortunately; a product of cut-and-paste.
I have always enjoyed writing when the subject matter is interesting to me and it helps me creatively knowing that most events will end up on a page with photos.
Speaking of photos, I'm including a few from my last international trip. That was with ABC News before, during and after the war in Iraq back in 2003. I wrote many pages of notes during that arduous voyage to Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq. I kept a running travel log on some web site that dealt with vacations. Can't remember the name of it anymore! I will transfer the notes separately to a new, different blog at another time.
The secondary question is: Why would ANYONE want to READ my blog??? It seems the height of narcissism to put data onto the I'net; the home for so much wasted bandwidth already. The answer is that I would love to find a blog that would tell ME all the pitfalls of moving abroad semipermanently without support. I am still looking. There are blogs that deal with "newbie" questions but there will ALWAYS be more questions than answers and some answers bring many other questions to mind.
My blog will take the reader through my own thought process, having sat with this conundrum for 4-6 weeks already.
My case is unique (as is everyone's) so there may be some questions answered for others in my own discovery. We'll see.
Standing on the terrace of the Ishtar (originally a Sheraton) Hotel in Baghdad, right next to Firdos Square where the beautiful mosque in bg sits on the park where the statue of Saddam was torn down on world television. This was taken by my colleague @Kevin Graf within the first few days there. I guess this is dated about a week and-a-half after the statue came down.
The most challenging aspect of creating a blog or any writing project is how to begin. For me, it's background to set-up the decision-making process and to do a kind of triage of my issues....like planning, my natural disinclination to do things in a linear fashion (making planning a haphazard clumping of decisions all of them interlaced), working through the emotions that deal with loss, grieving, hope, fatalism, excitement and all the rest.
Background: I've been around for awhile now and am looking as much back with some regrets as I am looking forward with anticipation and no little excitement.
I promised photos so here's one from our 3-year tour in Rome, Italy. This was a private audience with Pope Pius XII. My family is the group at far left: (l to r) Dad, me, Mother and my younger brother Michael. Quite a day! I think you can choose a larger format by putting the curser on the photo, but not sure.
I grew up an Army Brat so moving was a given. We didn't stay in one place any longer than the assignment and that was usually 3 years (a tour). I gave up early when it came to taking control. Everything was out of control. I knew only a few things: whom to salute, we would be moving on, I would have to make new friends and perhaps learn a new language. I also learned that I would need to fit in instantly which meant adapting to the new environment, even if that went against my own wants. This set up a need to over-adapt to increase the chances of fitting in. That's not great for the Self I've found. Years of therapy later have given me many epiphanies and I am in charge of ME as an adult.
I chose the title with the word "uncertain" in it because I'm at the beginning of my thinking about all the factors that must be considered when packing up your life and moving it nearly 5000 miles to a very nice but different home in Ecuador.
If I can find someone with similar goals who is willing to share expenses then much of my uncertainty will dissipate. I'm currently looking for someone with like mind who can co-create a home in Cuenca or Quito.
I have the intent, however mediated, to move to a country with a substantially lower cost of living so that the pressure to work is not so considerable. Saving money is a challenge for me because I enjoy eating; but with a little self-discipline, I can live on Ramen noodles and peanut butter (which I did in L.A. when I was an "actor") and put enough aside to buy an airline ticket. Man, have the prices of airfare soared over the past twenty years...even ten years! It is ALMOST worth it to buy a one-way Business Class for a few hundred more to be able to accommodate a kitty carrier for the under-seat in front of me.
That brings up the issue that haunts me more than any other: my kitty, Chui. He's a seven year-old Bengal. I don't know if you know cat breeds but Bengals are the most vociferous breed. When he's awake, he's letting me know he wants attention by talking to me. It's either to let me know he is hungry, needs to walk through a door that is closed or just wants me to pet and scratch him. Would this mouthiness be a problem? Well, yeah, if he's flying as my carryon luggage, people will be complaining after listening to Chui complain. And he can be LOUD when he begins yowling!
Chui is occupied with his discovery of catnip back when he was only 4 months old...
The alternative of taking him into the cabin is to check him as baggage. That terrifies me because of the horror stories I've heard and read. Luggage holds on airlines are notoriously unstable in the environmental conditions in climates that are hot or frigid. I have my own experience of those people hired to load the cargo bays of airlines. We didn't call them "bag busters" for nothing. I do not have any faith in the baggage handlers care of pet carriers. Pets HAVE BEEN KILLED by trauma of their cages being thrown by these maniacs. Make no mistake: the airlines will promise to treat our pets with love and care but they aren't watching the bowels of the airport as the luggage is being loaded.
So there is no way I will allow my little guy to be relegated to "luggage". Shipping him by a pet relocation service is cost prohibitive...minimum of $2000 and there's no guarantee there either. So what to do? I can think of only two alternatives; both are a real challenge. One is to take him with, spend the extra for business class to allow more room for his carrier...put a prescribed calmative agent into him to make him sleep and there you have it. Except for the very real possibility that he has a problem with the med. I can't take him to a vet until we arrive so the trip would be a total disaster.
The other alternative is to say goodbye to Chui and give him away; a truly sad thought, but better for him in the short run. With a longer perspective, I would miss my little buddy but would know he's in good hands. I will need a pet when I get to wherever I'm going. Make a mental note to research pets in Ecuador.
Going from blog to blog, I'm reading cautionary tales of all the things that can and have happened to other ex-pats wanting to take their pets with them, wishing they hadn't. And then there are blogs that are "written" by a pet; in this case, a dog, who seems to have had no problems getting there and adjusting to the new environment.
There is another cultural thinking about pets in Ecuador. I see that guinea pigs are called "cuy" and are a local delicacy.
You know, I have all the respect for differences in cultures, including what comprises a "delicacy" and what "pet" means. But I have a very hard time seeing these darling little fur-balls being bred for consumption, then popped into a pot of boiling water and roasted. No...that is SO WRONG. Call me hypocritical because I eat beef and chicken and wear leather...but there is something dreadfully off about eating something so cuddly. Not me....never me.
And I'm NOT putting a photo of a "cuy" on my blog. Enough said.
Just about nodded off there...so sleepy...and I heard a soft voice say "There's an earthquake coming" plain as day. Weirdness...mark the time: 12:34PM on Sunday, April 28th...just in case.
There's a blog written by an American couple (there are LOTS of blogs by people like them) talking about losing the keys to their home in Cuenca but were saved by their ex-pat neighbors (apparently there are LOADS of them in little enclaves)...ended with the phrase "This is such a great community!"
I would like to have the option of connecting with other ex-pats but not be in a "community" of them. It goes against everything I am and have learned over my life. Sure, TAKE your country WITH you! Wherever you go, you never need to mix with "those people"...you know....natives! Let's pop down to the nearest Burger King, bring them back and watch a movie on Netflix with the Smith's, the Brown's and the Anderson's! Why it's almost like being home in the States!
There is another cultural thinking about pets in Ecuador. I see that guinea pigs are called "cuy" and are a local delicacy.
You know, I have all the respect for differences in cultures, including what comprises a "delicacy" and what "pet" means. But I have a very hard time seeing these darling little fur-balls being bred for consumption, then popped into a pot of boiling water and roasted. No...that is SO WRONG. Call me hypocritical because I eat beef and chicken and wear leather...but there is something dreadfully off about eating something so cuddly. Not me....never me.
And I'm NOT putting a photo of a "cuy" on my blog. Enough said.
Just about nodded off there...so sleepy...and I heard a soft voice say "There's an earthquake coming" plain as day. Weirdness...mark the time: 12:34PM on Sunday, April 28th...just in case.
There's a blog written by an American couple (there are LOTS of blogs by people like them) talking about losing the keys to their home in Cuenca but were saved by their ex-pat neighbors (apparently there are LOADS of them in little enclaves)...ended with the phrase "This is such a great community!"
I would like to have the option of connecting with other ex-pats but not be in a "community" of them. It goes against everything I am and have learned over my life. Sure, TAKE your country WITH you! Wherever you go, you never need to mix with "those people"...you know....natives! Let's pop down to the nearest Burger King, bring them back and watch a movie on Netflix with the Smith's, the Brown's and the Anderson's! Why it's almost like being home in the States!
This is officially my first blog's first post. More to follow.
