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Friday, January 11, 2013

Winding Down

I'll be in Minnesota in two weeks. It's SO weird. As I sit here in Nepal with a gorgeous 360° panorama of mountains in sight, and try to motivate myself to do something, anything, I finally realized that when I'm on an extended trip and I actually purchase my flight home*, and home looms in the near distance, I just don't care anymore. I took a bike ride three days ago. Other than that, in this quaint mountain town of Pokhara, I have slept 15 hours each night, walked down the stairs for breakfast, shopped, gotten one massage and had five hot toddies every night by the fire trying to warm up. I could go on a trek in the mountains, I could go canoeing on the gorgeous lake, I could take photos. But I don't.

I did take this one while on my bike ride.

You see, sometimes when you're traveling, you need some recoup days. And to be fair, Summer and I just spent two weeks, that's fourteen days sleeping in a different place every night. Too many of those nights were spent [not] sleeping on buses or trains. The rest in horrible $3 guesthouses with no heat and no hot water. Freezing. Dirty. So if I need to spend three nights sleeping for 15 hours I can't be too hard on myself. But! I'm in Nepal! I only have two weeks left! I should be doing something!

Anyway, Dear Reader, if you're sitting in your office cubicle dreaming of faraway places and exotic lands and reading this, and I sound like a complete Jerk who's in just such a place sleeping all day: I get it. You're right. And just for you, I have the goal of going canoeing before I leave this town.

Speaking of home looming in the near distance, I'm getting really sick for it. I'm thinking of all the things I miss and haven't done and want to do. Here is an incomplete list of things I have not done (not really) in the last four-and-a-half months:

  • Taken a hot shower.
  • Blow-dried or flat-ironed my hair.
  • Painted my toenails.
  • Worn makeup.
  • Slept in a comfortable bed.
  • Stayed any one place more than nine nights (and that only happened one time. Usually it's just one or two.)
  • Bought something without carefully calculating its value, weight and size.
  • Gotten my haircut or updated my roots.

I plan to take care of most of the above immediately upon my return, and looking forward to my forever-long hot shower, my mom's cooking and the comforts of home has got me feeling a little 'meh' about my current surroundings. Looking back to a time when I used to look forward all year to a nine-day vacation, I am ashamed that I couldn't care less about the next two weeks of my life. In the dream locations of Nepal and Japan. Yep. Jerk.

 

 

*THAT was a nightmare decision to make. Such a nightmare in fact I postponed it to just 10 days before my scheduled flight out of Nepal. I wanted to go back through Greece but couldn't afford it. I tried Hawaii, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Vietnam, even San Diego, desperate to get a little warm-up before returning to freezing Minnesota. Flying through Japan was half the price of any of those other places. And they're smack dab in the middle of their winter. I don't even want to go. Boo freaking hoo. If only the starving children in Africa could see how hard my life is...I think they'd gladly keep their own problems.

 

4 comments:

  1. Ahh... post partum trip depression. I was in Egypt, sitting on the Red Sea just over a year ago. I read that where I was at was one of the top ten diving/snorkeling reefs in the world. I didn't care. I had ten days left in my trip and I just slept in a depressed state of "who cares." The diving was only $25 and I didn't do it. Then on the last day, Annie convinced me to go snorkeling and I could not believe how beautiful that reef was. One of the best in the world. It was National Geographic colorful. I wished I would have dived that stupid reef.

    As I prepare for re-entry shock when I return, I too descend into the pit of "bleh". Annie is usually rearing to pack in every last adventure and I just sleep. If you can will yourself to it, you will probably thank yourself later for packing in a few last great adventures.

    Loved your trip. Wish you were continuing on, but.... til next time.

    mark shoberg

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  2. Kady, listen to Mark..... Go buy yourself a pair of leg warmers and get going. I've never been on a trip where I had the luxury to wind down. And your are going to need pics and stories to post for the next several months. You slept. Now explore!

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  3. Kady, just do what I do. Follow your heart. Napoleon D.

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  4. Sorry, I misquoted myself. It should have been," Just listen to your heart. That's what I do." N.Dynamite

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