Thoughts post-travel

Feeling home. I left Argentina in 2006 and this is the first trip back that I felt I was at “home”. Home is such a vague concept. I lived in Buenos Aires for 13 years, China for 12, 11 years in the US, 5 years in Manila, and now Jakarta. When I go to the US alone, I always feel sad to be there alone. The city is pointless to me if I was there by myself. When I went to Manila after we moved, I did miss my life in Manila mostly because of my friends. Otherwise, I didn’t feel I belong there without a job. When I go to China, usually with my family, I feel being home in a strange way. I look like the people around me, but they act and think differently than me. When I went to Buenos Aires this time, I felt home even I was there alone. I felt connected to strangers. I found them warm and funny. The country is a mess, people complain about the economic situation, but Buenos Aires is full of energy. Argentina is full of contradictions yet so charming.

Paying for comfort. I traveled economy and all the long flights (12+ hrs) were full. On my flight back, the second flight had two free seats on the back of the flight. I had the option to change seat to one of them by paying 45 USD. I hesitated for hours, and finally decided to pay for it, although risking having someone besides me anyway. Fortunately, I had both seats for myself, and I slept 9 out of the 12 hours! What a revelation!!! Paying for comfort on flight is so worth it. It’s crazy to think that took me so long to figure it out as I don’t mind paying extra for a good hotel, why was I being so frugal with the flight? Going forward, I’ll definitely do this more for long hauls.

Airplane food. Bad bad bad! It’s all white carbs. On my way to Buenos Aires, I’ve ordered vegan food. It ended up being all white carbs with tiny bits of vegetables. White pasta, white bread, jello, white crackers with miserable amount of vegetables. I felt crap after 35 hours. On my way back to Jakarta, I ordered food for diabetes thinking they’d cut the carb down. Oh no… I think for the airlines, diabetes needs to eat citrus fruit, whole wheat bread, chicken, and low fat. Example of meal was chicken with mashed potato and vegetables and a piece of whole wheat bread. A snack would be sandwich with chicken, yogurt with cereal. I was in denial. Next time, I’ll try vegetarian with egg 🙂 I’m turning it into an experiment.

Ride with the jet lag. With such a short trip, I didn’t really fight against jet lag. I slept when I could and felt sleepy and read when I am awake. There are protocols to fight against jet lag, like fasting during flight and start living the time zone of the destination country. I didn’t see the point of doing it. Just go along. Since I came back, I wake up every day around midnight for 2 hours or so before I can go back to sleep again. Not too bad as I still feel energetic during the day, thanks to my runs.

I feet wealthy. There’s a saying that if you have money, you are rich, if you have time, you are wealthy. I am so grateful to have the time, flexibility, and means to travel to Argentina in the middle of busy work/life season.