I think that as the years have gone by I am less and less drawn by the allure of travel. This isn't to say that I don't actually want to go anywhere or do anything it is just that I really can't stand the travel aspect of it especially considering that I live so damn far away from everyone that I am related to. This is largely my own fault because nearly 2 decades ago I decided to move to the other side of the planet and I don't really have any real regrets about having done any of that. Had I stayed behind in USA I would likely be on my 2nd marriage, subjected to the consumerism that already had its claws into me before I took off, and would likely be a fat ass because of being constantly subjected to the rather horrible diet that is just the norm in the United States.
Since moving here, I always made a real effort to go and see at least my parents and normally the rest of my family once every year. Because of Covid and also visa issues, this hasn't happened in 5 years and now I feel like a terrible son. I am hoping to rectify that by staying for a long time when I go and visit them this time.
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There was a time in my life that I actually really looked forward to travel even though the hassle of long flights and the horror that is modern-day airports. I took it all in stride. But now as I get older I find travel to be so much of a hassle that honestly, if it wasn't for the guilt that I feel for not having visited my parents in 5 years, I wouldn't even contemplate doing this. My family lives in Mexico now and I have never actually been there... yet I am not excited about this trip at all.
It doesn't help that there simply is NO WAY for me to get there in a direct sort of way. There are only a few airlines that fly directly from Asia to Mexico and it might have been because I waited too long but those airlines were dramatically more expensive than the alternatives. I was prepared to pay a couple of hundred dollars more to bypass the USA but these tickets were going to be thousands of dollars more. I do not make enough money to afford something like that and even if I did I am too frugal to waste money on something like that.
So no matter how I sliced and diced it and spent weeks looking through all the usual avenues of booking I am unable to get my total travel time under 35 hours. You read that right: I will be traveling for 35 friggin hours. Then to make things even more fun I am going to arrive at the airport in Mexico at 4am, which is a wonderful time to arrive anywhere, right?
I'm really not excited about the fact that it was unavoidable that I will be traveling through LAX, which unless they have updated it dramatically since the last time I was there, is one of the worst airports I have ever experienced.
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While I think they are probably ignoring extremely poor countries such as Nepal in their lists, LAX is widely regarded as one of the worst airports in the world, there are tons of article that explain why that is, including this one
Normally, a layover in a country that you are not actually leaving the airport in isn't that big of a deal. You wander around, maybe get something to eat or a few drinks and just try to relax on their horrible furniture which seems to be designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. This is bad enough but thanks to new and idiotic laws that exhibits how authoritarian the USA has become, even if you are not entering the USA at all you still have to go through customs. I cannot imagine what lunacy sparked this change but it is a stupid one. So now basically all flights traveling from Asia are forced to go through customs in LAX and I am quite certain that there will not be near enough people staffing it to keep things moving. I suppose it is a good thing that I have a laborious 8-hour layover in this horrible airport on the way to Mexico.
Once I arrive in Mexico, I am quite certain my family is really wanting to show me things and take me on tours and various getaways but since none of them read this blog I feel quite safe in stating that I actually do not want to do these things. I simply do not care about another waterfall and I have lived at a beach for 18 of the past 20 years. I almost never go to the beach that I can see from my balcony, I have no desire to go to ones in other countries. It just isn't special to me.
Maybe I am lazy or maybe I just need to get better shoes. I would much prefer to just hang out and help my Dad with some gardening or hang out with them in their village. When one of my siblings suggested that we go to a wild "Day of the Dead" party in some "nearby" city I asked how far and was told it was a 6-hour drive. I immediately told them that I care not how "amazing" this party is, I am not sitting in a car for 6 hours to go and see anything, especially not after I just spent nearly 40 hours getting there in the first place. I actually find it kind of absurd that someone would think this is a good idea. I shut down that proposed adventure much to the chagrin of the sibling who suggested it.
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A fun quote from one of my favorite authors
I guess you could say my sense of adventure has been squashed after nearly 2 decades of living abroad. I just don't care about the sights anymore and would rather just chill or at the minimum, restrict the things we are going to go run off and see to things that can be gotten to within one hour or less. I told my family that I want to eat good food, have some beers with the folks, see where they live, and maybe visit a bowling alley or two while I am there. I am not there to visit Mexico, I am there to visit my parents.
I guess you could say that I have travel fatigue and I don't like to be a downer, but I am not really looking forward to this trip nearly as much as I hoped I would be. I'm kind of dreading it.