Back in Bali, my phone rang. It was momma. She said she was wiped out and wanted to get some extra sleep to make sure she could be waiting at the embassy first thing in the morning to get her paperwork filled out, submitted and (hopefully) approved so she could get an emergency visa into Indonesia to see yours truly. I had downloaded and sent her everything so she could have a head start and she was fully prepared when she turned off her phone and closed her eyes, dreaming of getting on the plane and landing in my tropical paradise.

Feeling overwhelmed myself after the stress of this all and having prepared momma as best as I could, I too decided to distract myself though I didn't feel like sleeping.

Strangely enough, at that same time, a friend of one of my best friends from Canada was in Bali and her and I had met up a few days before and had been bonding! She had some hookups to the clubs here and we had even planned on going out together with momma whenever she got here but since momma was having all these troubles, my new friend invited me out with her that night to get my mind off things and let loose.

If you've read my confessions of whenever I was caught up in all kinds of trouble in Dominican Republic, you might know why at this point in my life I avoid partying... I have an alter ego (Kat) who is all sorts of trouble but it seemed like bringing our little temptress out to play to distract myself from all the stress about momma wouldn't hurt anyone... so I invited Kat to come out to play.

Meanwhile momma had woken up from her slumber, excited about the next day, and with nothing to do decided to have a fancy dinner for one...

Charming right? PS: Momma hates eating alone so this was a huge deal for her to be alone at the restaurant of the hotel, ordering new food that she'd never heard of before. Apparently this is a raw meat salad of sorts... of course there was wine to ease the tension of that.

In contrast, here's what my night looked like:

We've got the dancing on the bar covered. (That's me on the right, in the black backless dress...)

Uh-oh, of course things get out of control, right?

Kat is seriously a crazy cat... she doesn't give a damn about consequences and she does whatever she wants so, she decided that tequila shots (two at a time) were necessary. Being obliterated drunk means you can't think about anything else going on...

Disclaimer: I differentiate myself from Kat because Kat is capable of things, I can hardly dream of and she is a character I typically leave to the past only sometimes in times of need or struggle, she resurfaces in full force like this night...

Fast forward... yep, that's Kat (OK, me) dancing on bars, screaming for the whole club to do tequila shots, meeting one of the owners and ending up in a booth with some bottles of too out of it to even know what... on stage with the DJ (photo two, writing down my friend's number for the headliner, by the way he called her a few hours later!)... and then waking up with the worst hangover ever. Yep. That's just another night for Kat, nothing special or abnormal at all there.

So, given that I had this beautiful villa being unused, I brought back my friend's friend and her friend (how confusing is that) to stay with me since we had a maid and momma obviously wasn't using her room. The morning was rough for all of us... especially me since I got a phone call that was not at all what I was expecting.

" I can't get the visa." Came mom's voice, shrill with distress. She was choking back tears and was repeatedly telling me that she wanted to go back home.

I on the other hand, was half passed out on a bean bag chair, lazed out under the sun, dehydrated and hungover beyond imaginable, hardly able to hear let alone process the information she was telling me.

See, I had gone out under the assumption that everything was going to work out and that momma had all of the paperwork to get her emergency visa approved and she would be coming within a day or two max to see me. I was still drowning in the positivity of that outcome.

Now, something I hadn't even taken time to consider was on the table... momma actually couldn't come to Bali. She had no other move and she was currently stuck alone in Hong Kong with her return ticket back home leaving from Bali.

What were we going to do? We hadn't considered this. Every step of the way up until this point had been under the guise that this would solve the problem but momma had spent 3 hours and talked to every person available with no positive outcome or solution in sight. The only way for her visa to come through would be for her to get it after her flight back home was scheduled meaning she would just have to wait out in Hong Kong until it came in, then extend her holidays because she would want to spend at least a day with me after traveling all this way...

But it all seemed so pointless. All of the time wasted on this plan now was almost too much to bear. My heart burned for her. It seemed like so many odds were against her and here I was with a pounding headache, nauseous, nearly passed out, completely unable to handle this.

"I'm just going to go home, babe. Enough is enough."

My mind was spinning.

"Maybe I can figure something else out. Maybe I can try to call the Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong and ask them if there is something they can do. Just hang tight, OK?"

I kept typing in the number and I couldn't get through. It was so hot outside and I swore my head was melting. Wait a minute... HOW THE HECK DO I CALL HONG KONG?

Let's just take a moment to thank Google for coming to the rescue on this one. Here's a screenshot of Google saving me...

How I made that phone call, I will never understand. Finding the information online was a struggle and dealing with not only the language barriers but also having to explain the situation in a highly stressful, urgency was another factor all together. Needless to say, I'm sure, nothing came of that conversation despite my pleading and crying.

After that I called the Canadian consulate who said the same thing my momma had been told, the only thing that could be done was either the lengthly processing which wouldn't make any sense or she could pay more than her flight back home to expedite it, still only giving her one day to be with me which we thought was outrageous.

Momma's mind was ticking.

"Why don't you come here?"

SH^T.

That was the obvious solution at that point. She couldn't leave and I was only a 5 hour flight away. I could come to her.

But to be honest you guys, I didn't want to.

I know that's selfish, but in my defense, it wasn't me who messed up my passport. It was her error and I know some of you are going to read this and think poorly of me but I had spent a lot of money invested in her coming to be there with me so if I left I was flushing that money goodbye for starters.

Forget about the money, I hate flying... I didn't want to go to Hong Kong. I had just landed in Bali two weeks prior and was seriously in paradise. I never wanted to leave the island to go anywhere ever again and for me to have to leave now, seemed impossibly unfair.

Did I mention I was actually hungover to death? I rarely drink anymore because of my instigator, Kat, and whenever I do drink, I always overdo it and end up in trouble and/or severely sick.

But, on the other hand, it was momma.

What was I going to do?

Do I go to Hong Kong
Or does momma go home instead?

I'll keep it all coming as I continue to tell you momma's least favorite but most memorable travel journey!

BTW: This ended up being a small mistake that cost way more than we had anticipated! Always make sure to check your travel documents over before boarding as the airlines often make faults like this, leaving the expenses on your shoulders!