Hello! It's Eric aka "Anomad"

in #rant5 years ago (edited)

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You might remember me as the guy who was stopped by immigration for several hours in Finland a year ago on his way to Steem Fest for no reason whatsoever than being Mexican and the possibility of me wanting to stay, missing my onwards flight on purpose and stay and live in Finland - as if, Finnish people and Mexican people are so different I'd die within a week.

Perhaps you know me as the dude who missed his Chiang Mai flight from China because he couldn't access his Gmail account - because it's banned in China - and couldn't show proof of forward plane ticket, hence had to spend another $220 to buy another ticket to Thailand and another forward ticket to Vietnam - which he didn't use.

Or maybe you've heard of me as the guy used to blog a lot about traveling with a low budget but lately he only posts about life and rants around on steem. This is maybe because his role on steem changed and now focusing his time on travel posts is not as helpful as trying to encourage the community to write about certain topics and overall trying to build community.

Well, it matters not what do you know about me for, because I'm here to provide another story, yet another misadventure, a different sort of Odyssey for us to laugh at my expense - don't worry, I don't mind, I always look back to these stories and smile about them. Everything that happens implies experience, every misadventure means I learned something.

I like writing my rants here, they are some sort of therapy and at the same time, doing so allows me to relieve my anger and not punch anyone - something I've been successful at lately, not punching anyone. So here it goes, rant begins in 3, 2, 1...

This whole Asian trip started on the wrong foot

As I already shared with you, I had to spend $220 usd that weren't on my initial budget. Added to that, if you don't know me, well, I always travel with a tight - if not exact - budget, meaning that every extra expense means that I have to cut expenses on a future day. But for this trip my whole budget was extremely exact, to the point where I didn't have return tickets.

I was hoping that after SF, I would spend the rest of November and half of December traveling around South East Asia. Meeting my steem friends, getting to know this part of the world which I always wanted to, spending time working on steem related stuff and overall, trying to go back to my nomadic lifestyle that I love.

But this trip was not one for that, and I would find out about it as my time in Asia unfolded. After Steemfest (which rocked) was over, a series of unfortunate events both irl, on steem and back home started to unfold. That, combined with the low steem price, me having very little Fiat, my general hatefulness towards being in a country where not a single person fully understands English, the similarities Thailand has to Mexico - the negative ones, that is - and dunno, a general tiredness both mental and physical, pushed me to make the decision of going back to Mexico. I'm just not up for traveling any more and I don't want to push it; actually, the only reason I wanted to stay was because I was already coming to this side of the world for Steem Fest, so it felt like a waste of money to come all the way here and leave so early, so I wanted to push my time here. That was a mistake, making good decisions for the wrong reasons.

Anyway, I decided to buy ticket back to Mexico.

I bought my ticket from Bangkok to Vancouver with just one layover in Guangzhou, China. Then the plan was to buy a ticket from Vancouver to Mexico City. If you travel frequently you'll see how it is possible to find cheaper flights if you cut your trip in half or three separate tickets, some times you save 10-15% of the overall price.

Well, this time it backfired for me. After buying this ticket to Vancouver, my card was blocked - screw you HSBC, this is not the first time you do it - and while trying to access my bank app I made the mistake of doing it while being angry and mad as fuck, so I mistyped the password 3 times, making it effectively blocked. I couldn't access the rest of my money and my family back home couldn't help me unblock it due to security and privacy reasons - fuck banks, go private keys.

Anyway, I already had my Vancouver ticket. I couldn't wait to get out of Asia. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with this continent, it's just that my mind and body are not up for dealing with what it means to backpack in Asia this at the moment. Having the ticket was a win, I'd be close to home soon.

I didn't have more money not a way to buy a ticket but something would come up, it always does, I always find a way. At least until now, that is.

I remembered I still have some splinterlands alpha packs stashed there, nice. I sold them and used that money to buy a ticket from Vancouver to Mexico City. I used my brother's card to do this, together we had around 25 bucks left in his account but now we had a ticket back home, both of us for two days in BKK. Not bad, doable.

Then, the 20th came. We were ready to hop in to the flight that would take us to Guangzhou. Oh my, imagine that, flight delayed. Imagine my shock. Gotta love Murphy's law.

Well, guess what? China Southern made us wait five hours - and they would've made us wait more if it was up to them and we stayed quiet - and then reallocated us to a flight to Shanghai - where I'm currently writing this.

But guess what? Even though I gave myself a 12 hour window thinking ahead of delayed flights and general China crap well, the flight got delayed overall 11:30 minutes, meaning that I will arrive thirty minutes before my Vancouver to Mexico City flight departs. Hm, doable, right? Just gotta let the flight attendants know so they can help me go through the lines faster and shit, I've done that before, it's doable, besides it's Canada not China, I'm sure they would help me there.

Guess again. The Shanghai - Vancouver flight also got delayed. This means that I got double fucked. Because now I'm not gonna make it to YVR in time, gonna miss the flight I bought less than 48 hours and now I literally have no money left to buy another ticket - even if I had, buying a last minute ticket is expensive as fuck.

So we'll see what happens. I'm going to arrive in Canada without an onwards ticket, no money and yep, you guessed correctly, only summer clothes! Canada in the almost Winter, that should be fun.

This all sounds too ridiculous to be true, but it is.

I'll handle it, I've always had, I always will. Writing about it makes all the rage go away and it let's the peace of mind come, it's my catharsis. I'm already feeling better.

It's not like I don't have some crypto or assets I can sell, but I hate selling. I don't want to sell more steem - I think I won't have to, I hope - and I'll sell some (or many) splinterlands alpha packs to get myself out of this mess. It's not pretty. I'm not 25 anymore, I can't keep traveling like this, with a tight as fuck budget and no plans but where my feet take me. It's long overdue, I'm gonna stay in Mexico for a while before thinking of doing any long distance travel.

Rant over. Got it out of my system. If you kept reading til the end, please let me know why did you keep reading. I would like to know if my writing style still has that special something that makes people keep reading, even when it's about dirty socks, rants or travel adventures.

By the way, I can't upload pictures with this Chinese airport internet, so I'm just including a random pic of me in an airport - from which I already have the URL. I hope it works :P

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Let me know what happens when you get here! If the airline is at fault sometimes they can cram you on a replacement flight, so let's hope for that... but if you are super stuck I can take out cash or find some stuff to bring to you in town. good luck!

Well. That was some rant!!! Well justified though and it feels good to get shit off your chest once in a while. If you somehow ever make it to the states brother...you got a place here to crash.

You want to know why I kept reading? Because it was real and from the heart. Also because it was from you and I consider you a friend...so knowing what’s really going on in your life...good or bad, is important to me.

Life seems complex for lots of my friends, family, and even myself now. All I can say is that it’s gotta get better at some point. I do believe that we will be able to look at these times and laugh somewhere down the line. I really do believe that.

Hang in there brother. Much love man.

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Thanks so much man! I actually had a lot of trouble booking a flight that didn't ho through the US. It took a long time for me to book the VISA appointment and get it approved, all to lose it a few months after getting it while visiting Austria early this year, sucks balls, so at the moment I can't visit the US, but will get that fixed soon :D

Oh man, thanks for letting me know about the reasons you kept reading, I really appreciate you telling me and I appreciate more the reasons behind it :) I also consider you a friend and you missing Thailand was hard, I was hoping to see you there but hey, I think next year it will be closer to our motherlands :D

Yeah, I always end up laughing about these things, maybe sometimes even a little too early :P

Great to hear from you man, I hope everything is going great back home after the whole doggo incident :/ Sending hugs from Canada!

oh gosh sorry to hear all the stuff you have been through. Yes it is not fun traveling where things seem to go wrong and it seems like its curse, the bad vibe just continues. I hope you have a better journey home and we can see your picture on the post. And I hear you about selling cypto at these prices but glad you thought outside the box and started selling some alpha packs (i saw the transactions jump thinking thinking what has happened).

take care, stay safe and catch up when you are home :)

Sorrry to hear about your predicament man. Funny how life sometimes throw shit at us one after the other. Just think of this as another test of your character and nothing that you can't handle. Love your writing style though, it got me hooked until the end. It was nice meeting you and your brother at steemfest by the way! Till we meet again man!

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Yeah, there's this saying in Mexico that goes around this: It just keeps raining on you even though you're already wet as fuck xD

Thanks for the comment about the writing style man, that's exactly what I try to accomplish, that anyone reading gets hooked and keeps reading til the end :D

We'll meet again, I'm pretty sure amigo. It was also great meeting you man!

My pleasure! See you on the next SF amigo!

valid rant there dude, good luck getting home!
( I have some 'cool runnings ideas' by you now standing in the snow in summer clothes)

but uhhh..what will not help you now but will help you later is getting the flight delay compensation of 600 bucks...look it up! when more than 6 hours delay then you can apply for it

Damn what a nightmare!! China flight delays are quite well known because of the bad weather, but many still opt for it as the flights are cheaper than many routes. Hopefully you will find a way to make it back home from Vancouver, do keep us posted please . Take care

Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear! Air-travel (flights, airports, and all things related) plus immigration are the two factors that I also agree are the worst aspects to traveling. Keeping my fingers crossed that you can find a way home without having to sell more cards. And yes, I admit I'm also looking forward to an exciting story of how the entire thing unfolds.

By the way, why I kept reading till the end? Because I know from your previous posts that you tend to include in your stories a number of well executed turns, which I just don't want to miss out on. See, the situations you take your readers on may be horrible and frustrating, yet the manner in which you deal with them are ultimately positive. So being able to relate to you is only half of it. If the reader can say in the end: "Oh, now that wasn't so bad after all." (although it was really terrible) and "I would have done the same." (Sure... are you sure?) it's a sign that your writing is captivating. Don't we all want to enjoy the thrill of being overwhelmed by outside forces, only to handle it all seemingly without a hitch?

I hope both of you make it safe to your home, keep us posted. But on the bright side, one day you will share a beer with some friends and tell this story and laugh about this. This is a priceless story, and now you can consider standup as a career because this is gold.

I might need to rant a little in the next days if I find the time to do it.

Good luck my friend.

Aaaah nooo. That really fucking blows. Just know that you'll get home somehow and some way were you can blow off steam and fuck all.

Tbh I love reading rants.

Sending love and support <3

I just kept reading because I was hoping for nudes at the bottom, or a hidden link to all your nudes somewhere hidden on the text.

Such disappointment.

Posted using Partiko iOS

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