vague vacation vagaries

Travel tips:

As you value your sanity and soundness of mind, never schedule two overnight layovers in an airport in one week. Especially if you are too poor to get a hotel. Really, airports are designed to drive you CRAZY!!! and should be entered only under extreme circumstances.

As you value your sanity and soundness of mind, never schedule two 12+ hour flights in one weeks time. While being very glad that airplanes can take us lots and lots and lots of miles very quickly, one still must essentially sit in one place for most of that time, and watch whatever movie (good or bad) is shown, and eat whatever food (good or bad, and to be fair the food was ok) they have stocked.








You know you've been in a dry place, when for all that you can complain about the over-nighter at the airport on the return trip, you are glad that the airport is humid so that your mouth doesn't feel parched anymore.








Never confuse a stone forest with a dehydrated forest.









Wonders really do never cease.

For example, me, an avowed and committed coffee drinker, went for several days drinking mostly...

teas.

Oh, sure, there was some instant coffee, and that's fine. But really, all that time without something or anything coffee? And even when I got to the coffee shop in the airport in the morning after the second overnighter, what do I get but a...

green tea latte.

I seem to have been knocked for more then one loop on that vacation.










How can such a tiny lady have such a huge smile?











I question a bit when people tell us, especially as a display, that the people of certain racial group or nationalities live and dress and dance in the ways being shown.

It's not that I think it's false information, very likely it's correct, but I suspect that it's incomplete.

It's not that I don't think that those people don't every wear such nicely-made outfits, they probably do, but not all the time. It's not that I think they never do those kinds of dances, but that it's not an everything thing. Such nice clothes and dances are probably done on occasions and for events.

I can imagine that their common days are, well, rather more prosaic. They do what they must to grow or catch and prepare food, to trade for things they want or need from others, to raise and care for families, and basically do the kinds of things we all do to some degree. No doubt their regular clothing looks more work-in and not a nice and shiny. And that's fine.

Maybe I'm wrong, though. Really, all of that is merely speculation, it's not something I've researched. It's only thoughts.

And I hope that such musings don't seem to take away from my appreciation for where we visited. It was a nice place, very unexpected, very interesting. I guess I'm just not wanting to confuse it with what the real lives of such people may be like.










For it being such a few days, it was filled, and I'm glad I was able to go.

What did I take from it, though, or maybe a better way to put it, what did I learn and what do I need to do about what I learned?

I think that the thing that I learned, in a personal sense, could best be expressed in this way, that some things need to change in and with me.

A bit ago, there was a time of self-examination, but I think this trip put some accent on things that are not right in me.

Some of it is stuff that I have half-hearted worked at, but that I now know need to lose the 'half' part of that.

There are other things that I have only taken a passing interest in, perhaps for good reason, but that perhaps they need a bit more focus now. There are things about myself that are not complete, are not right, are in a word disappointing, and that can and should be better.

There is much to consider, and perhaps after that much to work at and plan for, and God's guidance and wisdom will be needed by me so very much.

As a preacher remarked a bit ago, in situations like this, there are often obstacles a guy needs to overcome. From my view at the moment, they seem to be high obstacles, and I'm not sure how to overcome them. I can only pray for God's help and favor.