It's the cliiiiiiiimb

Well, I am officially underway! I am coming to you live (kind of) from the international terminal at JFK. There seems to be one computer at one group of desks that belongs to my airline, and atop it sits a handwritten note to return in a couple of hours to check in. Predictably, my travel plan to get to the Canary Islands is just about as drawn out and complicated as my application process was—“streamlined” is probably not an adjective I would use to describe my life. Part of that can be attributed to having my home base in rural Appalachia, where things like next-day delivery and walking-distance grocery stores are unheard of. On the other hand, Nate is currently trying to get to the airport to hang out with me during my layover and is having one hell of a time with the train system. What would be a mere stone’s throw in the country is an almost insurmountable, undriveable, very expensive distance to travel here in NYC. With all its relative isolation and inconveniences, I’d pick the country any day. But that’s just me!

As in my last post, I thought it might be fun to outline my path to give some insight into what’s actually going on in my life. As many people have noted before, the pictures people paint on some social media platforms (Instagram, for one) can distill life into only its sweetest moments, leaving out all the twists and turns. I personally find too much comedic gold in the less-than-ideal parts of my life, and I definitely don’t want it to go to waste. 

So! Have you ever wondered how one would travel from Whipple, Ohio, USA to Valle Gran Rey, Canarias, Spain? This is how I’m doing it:

1. Drive from Whipple to Columbus, OH, approximately 2 hours. 
1. a. Stop 45 minutes in to pick up ailing hawk from random farm for transport to Ohio Wildlife Center (not required unless your mom is the valley's preeminent bird lady, of course). 
2. Fly from Columbus to New York, NY, approximately 2 hours.
3. Take AirTrain from terminal 8 to terminal 1. 
4. Wait 8 hours in JFK. 
5. Fly overnight from New York to Madrid, Spain, approximately 7 hours. 
6. Wait 9.5 hours. Try to find your friend, lunch, and a SIM card in the mean time. 
7. Fly from Madrid to Tenerife (one of the larger islands), approximately 2.5 hours. 
8. Take a bus across the island to the southern side with the correct port. 
9. Take a ferry across the water to the smaller island of La Gomera.
10. Take a smaller ferry/catamaran around to the other side of the island. (I have no idea how long any of this will take)
11. Walk…….. and then……. collapse???

To the seasoned traveler, this probably sounds like a cinch. I’ve traveled quite a bit within the US thanks to my parents’ birdwatching careers (see photos), but have only traveled internationally once before. 

North Dakota...

New Mexico...

...and Maine! (clear foreshadowing)

Luckily, though, I think the enormity of this trip is such that my mind has turned on some kind of autopilot or enforced tranquility. I have been remarkably relaxed about it all, which is …atypical of me, to say the least. Anyone even remotely close to me has probably picked up on the fact that I am a very emotional person. 

I am also capable of displaying some Type A tendencies, though I think this is changing for a couple of reasons. Back in 2015, I fell into an almost year-long bout of significant anxiety, which was previously something I had never experienced for more than just a few minutes. There were multiple factors at play, some that I’m only just starting to understand. At the core, though, was my tendency to imagine and expect every event and scenario in my life to go a certain way. In this sense, I had been ~cruisin’ for a bruisin’~ for a long time, and finally, it had all come to a head. After suffering the consequences for many months, I had to claw my way out of the whole mental and emotional mess using tools and tricks recommended by my friends and family, my counselor, books, and the internet. Once I finally found what worked for me and climbed out of the metaphorical hole, I looked around and realized I was never going back there. If that meant letting things go to a point way past my former comfort zone, so be it. My semester abroad in Panama helped me immensely with this, as the entire country operates in a Type B reality. 

This photo taken just before we all got drenched by an aguacero (extremely heavy downpour) right before meeting our host families.

There were a few drawbacks to this transition in my way of being, of course—the days of turning in essays and projects a week in advance were far gone (after the way my senior year went, it’s hard to believe they ever existed). I also found that, in general, my reaction to events (good or bad) was much more measured, which was certainly an adjustment, but not necessarily a bad one. For the promise of general stability, I was glad to sacrifice a little bit of my emotional range. 

As my dad always tells me, worry 80% less. If I stop to check in with myself when I’m worrying, I almost always realize that fretting does nothing to improve the situation. So, here I am, cool as a cucumber, miles and miles from home. It’s all good!

yes I am crying but yes it's ok!!!!!!