Life on the Road: Adapting

[singlepic=1223,175,,,right]Adapting to life on the road can be a very subtle transition – and in most cases you don’t even realize it until you find yourself in a more familiar situation.  In this excerpt from Sherry’s travel blog, she realizes how much she has gotten used to living out of a backpack and other small adjustments to living on the road.

After 7 months of traveling around developing countries with my backpack I feel like I’ve changed. I used to have a closet full of clothes and shoes, more than I ever needed. I could have clothed some small towns in Cambodia with my closet. Now I have learned the fine art of how to wear the same outfit multiple days in a row (this all depends on the climate that you are traveling in). I seldom wear make-up anymore and normally am walking around in my tattered tennis shoes. Hair conditioner (or any styling products) and a washcloth are a luxury. I have definitely adjusted to not needing much!

However, with this change in hygiene, also comes that feeling that I’m completely frumpy. I used to use the construction workers on my commute to the subway as my gage for if I looked ok that day…if I got a look, then I must look ok. I doubt they would even flinch these days. Hence, I think it’s been months since a guy has ever given me a second look. Gone are the days where I felt hip – now I’m just happy when I get to use a hair dryer. Since I was moving on to Europe for the next few months, I tried to pack nicer clothes and ship back home my fleece and hiking pants in hopes of maybe cleaning up my act and feeling attractive again!

[singlepic=1143,175,,,left]I arrived in Europe with a short layover in Dubai. I was exhausted since I haven’t really experienced jet lag since October. Arrival in Greece also exposed me to something I hadn’t experienced for a long time – there was no arrival card to fill out.

At first I thought maybe I had too much wine on the plane and some how I missed the flight attendants passing them out. But as I looked around I noticed that no one else had one either. Strange – no visa, no arrival card – I felt cheated! I have spent the last 7 months memorizing every bit of data on my passport. I now consider it a special skill that I could put on my resume. It could go right next to the skills of shooting automatic weapons, eating rat, and can drive a manual transmission vehicle. With a resume like that I figure I can get a job patrolling the border of Afghanistan. Who knows maybe that can be my next career.

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2 Comments on "Life on the Road: Adapting"

  1. christine talianis on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 6:23 am 

    i hear you!!! i feel so frumpy, it’s not funny….the other day i got a pedicure at a beauty school and thought i was in heaven…i have looked at my toes today a million times admiring how ‘normal’ they look…..we are in melbourne, australia right now and there are a lot of lovely, beautiful people…..i think it will be easier to be frumpy when we go to s.e. asia…..great to hear, i am not alone, christine

  2. Sherry Ott on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 7:06 pm 

    Christine – it’s much harder to accept/deal with the ‘frumpiness factor’ in nice big/hip cities. NYC does me in! However you’re totally right – once you get to SE Asia – you will fit in just fine! Good idea to ‘pamper’ yourself every so often so that you feel human again!

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