No Woman, No Cry

Monday, December 19, 2011

I love Bob Marley and I wish I could say I always head this advice.  Traveling has a way of continually  pushing you to the edge of personal limitations and it’s a challenge, every day, to “go with the flow” and trust that all will work out okay.  I’m currently seated at the Busan International Ferry terminal waiting for my ferry to depart to Fukuoka, Japan.   Ferry and train tickets are in hand, although the journey to get here was not so stress-free.  You may remember, from my last post that purchasing the ticket, alone was a “fun” task and that picking it up proved even more fun.  Since I was out of town until last night, I had no way of retrieving my ticket before this morning’s departure.  Shane, the Canadian I met while on the brink of tears at the ATM a few days ago, volunteered to retrieve the ticket for me and exchange it Sunday night.  Sounded simple enough to me!

I departed Busan on Thursday, comforted by this fact and anticipating a smooth exchange of the ticket and place to sleep on Sunday night.  Upon arriving in Gwangju, I emailed Shane to coordinate details.  Had an awesomely stress-free weekend until Saturday night when I read his response.  It was not what I had anticipated.  It read, “I’m not sure what you thought I said but I can’t meet up this weekend because I have a friend in town.  Maybe next weekend.”  Wait, what??!!!  I replied back to make sure he realized that I was needed my ticket THIS Sunday as I was leaving in less than 48 hours!!!!! Come Sunday morning, still no response from Shane.  Tried calling, couldn’t get ahold of him.  I was still 5 hours away from Busan, the travel agency was closed on Sunday, wouldn’t open Monday until 9am, and I had to be AT the terminal at 9am (clear across town).  I didn’t even know if my ticket was still at the agency or with Shane.  Good times.

To add to the fun of the weekend, I had a confirmed place to stay in Japan and a few hours before leaving Gwangju, got an email that he was unable to host.  So, I found myself with nowhere to sleep that night, nowhere to sleep for a week in Japan, and no way of retrieving my $200 train ticket for Japan.  So, I did what any person in this situation would do…hung out with friend longer and ate fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies!!  I’m proud to say that I didn’t panic or freak-out.  At that point, I figured the situation was out of my control and it was upsetting enough so there was no point in freaking out and making myself more miserable.  Instead, I TRULY LET GO and trusted that it would all work out somehow.

Nonetheless, I was less than thrilled for  my 5 hour bus journey in the snow, with no place to go upon arrival. I decided to head to where I ran into Shane at the ATM, hoping he lived nearby.  I planned to find a Jimjilbang (Korean spa) and crash for the night in the napping room ($6 for free spa services and a place to sleep)!  Before searching for a spa, I thought I’d  try one last time to see if I could contact Shane.  Turned on my Ipod touch (btw-BEST purchase for a traveler!!!!) to search for free wifi and I found it! Checked FB and had a message from Erin that Shane had called back and had my ticket!  Borrowed a phone from a passerby and got ahold of Shane—he had my ticket, could meet me near where I happened to be, and had a free couch to crash on!!!!  So, in the end, it all worked out.  I got all that I needed and to top it all off, had a lovely evening out exploring Busan and eating/drinking local Korean treats (and got free some Canadian socks out of the deal).  And don’t worry, mom, as for Japan, I booked a hostel for tonight and will see what unfolds for the remaining days.  Just another life lesson that, no matter what, it all works out in the end and people help people out if you are open to it.  I think that so often, we are too stressed and set on doing things for ourselves that we don’t allow others to help and open the door to new friendships and adventures such as this one.   I’d like to say that I’m perfect at this, at all times, but we all know how hard that is.  For now, I’m content knowing how blessed I am to travel and have plenty of opportunities to practice this.  I know it’s much more enjoyable (and adventurous) to be a “no worry woman” than a “cry woman.” Thanks, Bob.