The week leading up to departure

Friday, May 25

As usual, I did my very best to work myself up into a lather in the week leading up to the trip.  Last week I was sick, some sort of post-NYC trip fatigue and almost-headcold had me feeling like ass until 2 days ago.  But that passed.

Over the weekend I noticed that my layover in Fort Lauderdale, which I though I had scheduled to be 3 hours or so, was only 80 minutes.  And landing mid-afternoon in FLL at this time of year is dodgy, with all the thunderstorms around (as I know from my Miami Spinning Conference days).  So I called JetBlue Monday morning to try to change to an earlier flight.  The change fee plus difference in fare was $550 but I convinced myself that getting there 5 hours early for the flight to Lima was worth the peace of mind and not losing a day in Peru.  Then I mentioned to the phone rep that I thought maybe the schedule had changed because I’d never allow such a short layover.  And voila! They had changed my flights and now that the change was their doing and not mine, the flight change was free!  So that passed.

Then I spent three days ruminating on all things snake and fearing the absolute worst out of my trip to the Amazon.  I remember the beginnings of this trip, as I was on medical leave last fall and taking my wildlife conservation class with Jane Goodall.  She was the one that encouraged me to experience another ecosystem and body of wildlife.  She also seemed, in her stories, seemingly fearless of snakes.  “Leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone,” I remember her saying.  Nevertheless I worked myself up into a great case of intestinal distress turning to dread yesterday.  Had I made a terrible mistake doing this?  Is it worth the anxiety? Somehow I talked myself down (a gin and tonic likely helped) and I slept well and woke up this morning ready to go.  So that passed.  (Sort of)

I’d just showered this morning when I found the notification from JetBlue that my 10 a.m. flight will now leave at 11:45, but that I should still get to the airport on time for the 10 a.m. flight.  So a flight delay indeed has happened, but I still have a 3 hour cushion in Fort Lauderdale if all things go as planned right now.  If I’d been on the later flight, I’d be weeping in my cold brew right now.

I am excited to see a new country, a new continent, a new ecosystem or two.  I’m thrilled beyond belief to go to Machu Picchu and I struggle to wrap my head around what it’ll look like.  I want to use my Spanish (how rusty can it be?) and meet the people.  It’s just that every place new to me pushes me outside my comfort zone, and I think as I get older that adds a level of stress.  I think of someone like my travel-idol Anthony Bourdain and how EVERY trip he takes is new to him (mostly).  How does he do this trip after trip?  How is he not in a chronic state of anxiety/trip stress/intestinal distress?  It’s been a while since I’ve been somewhere entirely new to me.  That was 2013 when I first went to Africa and I remember the same anxiety which has now been replaced with a longing and a passion that I have for no other place.  And this stress cropped up for China before that, and Russia before that.  I know I overcome this and will likely love the hell out of it.  This is why I work, this is why I do what I do.  I love to travel and experience what’s out there for us.

It’s 3 hours from here to Fort Lauderdale, a 3 hour layover and then 5 1/2 hours to Lima.  I should be in bed around midnight, schedule gods and prevailing winds considered.