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After I was denied boarding
Mid August, I was supposed to start a long planned solo backpacking trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Having arrived three hours early on the day of departure at the airport, I was told by the airline that I could not fly because I would need an Irish visa.
I somehow immediately accepted the fact that I had to cancel everything and try to replan a completely new trip. I sat down on the floor inside the airport for a long while, at least to rest physically first, talked with a few friends, quickly went through my mind of what to do next, and finally gathered enough strength to move to a bench and made as many cancellations as I could via the phone apps. I was a bit surprised that I did not cry, instead, I simply did what I had to do.
The damage was less about the financial loss from canceling a whole trip so last minute and having to come up with an alternative plan in no time, the trauma and sadness was, after all the hardship and significant life changes I went through over the past pandemic year, I could not have a well-deserved a trip to disconnect from everyday troubles, worries, for me it was also a spiritual break to self-reflect and recharge.
Such a normal thing like having a holiday break to come back refreshed and carry on life and work with better energy could be deprived simply because of one鈥檚 identity and the complexity of visa and border policy.聽
You could say that it is common sense to check visa requirements. I would only understand how this could happen after it happened to myself, and how it could be so easy to blame individuals themselves when things went wrong. Even the most organised and careful person could fall into a victim by any error or when overlooking certain things. Sometimes it just only came afterwards as a hindsight.
After the Irish trip was ruined, I got really paranoid while planning an alternative trip. I thought of going on a Plan B trip to Northern Ireland, but in the end decided to give it up because my residence card has expired this month, and there is a long wait to get a replacement card from the Home Office. I got too stressed over the possibility of being returned from Belfast, even though the worry sounded a bit ridiculous since Northern Ireland is part of the UK.
My Plan C holiday, a trip within England, started on the third day of my annual leave. Coming up with a new plan may seem effortless from the surface, but it takes a lot of emotional strength and resilience to make it happen, and to adapt to still be able to enjoy it. Even after everything had been replanned and booked, I could not rest my mind the night before the trip, nor on the day of the trip, because I became over thinking and over worrying on whether I could check in at hotels with an expired ID card plus my passport. I became paranoid, thinking that I might be rejected by the hotels, imagining myself ending up on the street or outside of the hotel entrance, and calling the police.
That morning on the train setting out from London to my first destination, Salisbury, the passenger next to me was reading a book. I got jealous over such a normal and small thing - reading a book on the train for me seems like a privilege now, a privilege and good luck to have a decent life, a normal non-disrupted trip, and a peaceful and worry free mind to read. Personally I particularly love reading while traveling or commuting, however I just could not enjoy this simple pleasure that day after all the stress and lack of sleep.
This reminded me of an interview from the Guardian鈥檚 podcast a while ago. The black interviewee explained that the privilege of the white didn鈥檛 necessarily mean something grand, instead it could be something so normal and trivial. She gave the example that when a white person went into a shop, he/she wouldn鈥檛 need to be worried of being suspected as a shoplifter. This is a privilege, and this is a sad fact.
What I had been through was nothing compared to many immigrants who had worse issues over the border and many under more precarious and dire situations. This canceled Irish trip, together with many other challenges I managed through over the past year, simply makes me become ever more understanding and empathetic towards vulnerability, and I do not take things, no matter how trivial, for granted now.
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Viaje a Cardiff, Marzo 2020
Fui a Cardiff, Gales por primera vez en Marzo, y pas茅 3 d铆as all铆. Viaj茅 por autobus, que siempre me gusta, porque se puede ver el paisaje en el camino.
Pienso que hay 2 s铆mbolos de Gales,聽drag贸n rojo y narciso.聽
En el centro de la ciudad, hay una estatua de persona muy importante de Gales. Aneurin Bevan fue el politico que comenz贸 el Serviosos聽Medicos Nacional del聽Reino Unido.聽
Tambi茅n visit茅 el parlamento, que es un聽edificio moderno, similar al de Edimburgo, pero m谩s peque帽o y menos complicado que el de Edimburgo.聽
Visit茅 el museo nacional, sin embargo, me gust贸 m谩s este jarr贸n gigantesco, que es una obra moderna hecho por una artista local que alguna vez聽estudi贸 en China.聽
Este tipo de zona comercial interior es muy agradable, que es muy com煤n. Pienso que se llama Gallery.聽
En las afueras de la ciudad, hay un iglesia especial con una estatua moderno del Jesus, que puso en la聽iglesia despues de聽Segunda Guerra Mundial, y es muy impresionante. No se puede sacar foto, asi que descargu茅 una de internet.
El ultimo dia, fui a un castillo en un pueblo cerca de Cardiff. Se llama Caerphilly, y es el castillo mas grande en Gales. Pero me gust贸 mas el paisaje, el rio, el campo y las montanas alrededor, que el castillo mismo.聽
En fin, compr茅 algunos antiguos en una tienda local. Compro cosas 煤nicas de todos lugares donde viajo. Este es mi favorito de este viaje.
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