Initially when I booked this last minute trip to come and see my oldest friend in SE Asia... meaning I've known him the longest, not that he is really old... I was initially quite elated. It was a reunion of sorts and probably the person I trust the most on earth so yeah, I was stoked.
src
I've been here now for 6 nights and while we have had some good times, I think that even this much time might have been a bit too much. If I visit in the future it will be for even less time than this. It isn't that I got tired of the guy, we are basically besties and there is never a dull moment in conversation. We could sit and talk for hours and hours about almost anything - he's just an awesome person and we "click" really well together.
That being said, by the time today has rolled around, I am really looking forward to heading back to my tiny condo in Da Nang, Vietnam.
I think you can guess the main reason why this is the case though and here she comes!
That picture was sent to me by a friend of mine at a local pub called "Sleepy Dog." The Australian friend of mine that absolutely LOVES my dog takes her there every day and while I am sure she is fine, I know for a fact that she suffers from separation anxiety when I am not around. She isn't sad when she is around people, but Mark (the guy watching her) has said that she spends hours on end staring out the front door of his house and just lying there, like she is waiting for me to come around the corner at any moment now.
I don't think that dogs have a very good concept of time. This is evidenced by her reaction to my return from popping down to the corner store for 3 minutes being relatively the same reaction she has for when I am gone for bowling for 6-7 hours in a row.
I do miss her though, and my routine with her might seem boring to others that witness it, but it is what I want to do. It isn't a nuisance at all. There are few things I enjoy more than lying down on the sofa watching a film with a pizza and having her lay down at my feet.
While I loved being around my friend, another thing that I don't like about visiting people is that I start to feel like a burden. I am completely under his control as far as getting around to go anywhere is concerned because I will not drive on this island anymore. I mentioned before how traffic is insane here and while there was a time that I easily navigate traffic like this in the past, I don't drive anymore. I have only been the driver on a motorbike twice in the past 5 years and I just don't feel comfortable doing it anymore.
Also, I think he felt compelled to do something "special" for every meal and every afternoon so by day 3 I had a talk with him about how I don't care about any of that crap and what I really want to do is what he would normally do. If what he would normally do is to have a nap in the afternoon, I will do something else with that time. I don't like disrupting other people's lives and I don't like it when the disrupt mine either.
I sit here alone in his house right now and am going to get a taxi to the airport in about 20 minutes. As much as I hate airports, I am actually excited to get this out of the way.
I said it after my long trip to Mexico back in October and I'll say it again: I don't really want to travel anymore. I like my routine back at my condo even though it probably would seem boring to others. I like going bowling twice a week, having "boring" meals, going to the gym, and then popping down to the local pub every day for happy hour even though its the same damn people there every single day.
I don't mind the routine. In fact, I am kind of annoyed when it is disrupted.
It is very important to nurture what few awesome friendships we are able to find in our lives, but I also think it is important to not overstay one's welcome. I will return to see this guy again but in the future I think I will make it just for a weekend. That is more than enough time for me.
It's like this: I would prefer to feel a sense of sadness when I am leaving a place, not a sense of relief. Right now, the most excited I have been about this trip thus far is that I am getting into a taxi really soon to get back to my doggy friend, back to my own neighborhood, back to my own bed.
I guess you could say that vacations are kind of a way of making me appreciate what it is that I have in my life and that being the case, it is very effective. I am extremely excited to get back to my boring and routine life with my dog.
I'm quite certain that she feels exactly the same way. Staying with Mark has likely been a bit exciting and she is almost certainly getting more treats than I give her, but I bet she would much rather be back on her familiar pillows on the sofa at my feet as well.