I was
missing one very important thing off my checklist, the money. I was broke. I
was about a month away from the trip and I had nothing. I don’t understand how
I missed such important factor. Since I bought the tickets in January I thought
that I was going to have plenty of time to save so I kinda of miscalculated how
much time did I needed to save a decent amount of money to take to Peru – a
place thousands of miles away from home – where I was going to be basically
alone with no family.
So there I
was, I recall having a nervous breakdown in my bedroom as I was trying to plan
my packing; I was in my room going through my closet, pretty excited about
packing for this amazing trip I was going to take. Although I was nervous
because I was going to meet the rest of my boyfriend’s family I was excited
about going to a different country with him, making new memories and enjoying
the whole experience. There were things I needed to buy to take to the trip and
I had not saved any money. I started to worry and tried to add up the paychecks I was going to receive before the trip to see if it was going to be
enough. After I added everything I realized it wasn't going to be enough and I couldn't ask anybody to lend me money. I couldn't expect my boyfriend to pay for everything or his family, how embarrassing! So I
started to freak out and getting very overwhelmed because I felt like I didn't have a solution to my problem. What was I supposed to do?
As I looked around my room I
realized I was stuck in a big mess, literally and financially. While picking
out what I was going to take to the trip I had turned my room into a big mess
and having the stress on me about not having money together with visually seeing
the mess I was in, it stressed me out even more.
I was so overwhelmed at that moment that I began to cry. I cried like a baby and my mom was confused
she didn't understand what was wrong with me. This was supposed to be a fun trip.
All these thoughts started to cross my mind: I’m going to a different country,
I have no money, I’m going alone, I’m going to meet my boyfriend’s family, I’m
going with all of them like an adult, I’m not a little girl, no one is going to
pay for me. So, suddenly I was in this big black cloud in my head where I couldn't find the light. Maybe I was seeing things worse than what they really
were but there I was stuck in a black cloud crying for help and I felt like no
one could help me. I think today that maybe I was over reacting but at that
moment I was very stressed and couldn't really see that there was a solution
and that everything was going to be okay. It is in those stressful moments that
we tend to lose sight of the future and understand that things are going to be
just fine.
I can’t recall for how long I was crying for but it felt like it was for hours until I slowly calmed down. A while after I
realized my birthday was coming up right before the trip! So I thought to just ask for cash! That’s all I needed that birthday, in my mind this was the solution
for my problem. So I’m looking forward to it and I can’t wait until my birthday arrives. To my surprised once it did I didn't received enough money, at least I didn't think it was enough. So I was upset again. But this time there was no
other choice. I couldn't cancel the ticket because that was going to be a lot
of money as well. They usually charge you a cancellation fee and it made no
sense to pay that money when I had no money. So I decided to just go on the trip since there wasn't another choice, with only the
about three hundred dollars I had and that was it. I eventually completed my
packing and the day arrived, off we were to the airport until we landed in
Lima, Peru.
We get off the plain late at night
and we had to sleep in the airport that night. Our second plane to a different
city in Peru, where we were actually going to stay, wasn’t going to come until
about 6:00 am the next day. There were no chairs in the area where we were
allowed to wait so we all sat on top of our bags or laid on the floor. I have
my financial stress in the back of my head and on top of that I’m laying on
hard floor, where I’m going to spend the night. Morning came and we boarded the
plane, finally! I’m sitting on something soft inside the plane. We arrived, we
rest for that day and then after I’m introduced to some of the family members I
see everyone is so nice and welcoming.
The next couple of days before we really go anywhere to visit, the
family planed out how the trip was going to be like. They established that we wouldn’t
be staying in any hotels because wherever we were going to visit there were
family members around where we stayed. When I heard that this was what we were
going to be doing I felt like there was a load off my back because I wasn’t
going to be spending money on hotels. So my financial issue was clearing up.
The days kept going on and things
were just so nice. Money wasn’t a problem anymore because what I had was enough
to buy food when needed or entrance tickets when we visited different places.
As the days went by I was just enjoying everything. I was calm; I was happy and
excited about all the beautiful places I was seeing. When I was in the mist of
my problem I was overwhelmed and I couldn’t really picture myself having a good
time, I thought that this trip was going to be the worst ever because I was
just so stressed. Seeing me enjoying the trip was incredible. I was thrilled
with the experience. My biggest concern was that I wasn’t going to have enough money
but I did, everything just ran smoothly, it could’ve not been more perfect. The
family welcomed me in a very special way so that was great as well.
I remembered going to all these new
places and taking pictures in almost every corner. I took over one thousand
pictures during those two weeks, that’s more that 70 pictures a day. This was an unforgettable experience for me at this
beautiful country. I would definitely do it again and I’ll be able to have way
less stress because I know what to expect exactly because I have already been
there. Suddenly as my trip went by, I felt like a kid in Christmas day because
I was just so happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment