Mar

The Travel Ninja’s Lost and Found

by Eva Boynton on March 9, 2015

A passport and wallet left on the ground while two people walk away, illustrating one problem a travel ninja must deal with after losing everything. (Image © Creatas)

A traveler’s worst nightmare
© Creatas

Travel Tips: How to Bounce Back After Losing Everything

It takes only a moment, literally seconds, to change a trajectory, a plan, a journey. That’s the moment when you lose everything.

I have slippery fingers (in the sense that I often lose things). I misplace an item, forget to take it with me, or stash it somewhere so secret, so perfectly hidden that I never find it again.

When I travel abroad, however, lost and found has come to have a different meaning for me. Yes, I have left on flights from Lima, Zurich, and Mexico City without money and belongings—all lost— but I have also come home with wisdom found through a series of “Oh, I see” moments.

The wise travel tips here surfaced during these moments after losing what seemed like everything and finding the creativity of my travel ninja within.

Green mountains in the Basque country of northern Spain, showing the location of the travel ninja's first "Oh, I see" moment that led to important travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

This journey began in the green hills of the Basque country.
© Eva Boynton

A Fairytale Landscape Sets the Scene

In 2011, I started walking the Camino de Santiago (Road to Santiago). The Camino is a network of pilgrimage routes and trails across Europe, each leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the cathedral there that is said to house the remains of the apostle Saint James.

Walking from one small town to another, I met Camino walkers from around the world. The first major city I encountered was on the sixth day when I confidently strode up to the walls of Pamplona.

A yellow arrow sign on the side of the Camino de Santiago for walkers to follow, showing the start of the travel ninja's education in travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Reading the signs
© Eva Boynton

With each step of my mud-caked boots, foreboding music squished out from underneath the soles. But somehow I missed the cue.

I left my backpack with two fellow walkers while I used a cafe’s bathroom.

When I returned to my friends, I quickly realized I was empty-handed. The wallet I had carried with me into the bathroom was missing.

I ran right back, but to my utter dismay and feared prediction I found a bare room.

Travel Ninja Tip #1: Slow down and organize. Secure important belongings by designating separate pockets for them in luggage and clothing or by duct-taping them onto your body. Always take a moment to scan an area before leaving.

An old travel wallet with passport, illustrating the lost item of a travel ninja. (image © Eva Boynton)

I lost my wallet and what seemed like my ticket home.
© Eva Boynton

Stopped in My Tracks

My wallet held my passport and the last of my traveling money (about 300 dollars/276 euros).

A lump formed in my throat. I was nauseous. The consequences of these life-changing minutes and seconds simmered. I felt the loss that always comes with abrupt and unwanted change.

Goodbye walking. Hello bureaucratic paperwork and phone calls. I had to backtrack to France by bus on a ticket funded by my Camino friends.

Sad-faced woman seen through the window of a train, showing a moment of learning after everything is lost that led to travel tips by a wiser travel ninja. (Image © Eva Boynton)

The bus ride was a suspended moment of disbelief and regret at a trip cut short.
© Eva Boynton

Right outside my window were fairytale hills decorated with sheep, cows and wild horses. But I spent the ride cursing my reflection and missing out on the view.

Once we reached France, the bus stopped and so did my pernicious wallowing. It was time to move on and decide my next move.

Travel Ninja Tip #2: Accept and move on. Rip off the band aid of self-pity to uncover a new journey. This helps to avoid a bad case of the should-a, would-a, could-a’s.

Passport book open with overlapping stamps, showing what the travel ninja lost and found (image © Jon Rawlinson

A new passport meant new pages to fill.
© Jon Rawlinson

Securing a New Identity

With the last of my gifted money and the help of generous strangers, I reached the American Embassy in Paris. I was asked a series of questions to verify my identity.

Unfortunately, I got the main one wrong (my parents’ dates of birth, now engraved in my brain). The clerk was suspicious and angry with me. To make matters worse I did not have a second form of ID. Behind the glass window, embassy staff spent 30 minutes discussing my future.

My name was called and, to my surprise, I was asked to raise my right hand and answer the question, “Do you swear you are Eva Claire Boynton?”

I replied, “I do.” I was stamped, verified, and half-way home.

Travel Ninja Tip #3: Embrace unlikely surprises. While traveling, solutions to roadblocks can appear out of thin air. With a little luck and good humor someone may offer to bend the rules or lead you along the back roads.

TGV train in Paris, France, showing a challenge for the penniless travel ninja and inspiring creative travel tips. (Image © Sheron Long)

Although they are time-efficient, fast trains cost a pretty penny.
That’s bad news for the penniless traveler.
© Sheron Long

The Travel Ninja Awakens

My last challenge was getting to Zurich for my flight. I had found my Eurail pass, allowing me to ride trains in France. But, of course, there was a catch.

Although Eurail passes function as a ticket, a costly reservation is also needed to claim a seat on a TGV (train à grande vitesse, or high-speed train). I was in the homestretch: Paris to Zurich. I needed 20 euros to reserve a seat. I had no cash left, and I was $150 in debt from borrowing money for my passport.

TGV train stopped at a station, illustrating the journey of a travel ninja that led to travel tips for what to do when you lose everything. (Image © Sheron Long)

So close, yet so far
© Sheron Long

I took a deep breath, stepped onto the TGV, stored my backpack, walked three cars down, and opened the bathroom door. I split the next eight hours between four bathrooms (switching so as not to appear suspicious).

My flight was leaving the following morning, and I was going to be on it.

Girl in train bathroom with scared expression, showing the travel ninja's journey after losing everything and gaining insight for her travel tips. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Walls of a public latrine were no French countryside, but I was
not about to be derailed by a simple reservation fee.
© Eva Boynton

The stress of being caught eased as time passed and I realized my quick thinking had paid off. After losing everything, I was going to make my flight.

My journey began and ended with a bathroom. The travel ninja within me turned the birthplace of my problem into an unlikely solution. I lost my wallet and found my own, creative way home.

Travel Ninja Tip #4: Adapt and get creative. You are more creative than you think. Keep your eyes and ears open for your own lavatory, ready to be adapted into a ticket home.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton Comments

Art of Travel/Life Lessons

Mar

Countless Connections in Peru’s Amazon Rainforest

by Eva Boynton on March 2, 2015

Two ants on the edge of a tropical leaf, illustrating one discovery on an experience in the Amazon rainforest that proves why study abroad is important. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Each species, big or small, has a part to play.
© Eva Boynton

Why Study Abroad Sticks Like Glue

My t-shirt was soaked in sweat from heat and humidity. Diverse shades of green were my landscape and horizon. Howling monkeys and buzzing cicada bugs echoed in the distance.

The Amazon rainforest was unlike any classroom I had ever known. What was once a distant place, the subject of textbooks, now came to life in accentuated brightness and flavor.

It became my home for a winter semester. And, as it changed the way I understood our interdependent and connected world, it answered the question, “Why study abroad?”

View of the Peruvian rainforest from an airplane window in the Amazon rainforest, the site for the writer's experience that answered the question, "Why study abroad?" (Image © Eva Boynton)

Wide rivers of the Peruvian rainforest not only provide a home to a variety of plants and animals,
but also serve as a main mode of travel for locals and visitors.
© Eva Boynton

Into the Peruvian Rainforest

Reaching Manú National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is not a simple task.

A map of Peru with names of cities and rivers, showing the towns the writer visited in the Amazon rainforest.

Hugging Bolivia, Puerto Maldonado
lies on Río Madre de Dios.

We arrived by plane in Puerto Maldonado, east of Cusco and the Andes.

After driving to Puerto Carlos, we took a boat across the Inambari River.

Then we drove to Boca Colorado and traveled by boat about six hours up the Madre de Dios River to Manú River that meanders through the park.

Listening to the motor roar in his ear for all six hours, a local from Puerto Maldonado steered the boat, dodging debris to take our group of 13 students and two professors into our classroom.

The dynamic route offered direct experience with the geography and landscape that set the stage for later connections.

A girl looking out from the edge of a wooden boat on a river in the Amazon, illustrating why study abroad has a lasting effect. (Image © Rydell Welch)

Biodiversity in Our Backyard

On the first day in the national reserve, we stepped into our new backyard with local researchers and guides René Escudero and Rufo Bustamante. We tiptoed on tree roots to avoid rain-flooded trails, ducked under leaves as big as my torso, and maneuvered around intricate spiderwebs seen at the last minute.

A tropical tree buttressed by large roots in the Amazon rainforest , a natural discovery made possible by study abroad and showing why a study abroad experience matters. (Image © Eva Boynton)

The rainforest was, in one word, alive! To put things into perspective, rainforests cover only 2% of Earth’s surface. Found within that 2% is half of all Earth’s plants and animals.

Manú National Park contains some of the greatest biodiversity on Earth. Consider the butterfly—Europe may have an impressive 321 species, but Manú National Park supports 1,300 species in an area 3% the size of France.

View of the top of the canopy in the Amazon rainforest, the site for the writer's winter semester that illustrated why the study abroad experience is so powerful. (Image © Eva Boynton)

From Big to Small, Everything Counts

With each step of our explorations, we uncovered secrets of the rainforest, including many interdependent relationships.

One myrmecophyte (plant living in a mutualistic relationship with an ant colony) offers leaf pouches, called domatias, that serve as nests for particular ant species.
The ants, in turn, offer the plant an army for protection against other insects that might feed on it.
Ants trade protection for shelter.
© Eva Boynton

Howler monkeys, awaking us each morning with bellowing sounds, seem like independent animals. But they, too, rely on other organisms within this rich world of biodiversity:

The monkeys depend on leaves from the canopy for food.
Trees in the canopy grow by extracting minerals from the soil with the help of fungi on their roots.
The fungi rely on beetles that decompose litter on the forest floor, including the excrement of howler monkeys.

A howler monkey climbing in a tree covered with leaves in the Amazon rainforest, the site of the writer's winter semester that proved why study abroad is so important. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Everything is connected in a cycle—monkey, tree, fungi, beetle, and back to monkey. As big as towering trees or as small as some of the 3,600 species of spiders, the organisms in the rainforest are connected by a web of interdependent relationships.

More Connections Under the Canopy

Study abroad plunged me into the vastness of the Peruvian Amazon and opened my eyes to countless scientific connections.

But there were personal connections, too, the kind that made me say “Oh, I see!”

I found that I learned best when lessons were non-linear and sprang from discovery. Study abroad is immersive (so different from textbook lessons). The direct hands-on experience that it provides transformed the Amazonian world into my greatest classroom.

Hawk's wing pulled open by researcher, showing a hands-on approach of studying abroad in the Amazon rainforest. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Hands-on interaction in the Amazon meant letting your senses make the discoveries:
listening, smelling, tasting, and touching.
© Eva Boynton

Study abroad, also challenged me to become familiar with something unknown and different. I saw, just as the organisms in the Amazon rainforest depended on each other, that I, too, fit into an interdependent world larger than my neighborhood. I made the connections, and my way of seeing changed in the process.

When people make personal discoveries like learning style, face challenges, and find their unique roles, they connect the dots of the diverse network that is our world. And that’s why a study abroad experience sticks to people like glue and stays with them for life.

The Amazon river with a wall of rainforest behind it and one cloud in the sky, a magnificent discovery during a winter semester in the Amazon rainforest, proving why study abroad is so important. (Image © Eva Boynton)

For more information on Amazon biodiversity check out Discovering Peru.

To learn about conservation of Peru’s rainforest visit Amazon Conservation Association.