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

Aug

“Missed Connections” Offer Alluring Life Lessons

by Meredith Mullins on August 22, 2013

Four strangers on a train, ripe for missed connections and life lessons about seizing the moment

Missed Connection on the Red Line
© Digital Vision/Darrin Klimek

Carpe Diem: Seize the Moment . . . or Not

Our eyes met several times today on the A train. You have blond hair and were wearing a black jacket. When you got off at 5th, you looked at me through the window and smiled. Would love to see you again.

I never do this but . . . we saw each other on the Red Line today. You’re tall (like me) and have the bluest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. It was hard to stop sneaking a peek at you. You got off at Market Street. Figured it’d be worth a shot to post this.

You were at the Springsteen concert last night (Row S) sitting next to me. The girl you were with started out next to me, but then you switched seats (thank you). If you see this and would like to chat, reply back and we can go from there.

In this fast-paced world of devices, headphones, and anonymity, human interactions are sometimes elusive.

Woman looking a man with newspaper, a missed connection or a life lesson about carpe diem

The elusiveness of human interaction
© Brand X Pictures

Although we bury ourselves in our smartphones and work routines, most of us do have an innate desire for connection. And, if we’re single, we may be actively searching.

Dating sites and matchmaking services have solid audiences—with tales of success, frustration, and failure. But another path is gaining momentum.

Missed Connections

Missed Connections are the moments when spontaneous smiles, magnetic eye contact, or shared experiences trigger an attraction . . . but the players in the drama don’t complete the connection. Shyness. Intervening events. Bad timing. Whatever the cause, the story is left unfinished.

Clerk smiles at customer, a life lesson moment that could turn into a missed connection or carpe diem

A magnetic moment
© Purestock

Then, the lament—the what if’s and coulda/woulda/shoulda’s—and the freedom of imagination to create romantic dreams, the kind that fuel film scripts with happy endings.

Now, these lost moments can be “advertised” so that a next chapter becomes a possibility.

It all began when Craigslist launched its “Missed Connections” section where people could post their story and have a second chance at getting to know that mysterious stranger.

The idea has spread to newspapers, magazines, and online forums. It’s a booming business and also one of those sources of entertainment where hours (or days) can be lost before you know it.

Four strangers standing in a subway, ripe for missed connections or the life lesson of carpe diem

Public transit is a popular place for “missed connections.”
© Getty Images/Jupiterimages

Psychology Today has even analyzed the patterns of missed connections. Californians seem to miss their connections at the gym. In the northeast and south, Walmarts, supermarkets, and public transit are rife with near misses.

And, oddly, in Indiana, missed connections happen mostly “at home.” (Turns out this isn’t a judgment on family life, but rather a tribute to the pizza delivery person, the appliance repairman, or the neighbor.)

Four seated train passengers, life lessons about missed connections or carpe diem

Will the connection be missed or the moment seized?
© Stockbyte

A Venue for Dreamers . . . and Writers

While the success rate of star-crossed strangers’ meeting again is low, Missed Connections forums have become a place of dreams and, as it turns out, also a springboard for budding fiction writers and poets.

Yes, emerging writers can still submit to the New Yorker, Ploughshares, and Paris Review, in the hope of getting attention. But they can also post on Missed Connections to test the waters.

The stories expand the boundaries of truth. Plot lines twist and turn, and characters come alive. Readers can get a taste of Harlequin romance and action thrillers for free.

We were sitting together waiting for the bus, but not really waiting (come to think of it). Actually, we just had decided to sit down somewhere and this bench was catching the mid-afternoon sunlight nicely. I looked at you and said “I don’t see myself ever breaking up with you.” You smiled.

—Quote from Redeye Chicago Missed Connections

We chatted briefly while I waited for the teller to fill my bag with money. You waved goodbye with a big smile while I ran out to a waiting car. I wanted to get your name but did not have the time. You . . . tall . . . great face . . . nice hands (I noticed when you raised them) . . . cute smile. Me, a little nervous, wearing a mask, toting a gun and a bag full of money. If you see this, and I hope you will, tell me what bank I was robbing (so I know it is you).
P.S. No FBI or local police.

—Quote from Craigslist Missed Connections

Your image is forever etched on my soul/It’s like I knew you before that moment/But it’s too late now/You got off at Lake/You looked back at me and smiled/like you felt it all too/but both of us too shy to make a move/Now you’re lost to me/The memory is all that remains.

—Quote from Redeye Chicago Missed Connections

Life Lessons

Missed Connections can be wistful or hopeful. The posts can wax poetic or be downright pornographic (an unfortunate recent trend). Underlying emotions can channel regret or offer the optimism of a second chance.

Aside from pure entertainment and good reading as new talent in the fiction genre emerges, Missed Connections do offer a life lesson.

Couple smiles at chance meeting in supermarket, a life lesson about carpe diem.

Oh, I see. It may be better to seize the moment and make the connection when the opportunity is within reach rather than leaving the next chapter to fate.

Carpe Diem. What have you got to lose?

For more immersion in Missed Connections, read the recently posted Craigslist short story—being touted as the ultimate missed connection and see Sophie Blackall’s unique illustrations of missed connections.

Quotes VIA Craigslist and Redeye Chicago.

Comment on this post below or share your story of a missed connection—fact or fiction. Inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins Comments

Life Lessons

May

Seven Important Life Lessons in a Bee Garden

by Janine Boylan on May 27, 2013

A bumblebee whose behavior shows life lessons in a bee garden

The other day I met some neighbors I didn’t know too well: bees. Walking through a bee garden planted especially for bees, I learned a lot about these little creatures. They had some Oh, I see important life lessons for me, too.

1. Diversity is the spice of life.

When you think of bees, it’s likely that you picture a honeybee. But the honeybee is only one of many, many different kinds of bees.

A green leafcutter bee, whose behavior shows life lessons in a bee garden

There are about 4,000 species of bees in North America: round fuzzy striped bumblebees, small bright green sweat bees, thin yellow and black leaf-cutter bees, big black carpenter bees, and more.

Janine Boylan Comments

Life Lessons

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Life Lessons

The Travel Ninja’s Lost and Found

Travel Tips: How to Bounce Back After Losing Everything

A Fairytale Landscape Sets the Scene

Stopped in My Tracks

Securing a New Identity

The Travel Ninja Awakens

“Missed Connections” Offer Alluring Life Lessons

Carpe Diem: Seize the Moment . . . or Not

Missed Connections

A Venue for Dreamers . . . and Writers

Life Lessons

Seven Important Life Lessons in a Bee Garden

1. Diversity is the spice of life.