Category Archives: Travel

Amritapuri Part 2

Spiritual, Travel

In which there’s more, but not much more… because I didn’t write it.

Most nights, I slept with my windows wide open and could hear the surf. It was glorious.

the sea at sunset

If I left the hall early at night, I could hear the bhajans slightly while lying in bed, and sometimes in the early mornings I could hear the archana. There was always traffic during the day, and some at night, and everybody honks while driving in India. Sometimes the horns sound like elephants.

The last week or so I’d figured out that if I kept the windows closed, the ceiling fan on, and the bathroom door closed (it had permanent openings and was always humid), my clothes would get slightly drier. I only bathed once a week because even though it’s the tropics and there are two taps, there’s no hot water. And no towels; I used a sheet or a dupatta. It’s cold to shower and it’s impossible to get dry.

The power goes out frequently, but rarely for more than ten seconds at a time. This is why not bringing a laptop was a good decision, apparently unshielded they get fried all the time.

(I started this the day I wrote the previous post, then saved it to come back to later.)

~+~+~+~

It turns out that after coming back to this post to finish it, I don’t want to finish it! Overall, the trip was utterly transformative: I thought thoughts, I had experiences, my spirituality deepened in ways that would sound ridiculous if put into language, so I won’t try.

Everything that exists is a metaphor for finding your real self, which is closer than close, and all the effort you do to ‘become’ whatever it is that your intellect thinks is enlightenment is more or less running around in circles, and only true Love can get any of us anywhere near understanding that, and that’s what my Sadguru gave me when I went to visit Her.

Plus I drank a cocktail with ice in it at the Delhi airport, which of course gave me Delhi Belly, which I suffered after I got all the way home, and it sucked REAL bad. So bad I even tried to go to the doctor about it after about five days, but gave up when the nearest clinic wouldn’t take my insurance. Nevertheless, I survived!

Amritapuri Part 1

Seva, Spiritual, Travel

In which I use my passport! And spend eighty hours in airports and airplanes!

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for most of a month now, because I wasn’t sure how, since it wasn’t really a touristy trip. I went to see my Sadguru, an enlightened person, an avatar, for spiritual purposes, and most of what I have to observe was the ways my mind does what it does and how I reacted to that. It’s not like I went to any restaurants or shows or on any hikes or cruises.

view from the footbridge facing toward the Amritapuri ashram

The trip was Walla Walla to Seattle to Vancouver to Delhi to Trivandrum. I never left the airports, and it took a couple days each way. Absolutely exhausting. The shape of the trip was dictated primarily by politics; from what I’ve been told (by a Keralan living in Canada I met on a return flight) you’d typically rather go through Dubai.

The way over I was exhausted in every way: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. My relationship has its struggles, I’ve been in the same entry-level job for six years with no promotions or recent raises, I’m older and fatter than I’ve ever been, and I live a life of, essentially, laziness and dissipation. I read a lot, I sleep a lot, I drink too much, I don’t bother to have a social life, and while I know the shape of my life would be perfect for sadhana I just don’t do as much as I wish. I was unhappy in every quarter. Which is why I wanted to go see Amma so bad. Get my priorities straight. You spend a lot of your evolution believing in doing things, but then comes the realization you’re not doing anything, you’re not the doer, and yet you have to do things to achieve states, and it’s all some bullshit Buddhist koan, and you need your guru.

After determining that I wanted to go and why, with literally no effort on my part, everything just fell into place. Suddenly there was money to go, and tickets, and a month off work with zero push back, and literally everything I needed was just… provided to me. (Thanks, dad!)

~+~+~

So one morning around three AM we got in the car and went to ALW, which is my favorite airport because you can go from the door all the way through security in literally four minutes. (I hate airport security for its waste, irritation, and ineffectiveness. It’s theatre and its tedious.)

Anyway, flight to Seattle. Few hours layover, I got a coffee but I don’t think I ate. Then flight to Vancouver, which is a really well-done airport. Nice to look at, immigration was a breeze, wifi, all the kiosks worked, nice art.

Flight to Delhi was either fourteen or sixteen hours, I can’t remember which, and by then my extremities were bloated and I was miserable because the seats are for takeoff and landing, not a dozen-plus hours of actual flight, and I’m too old and fat now to get my feet underneath me or curl up. I did sleep but it was terrible quality, weird and jittery.

Airplane food

The food was pretty good, though. They fed and watered us probably four times. I had a window seat and so had to bother my row mates twice to get out, walk, stretch, and pee. The bathrooms were still familiar plane-style weird little closets with toilet paper.

Weirdest part of the whole journey was that it never got dark. You’re just flying over the lid of the world with the sun. So, so many hours of bright daylight.

Then another few hours in Delhi, to get out through immigration and back in through security. The Delhi airport is a fucking people-moving disaster, the signage is either not there or useless, and both times I went through it I had no idea where I was supposed to be going in spite of being in possession of a reasonably high intelligence and a general concept of how to get through an airport. The airport employees I asked were contemptuous (which I do understand, I work customer service too, and being asked the same fucking question over and over does get annoying) and unforthcoming and rude.

The immigration guys were bored, grumpy, gruff, and slow. Yes, I had all my documents ready: passport, boarding pass, visa. Your job sucks, whatever, at least you’re sitting down for it, you huge baby.

Security in India is segregated by sex, so you give your bags to the machine for scanning and then have to hike way over to where the women are being screened, leaving all your belongings utterly unsupervised, to be wanded in private in a cubicle by a female soldier-slash-cop. (These were friendly and pleasant, and one even complimented me on my hair.) Then at peak disorientation, tired in a strange airport where you don’t understand the majority of the languages, you have to remember which carousel has your bags and figure out how to get back sans signage. It’s a trip.

Continue reading Amritapuri Part 1 →

31 hours and counting

Seva, Spiritual, Travel

In which I’m on vacation, as of Saturday at 6:10pm when I clocked off work.

I’m pretty much packed! Had to buy new luggage, because ours were a few inches too big for the new carry-on sizes and I don’t want to check anything. New suitcase is green, within parameters for cabin luggage on Air India, and came with a cute matching extra bag I’m using in place of the shitty old backpack I was gonna bring.

I have culture-appropriate clothing, shawls and wraps, new undies, compression socks for the planes, and a sweater. I have toiletries, jewelry, bug wipes, an eye mask, ear plugs, headphones, a rain poncho, and snack bars. I’ve decided not to take my contact lenses. I probably won’t take any makeup, or if I do it’ll just be the tiniest bit to wear in the airports. Can’t find my safety pins, but won’t really need them unless I buy a petticoat and choli at the ashram and wear a sari.

I have movies and music on my phone, and an external battery (or two, if I take his with me). Will finish loading up the Kindle with ebooks tomorrow. Have a keyboard to use with my phone if I want to type, and a journal to write in.

I have all my tickets and visas printed and neatly organized in a binder. I have all the travel apps anybody could ever want installed on my phone.  I bought a roaming pass for my cell phone, so will hopefully have coverage outside the airport while finding my already-booked-and-confirmed ashram taxi.

Checked Kerala weather, and I don’t think it’ll be so awful—the highs are lower than here, and the lows are in the mid-70’s, which is actually cool enough to wear a sweater if you’re sitting. The things I’ve read made it sound like monsoon is sizzling, but 75-85 isn’t that bad; more like it’s the humidity travelers must be reacting to. And I love rain.

They assign you your housing when you visit Amritapuri; I can’t decide if I want a room alone or to be stuck into a dorm. As it’s monsoon and Amma’s been in residence for months, I can’t imagine the ashram will be full to the rafters, so I might get my own room. Do I want a room alone? I am pretty old and set in my ways; if I get stuck in with other devotees they’re gonna hear more farting than they probably want. I leave it to God, I guess, to stick me where I’ll be most challenged—and this is exactly why I expect to be put on kitchen duty and to spend my entire vacation doing dishes every day.

All that’s left on my to-do list is ‘get travel cash’ and a last load of laundry so I can take a clean nightgown. Then I’m out of the country for the rest of the month.

It’s an awfully long way to go to not do any sight-seeing, but really I just want to spend more than 2 days near Amma for once in my life. Three weeks will probably trigger a breakdown but hey, it’s what I’ve always wanted!

 

 

India

Spiritual, Travel

In which I’m going to use my passport!

I’ve got the month of July off work, and I’m going to Amritapuri. I complained about the tedium of shopping for flights, so my dad offered to do it for me.

Today I’ve bought some items for the trip, including a rain poncho, bug repellent, and a little laundry line to use in my room. (I don’t intend to take much in the way of clothes so it’ll be handy to be able to rinse and hang stuff.)

I read what little I could find online about actually staying there, barely a handful of blog posts, and that’s where I got the laundry line idea. (The actual ashram site lets you register to visit but has almost no information beyond the fact that they provide linens and there’s a bank onsite.) Also grabbed a couple packets of Tide specifically for sink washing, a couple travel size toiletries like toothpaste and shampoo so I don’t have to check my suitcase, some talcum powder. A Bluetooth keyboard to use with my phone, since I’m not bothering to haul a laptop. I’m assuming I’ll take a pair or two of Crocs because they’re lightweight, waterproof, and bouncy for slogging through concrete airports. I already have compression socks for the flights, a Kindle to carry a few hundred books, and a phone I’ll probably stick some music and movies on for backup entertainment.

Actually, my phone broke in half last week but the new one is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It’ll be green! I’ve never had a green phone before. Pretty exciting. Anyway, it’ll have plenty of storage for some media.

Already got a passport neck purse (gift from dad, along with an eyemask for sleeping) and a power converter.

It’ll be monsoon season, so I expect to be moist the entire time, but apparently it doesn’t get much hotter than the 80’s so I think I’ll be okay since it’ll probably be in the high 90’s here.

I’m so excited to go, but I’m nervous about the long flights. Longest flight I’ve ever been on was SEA to DCA and it was so fucking boring and tedious; that was, what? Five hours? Fourteen hours on a plane sounds worse than a brief stint in jail, honestly, but I guess people do it all the time so it should be okay.

Anyway, flights should be booked in the next couple days, then I can apply for my visa and register with the ashram. Whoo!

 

Sick Day

Life, Spiritual, Travel

In which I slept until one o’clock.

The Yeti is off at Microsoft for a week-long tech conference, and I have a cold or something.

Started out yesterday feeling tired after a good night’s sleep, swollen glands, and a vaguely sore throat. Went to work, came home. Woke up today feeling so incredibly meh I don’t even have words for it; took the day off work and went back to sleep until the afternoon.

Now I’m vertical and outside a cup of pour-over coffee with fresh creamery cream, and about to finally do my morning meditation, once I’m done writing here. Then I’m planning to eat scrambled eggs, cheese grits, and sliced tomato.

I put in five tomato plants this year. Two are struggling and look pitiful, but one of them has given me three very nice and dearly won tomatoes. The other three plants are absolutely jubilant about their situation, and in a week I’ma have way too fucking many tomatoes.

I’ll probably freeze a bunch for cooking. (A thousand years ago, I stayed with a woman who was too busy to can one summer, so she just quartered her tomatoes, froze them on a sheet pan, and then stuck them in ziplocks. I cooked tons of chilis, soups, and curries with those frozen tomatoes over that winter, they were so handy and much more wonderful than canned tomatoes! [That woman later went on to move into my ex-house, bed my ex-husband, and hate me—there was some online bitchiness at some point—idk really, but they never returned any of my Christmas cards.] Point is, everybody has something to teach you, even if they later choose to weirdly betray you for mediocre dick.)

Just logged into my main credit card—the one with the awesome points that I use for absolutely everything—and there were two $16 charges from something called Maya Mobile, so I reported them as fraud… and now I’m cardless for five days, waiting for a replacement. All over barely thirty bucks. WTF.

Aaaaand I have to quit smoking again. About a year ago, I picked up a pack just to have one or two, for fun and nostalgia; of course that slowly, slowly escalated, until last week I was very nearly up to a pack a day again. So I very deliberately did not smoke one day, charged up my vape batteries, and am getting my head set to Quit Smoking yet again. Fucking pain in the ass, I dunno why I decided to do this to myself. Heh.

The Yeti bought himself a new computer, finally, after eight years, and I got the old one! It’s finicky, but to sweeten the deal he also bought me a second monitor, so it looks really cool and is far more computer than I need, considering I never compute and only use the browser these days.

After deciding I had to go to India to see my Sadguru because the inside of my head was totally full of shit, it was announced that She was coming here. (!!!) There were barely three weeks between the announcement and the Seattle programs, so I guess it was a fairly sudden decision. I went, and it was the cleansing, nourishing wonder I so desperately needed it to be. Five years without darshan fucking sucked.

I volunteered for greeter seva for the first program, and heard that we were only allowed one darshan per tour stop (I have no idea now if that was true or just a rumor), so I didn’t get a token the first day. After satsang I served lunch and then went to the kitchen and made a ton of puris.

My darshan was during Devi Bhava, and there’s no point in attempting to describe the interiority of it, but Her sari was gold, She said “My daughter, my daughter” in my ear, it was of typical length, and otherwise, externally, a completely average darshan. It was not like the time I got to be there in Her arms while she had a very long conversation with another devotee and some swamis; it was not like the time I was doing lap seva and suddenly the stage was mysteriously, impossibly, and incredibly empty for what felt like minutes while She made fun of Puffer’s awesome sari-fabric suit. It was just a normal darshan. And perfect. And seared into my mind for eternity. To know and be known, to love and be loved, to be grounded in That.

I kinda wish I’d just abandoned my job and my home and my life and just… gone on the rest of the U.S. tour, like so many others do, but I didn’t. I never do. I’m too shy of God to just blurt out “Let me COME WITH YOU, You’re the only thing that matters!” She’d probably send me home anyway. Go home and meditate, do your sadhana, silly.

I know most religion is political bullshit, that most people can’t tell the difference between politics and religion because of it, and that the majority of humans have yet to be able to want what it really is, but I no longer care. Most of my favorite people are atheist or agnostic, and that’s okay. I know an Avatar, I have seen God born into a human body and experienced what that is, and my gratitude is abject. Nobody else needs to care.

Shit, I haven’t posted in months!

Life, Spiritual, Travel

In which there’s an update.

I used to find it much easier to post regularly when I both had things to bitch about and felt fine about bitching about things. But now I think it’s not that great a habit, and also whatever I might have to complain about is less a problem and more an incredibly trivial nothingburger. I mean, my habit is to login and complain (see my last few posts) and it’s a boring and dumb habit I’d like to break.

These days I don’t have much to bitch about. We have a house, we have each other, our jobs are nice, the weather’s comparatively mild (compared to Minneapolis). I finally bought myself a nice bicycle last year. Neither of us are unwell. All our bills are paid.

I do get annoyed by trivial shit, of course; I do have a mind, and it does decide to fixate on stupid shit from time to time. (Lately it tells me it’s unfair that my feet should hurt so much, that I hate hearing the neighborhood dogs bark, that my partner is stupid for not being able to read my mind, that I have to do so many dishes, and that work is exactly as it has always been which is suddenly somehow intolerable.

Minds are, if you really listen to them, quite stupidly invested in keeping you unhappy about shit.)

I’m excited about spring. Can’t wait to see the dogwoods in bloom! Somehow the tulips survived the landscaping and graveling of the backyard and came up through the rocks?! The first one has just bloomed, even! How the fuck did that even happen?

My aunt gave me two saplings, little ones that volunteered at her place, which I had planted last fall, a hardwood and a fast-growing shade tree, and I’m hoping they survived the winter. Those two extremely cold weeks last winter have me worried about them.

Looking forward to getting herbs and tomato starts out, too.

Not looking forward to the dog days, but they’re still months and months away. (I prefer the cold now, because you can layer up against it. But the heat in the desert at the end of summer is just relentless.)

Am so glad about the return of the light!

I think it might be time for me to finally go to India. Part of me feels like somehow I should have already been, and all of me feels like I’m certainly not getting any younger and travel’s certainly only going to get less comfortable as time goes by. And Amma doesn’t seem to be returning to world tours. And my job would almost certainly take me back after even a whole month’s absence. And I just got my passport renewed. So I’m really thinking about it, in earnest. And not thinking about how planes have begun to fall out the sky after decades of immoral stock buy-backs bullshit.

In unrelated, weird news, when I logged in to write this post I found three comments of the “go kill yourself you stupid fat bitch” variety waiting to be moderated, left on some old Covid-era posts. Some internet-poisoned, scientifically illiterate Rogan fanboi stranger has come back after literal years to follow up on his shitty comments on my blog!

Oh, well, I guess it’s my own fault for being a woman on the internet. My bad.

Trains

Travel

In which I’ve been considering the size of Oregon lately.

I have recently learned that Oregon is about the size of the United Kingdom.

The entire United Kingdom, which is, like, three countries. Oregon’s actually got a few square miles more space than that.

What the hell. How are all those people and towns and countries in an area smaller than Oregon?! I’ve been in the habit of watching Escape to the Country in the evenings and there seem to be endless numbers of houses for sale in the UK. If a similar show were taped in Oregon, would it last fifteen seasons?

Actually, the population density in Oregon is about 17 people per square mile. In the UK it’s 281. We have a lot of empty space.

—
The closest Amtrak station to my house is in Pasco, WA, which is 51 miles away.

There is no Amtrak service from Pasco to Seattle; you either go via Spokane or Portland. This boggles my mind.

If I wanted to get from my house to, say, Astoria, I’d have to take a municipal bus from Saager’s Shoe Store (half a mile from my house) to the Amtrak transit center in Walla Walla, then take an Amtrak bus to Pasco, then transfer to a train to Portland, and then transfer to another bus to Astoria. It would take almost two days to go 327 miles.

Meanwhile, there’s some British guy who makes videos that are all “how far can you get from London by public transpo in a single day?” and the answer is: VERY. In fact, YOU CAN GO BASICALLY ANYWHERE IN GODDAMNED EUROPE, because those guys have useful, interconnecting public transport infrastructure and Oregon… doesn’t.

I mean. Buy a stupid, expensive, ugly, climate-destroying personal vehicle, you hippie. Or walk. Because fuck you.

—
Our country’s utter lack of will to put in efficient, useful public transportation drives me nuts. If you could just walk to the corner and step onto a bus, YOU WOULD. Because driving fucking sucks.

Owning a car sucks. Parking sucks, insurance and maintenance suck. It all sucks. People think it’s convenient and freeing because they’re totally ignorant of any other way, but I guarantee you that any time you hear someone gushing about a charming vacation spot they love, they love it because IT’S WALKABLE.

People love Disneyland’s Main Street USA because it’s walkable, they love Boston because it’s walkable. They love New York because it’s walkable, same for Seaside and most of Europe: IT’S WALKABLE. People loved college because it was walkable.

Cars make you miserable. They stink. They’re stupid. Car infrastructure makes towns and cities ugly as fuck. Buildings surrounded by parking lots are hideous, and you know in your bones that most of America is distressingly unbeautiful which ultimately makes you depressed. Looking at ugly shit all the time is not what you signed up for.

—
As an aside, if you try to book a Pasco, WA (PSC) to Vancouver, BC (VAC) trip on the Amtrak site, it crashes. You have to do PSC to PDX, and then PDX to VAC, and then it can’t figure out how to offer round trip options so you have to do them all manually.

I don’t know if I want to go to Vancouver BC, but as the Yeti changed jobs recently he probably can’t get time off next month for us to vacation together. So I’m considering a solo train ride!

—
I imagine a light rail through Milton-Freewater. It would go to Walla Walla and Pendleton, and at each end there’d be transfer to other trains so people could get to work. If there were frequent train service to both towns, households on my street wouldn’t have to have between two and seven fucking cars.

Imagine if each household only needed one car, and that they could, if they wanted, hardly ever use it. If it was easy to get to Walmart and back, why would you ever drive? Or if the train ran in such a way that you could get to and from your Walla Walla job easily? How fucking great would that be?

Ugh. I hate fucking cars, and I hate not being able to get anywhere without one. If there was a light rail to Walla Walla, I could take my bike to the mechanic tomorrow and wouldn’t be limping along on bike tires that won’t hold air for more than an hour.

—
Yes, I drive sometimes. Yes, I’ve even driven to work and back, which is barely half a mile. It’s fun to have access to a car. What I’m bitching about is needing one in order to be able to function in your own goddamned society because there’s no even vaguely reasonable alternative.

Example: there is a bus from here to Walla Walla. But it only goes twice a day, it barely gets within a mile of my destination, and there’s no bike rack. So, while I could technically get to the bike shop tomorrow, it’s not reasonable because this one, simple errand would take something like five hours.

—
Dunno why I’m so furious about car culture today! Probably because my bike’s needed new tires for weeks and I’m feeling sorry for myself because I can’t just drive it over to the shop, because the Yeti’s always got the car when the shop’s open because, well, it’s his car, and he works in the opposite direction.

Anyway. What’s fun in Vancouver BC?

Vacation to the Oregon Coast!

Travel

In which we went somewhere!

Worked Saturday and did, like, an insanely busy twelve-hundred dollar day at the cheese shop.

Sunday we slept in and cuddled, which was fucking lovely, and then cleaned the house, packed out, and drove to Portland.

Arrived around eight o’clock, and crashed at my friend Leila’s house. My other high school friend, Deb, was also visiting, so we played pinochle! I can’t even tell you how long its been since I got to play pinochle. My better half took to it like a duck to water, and yours truly played a perfect hand!

The next day Leila fed us Syrian breakfast, which, I now know, causes Deb to yell “MAC DOOCE!” over and over, because she loves makdous (stuffed pickled eggplant). Both women are currently divorcing their husbands and are in various states of hurt and anger, so that sucks, but it was fantastic to see them after so long.

After eating we drove to Rockaway Beach via the scenic highway, which was absolutely scenic as fuck; love that Tillamook National Forest. Checked in at our hotel, which is right on the beach, with a private ocean-facing balcony and a fireplace, walked along the sand awhile, and then went out to dinner. Halibut fish and chips!

We literally left the sliding glass door cracked all night for the glorious sound of surf. Plus it’s well over 40F so it made for perfect sleeping conditions.

Tuesday we drove up and down the coast, just being tourists. Taco truck, the dollar store for slippers (because my leather shoes were still wet from the beach the day before), Goodwill (because why not; I got a set of Christmas candle holders that were cute), the Blue Heron cheese company, and a stereotypical coast gift shop with salt water taffy and junk jewelry and shells and weird crap. So fun and nostalgic.

Spent the evening just hanging out in the room. Got takeout, watched movies, drank adult beverages, stood on the balcony enjoying the sea. It smells SO GOOD!

Today we visited the Tillamook cheese visitor’s center, which is fucking MASSIVE, ate at a diner, drove around, got rained on, but mostly just lounged in the hotel. Ate leftovers for dinner.

Tomorrow we’ll be driving home, but we still have a few days of vacation left to lounge around in the house doing absolutely nothing, which is glorious, not gonna lie.

Other than Leila and Deb, who are vaccinated, we’ve been masked and distanced, so hopefully we’re not a goddamned disease vector. We haven’t been anywhere since we drove out from Minneapolis over two years ago, so this has been fantastic.

OMG! IMMA GO SOMEWHERE!

Spiritual, Travel

In which there’s travel! And I repeat myself!

Going to see Amma in D.C. this weekend! Jai Ma! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

I think this is my twentieth year in a row going to see Her, which is astonishing and weird.

Staying in a Marriott. My man decided not to come this year, so I have a hotel room all to myself. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel alone before, seems so absurdly decadent! (I posted repeatedly on the Travel Exchange for a roommate but although I got two inquiries, both devotees found other lodgings.) I can afford the room on my own without someone to share with, but it’s a lot of money.

I feel, I think, guilty about the expense, like it’s a needless waste or I don’t deserve it, but I so prefer staying in the program hotel rather than finding something cheaper elsewhere and walking or trying to arrange rides or cabs or shuttles back and forth. I also decided to stay an extra night so that I can stay up all night for Devi Bhava and then sleep all the next day, rather than going home flat exhausted and fuzzy like I always have before. So, a room alone, and an extra, not-technically-necessary night. Wow.

Expect I’ll feel somewhat lonely, as I don’t really know any D.C. devotees, or really many devotees at all any more, so unless I make a new friend I’ll likely just sit alone.

Oh, well, better for meditation, I guess.

I intend to spend every possible moment in the program hall; maybe do some kitchen seva. Have to remember to take closed shoes for that.

Have plans to see VUBOQ on that last, extra evening, for drinks or dinner! So excited!

Then a flight back the next morning, home, and back to work that evening.

I did something absurd and bought a white dress. It’s the same style as a dress I already have, so I know it’s comfortable and I’ll love it, but me in white is ridiculous because I’ll stain it immediately. But it’ll be fun to wear in the darshan hall, as I never wear any of my old white saris or skirts or punjabis anymore, and I got it for free with credit card points. I don’t have a white slip, but I do have a gray one I think will work even if it shows through some as I’ll wear it with a gray dupatta scarf. My flight is discount, so I have to check my bag, so I bought a set of clear zip pouches for toiletries, too.

I’m still technically poor, but I feel terribly extravagant about my upcoming vacation!

Now I need to go throw in a load of laundry and find my suitcase.

Update: I got a roommate after all! Hope she’s not insane!

New Hampshire!

Spiritual, Travel

In which there’s travel!

We went to New Hampshire! In a plane!

Air plane!

We stayed in a hotel! This was the view!

The view

I wrote about it in my traveler’s notebook!

Traveler's Notebook

Amma’s programs were in another hotel, so I had to walk back and forth twice a day! My Google Fit app told me I walked over 10k steps per day! Here’s a frond I saw while walking one night!

Tendril

Here’s a food I ate!

Ashram food!

Flying is kind of exhausting but still better than driving! Driving to New Hampshire would take forever!

Wing

The TSA is still a massive waste of the nation’s time, effort, and money!

(The Amma experience, as ever, was supremely amazing and more or less impossible to put into words. Even my private diary sounds like a cross between the parts in Yoga Vashista where Devi and the king’s wife time travel extensively, and some mildly drunk Kerouac. The outcome, though, was a profound deepening of Self, an indescribable release of stress, and a renewed desire to continue pursuing meditation, japa, and scripture.)