Adventures

Bleu Hart

India – December 2016

I recently went to India for a Habitat for Humanity trip. I do one every year. I am fascinated with buildings, and I get to travel the world and experience a little bit of everything. My latest trip brought a lot of adventure, which most others would not necessarily describe like that, but I'll start by saying I'm different. I'm a laid back, tomboy, who likes to joke, and make inappropriate bets. I don't make a big deal out of everything.  I'm non-religious and non-political. I have no interest in marriage or children and I am a nomad at heart.

To start, I was supposed to end up in Amsterdam for a few hours to hang out. The airline had a different idea and I ended up in London with little time to spare between flights. I was told not to re-check my bag. I have flown internationally before and this did not seem right so, of course, I checked for it. They lost my luggage somewhere between London and Goa. Maybe the airline could tell you where it was since that whole idea of scanning a tag on a bag is so outdated???

So, if you haven't heard, there is a money issue in India right now. You can't get cash. I had all of $86 the entire trip since the only place you could exchange was the airport. Did I mention I was there for ten full days? Two girls from our trip were "stuck" in Paris since their Visa for India would not get approved until a few days later. They are both nineteen. Their first experience in India is riding with one of our drivers and him hitting someone on a motorcycle. They are terrified to ride with taxis drivers currently. The police tried to extort money out of our group during a border patrol. Still not sure what our driver said to get out of that one. Another group tried to get money from us at another place, our driver almost ran the guy over since he wouldn't get out of the way.

I met a few people on the trip that I got along with, one in particular, who was the ladies' man of the group. Let's call him SB, not for son of a bitch though. We ended up at the beach the last day we were all in India. They kept repeating, "Do NOT get in the water." We walked on the beach and the billboard posted showed dead bodies on it. People had died in the water which was highly contaminated. SB decided he wanted to swim without drinking the water. He swore he would not put his head under water. I'm holding his clothes as he swims in his boxers in the ocean while I'm fending off a local who has decided he fancies me. After I hand the clothes back and we hustle off the beach, he realizes his flight is that night and his clothes are packed in our other car, so he is not feeling so fresh. We proceed to a market where I buy him clothes since he has no cash on him. He was polite in the market which turned out to be a mistake as they thought he wanted to purchase the items. A pair of Wi-Fi flip flops, a green Ghandi t-shirt and these ugly green striped shorts later, he was decked out in local hippy, Indian garb. He wore them on the plane, it was fantastic.

I went with SB to the airport to finally get my luggage and to drop him off for his flight. We are riding in the same car that hit the motorcycle previously. SB buckles his seatbelt and I laugh as we speed off. He and I chat as we fly through roads. I look to my right and there is a man dressed as Santa on the side of the road. He is doing jumping jacks. I point out that Indian Santa is very fit, and we notice we are surrounded by people in Santa hats as we continue to speed. If you have never experienced riding around in India, or any other country, I recommend it. It's an experience you will never forget.

The next day, I am flying home, but the airline has other plans for me. They state that I do not have a boarding pass. I have a seat on the plane, but my tickets were "transferred." I have to purchase tickets to get out of the country. I ended up deciding to stay in Paris for a few days since I might as well, the airline has completely messed up my flights anyway.

Christmas in Paris - December 2016

I have luggage in Paris but since I was not planning on staying in Paris, it is cold. I have to shop for clothes. Three women, including myself, plus SB are in Paris. We are staying at two separate places. We all meet up at Notre Dame and spend the day roaming Paris.

While we are at the Eiffel Tower, SB yells out that he loves me. I jokingly asked if he was going to propose to me at the top of the tower and he nodded, stating, "With a ring pop." I find this fantastic, so I give him the thumbs up. Let's also reiterate that I have no interest in marriage and never have.

  After we made our way through security, I realized that I had no interest in going up this tower. It was less impressive up close. I tell everyone that I will wait for them. SB decides he will wait with me. We end up walking outside of the gate and a guy walks up to us. He asks if we are married, and SB responds with a "Yes." "You are a beautiful couple," was his response. I go along with the game because it's an adventure and you will learn that I love adventures. I always want to know how random things will play out. The guy proceeds to tie our hands with these strings. Neither SB nor I ask questions as the guy's friend walks about and speaks to me.

His friend asks if we have any children. I respond with, "No, we are newlyweds." He states, "You should have kids together. I have five of them. Tonight, you go home, make boom boom, and have babies." I find this statement hilarious on multiple fronts so I tell him that I will do that. They finish tying our hands and say, "You are married in Ghana now." SB and I find this funny. We assumed the whole thing was a scam. We walked away, laughing. I catch SB up on our boom boom conversation which he finds just as funny as I do.

  We ended up in a small cafe. The waiter brings over water in a vodka bottle. SB asks, "What are we going to do on our first night together, wifey?" Somehow, we end up searching for hookers on the internet. The opportunities for hookers in Paris are pretty impressive. Their websites are incredibly detailed in what they will or will not do with you. Turns out, they are also quite expensive.

SB and I settled on going to a strip club with the two girls who are with us. We all give our free lap dances to SB, and he claims that I'm the best wife ever. I was his stripper getter. He would pick out the girl and I would get her for him. For his last dance, he wanted one female and I said, "No, I'm picking out your last dance." He enjoyed his first strip club experience. Oh, have I mentioned that SB was only twenty-one at the time?

We returned to our hotel and SB was locked out of his own room. His roommate disappeared on us. SB ends up sleeping on the pull-out sofa with me. He warns, "I steal covers when I sleep." I wake up in the middle of the night, freezing. Again, it's cold in Paris. I grab any clothes I can reach for to cover myself up. When I woke up the next morning, I immediately informed SB that I wanted a divorce. He feels bad so he and one of the girls decided to cuddle with me. SB left for the States that day. His birthday was the following day and he wanted to spend it with his family.

Greece & Egypt – October 2017

I was in Greece and Egypt. My road trip friend, who has never been out of the country, is with me. We land in Athens on barely any sleep and check into this hotel that overlooks some gorgeous views. We will call the road trip buddy, BSC. BSC booked the presidential suite, so the room is ridiculously over the top. We spent a couple days looking at the sites.

The next thing we do is grab our luggage and get on a ferry to head to the different islands. We ended up in Santorini. BSC booked the room at this location as well. Don't ask because we are in the honeymoon suite which is in a cave and has a jacuzzi in the middle of the room. Luckily, there is a comfortable, non-couch in the room that I can sleep on so I'm not sharing with her. Trust me, there are reasons why I don't want to. On the way to the Santorini airport, we were in a cab and found money on the seat. BSC keeps it.

We are flying to Cairo. This is my dream, people. It's the place I've always wanted to go. It's my obsession, the reason I have so many Egyptian tattoos. We are in Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. We swam in the Nile, rode camels to go eat in this Nairobi village. We get offered camels, elephants, donkeys, and other various items for our hand in marriage. We have ice cream made on a stone slab next to the pyramids. We get to go into one of them, it smells like pee at the bottom. We visit various tombs in the Valley of the Kings. It's amazing and everything I imagined. I danced with a belly dancer on a cruise down the Nile. She pulled me up on stage with her and we just danced. I had several people taking my picture, mainly because I didn’t look anything like the people there.

We have a bit of a situation at one of our hotels. We hear music behind this odd, wooden door and then the door opens. It is a club. We head in with a group of us. Within minutes, people are giving us buckets of beer where only one person drinks and overpays for it. The locals start passing some bud around and some people take part. We are pulled on stage to dance, turns out there are prostitutes up there and money is getting thrown at us. We decided to head out. The people at the door tried to stop us by saying we didn’t pay for the beer, we sneak by with some distractions, and get out of there. Our guide ended up taking care of it but the relationship I have with BSC has been damaged for good. Instead of trying to help all the younger people with us, she is the first to disappear and come to find out, she is trying to hook up with one of our guides and she knew exactly what was going on with us.

California - February 2018

I'm going to visit my two buddies from Habitat. One I met years before in Hawaii. We shall call her SA. The other was from the trip to India. She can be CS. I get to see the gum wall in SLO, it’s as disgusting as it sounds. I wear goofy hats in Santa Barbara. I am dressed like a weird Captain Jack in LA so that we can see the sunken city. We sang karaoke in LA and had mimosas on a rooftop restaurant. There may or may not have been naked swimming in the Pacific Ocean. If there were no pictures, it didn’t happen. We feed emus and an ostrich or try to anyway. They are aggressive. I went to this little town, Solvang, which is adorable. It’s a Danish town. This is my first experience at the Madonna Inn where the three of us dress up in costumes, including Derby-like hats, and go into their restaurant. I’m supposed to try their cake, so we dine in “style” and just have a generally good time. I miss these ladies, some of the best ones I’ve met.

Thailand - June 2019

I'm on another Habitat trip, heading to Krabi.  I arrive a day before SA, who is bringing her brother, JC, on his first build. It’s also his first time out of the country. When they arrive, we head over to a Ritz-Carlton for the night. This place is insane. The bed is two kings pushed together. We have a private pool and a garden. If you are walking in the garden, you can see anyone taking a shower. We get to kayak at the hotel and do a little Muay Thai with a local. We have an amazing breakfast overlooking the water. Following our fun, little excursion to this fancy hotel, we headed to our designated hotel. JC is rooming with other people he has never met while SA and are together. We upgraded the room to have a pool right outside our room.

Our build starts, there is a little conflict on the build with some people who think stretching consists of just breathing. We visited a few temples, did 1,000 stairs, and ate some amazing food. We get our laundry done cheaply. Our bus broke down and some strangers immediately stopped to help get us back up and running. I’ll say this, we are doing it wrong. There was a little girl on this build that helps carry, she had to have been about 3 or 4. Thailand is very accepting of people, no matter the differences. We are doing it wrong people, way too much discrimination and closed-minded people in our world when it’s really simple. You don’t have to agree with everyone else, you just have to accept that there are differences and just be open-minded to differences. We learn from each other.

Paris - June 2019

I met my friend in Paris. She has never been out of the country, which is a trend with some of my friends. We find each other in the airport and head to our abode for the long weekend. What we quickly realize is that the place we are staying in is connected to the owner and she never leaves the property. Her door is just locked to us, but our view is amazing. There is a massive balcony with a view of gardens and a park. We explored the park, we went on a boat ride, and saw the Eiffel Tower. I take her to the fabulous bakery that I’ve been to. This is all right after Notre Dame caught fire, so we see the damage that caused. It is a very chill trip although my friend, SW, swears the pigeons tried to kill her. She also isn’t used to the personalities from different countries, so I was constantly laughing at the look on her face. We are on the same flight home and lucky me, I’m next to a kid who spills a cold drink on me during the middle of the fight. It’s about a 9-hour flight so there is no way to sleep. Oh well, all about the adventure.

England, France, Scotland - September 2019

Since we could not finish our trip when we were in Thailand, we are going to finish it now. JC, SA, and I are at it again. We start out in London, visiting SA’s uncle, who is an artist and has an art gallery show while we are there. We stayed with him for the first night and then moved to an apartment for the remainder of the London stay. SA’s dad is coming into town to celebrate his brother so he is taking the uncle’s place. We learn the tube. We visited all of the tourist places. We enjoy the sights and the people. The art show is amazing, and I love his work. We meet up with our other Habitat friend, CS, who is in town for work. We go out to dinner together and play catch up. For some reason, as we are walking around, CS decides her, and I are going to get “married.” She just grabs my hand and declares it. It is Paris all over again.

Next thing I know, we are flying to Paris. Since this was JC’s pick, we do everything he wants to do which is everything I have done before. I enjoyed our time but since I was there only 3 months prior, it’s not as eventful as the first trip. I leave the two of them in Paris as they head to another part and I go to Edinburgh.

I make it to the hotel and it’s beautiful. It’s next to the river. I relax, have dinner in the hotel restaurant, and end up meeting a guy from Africa. He is looking at creating a non-profit, so we chatted about the process. He offers to show me around the city and gives me his number. I never used it because I don’t typically stay connected with people.

The following day, I decided to walk with my luggage. I walk on the bridge over the river, taking pictures, enjoying the view, and end up near a castle on the other side. I checked out the views. I finally decided to check to see if there are any rideshares and find one. He picks me up, we chat about life as he drives me to our place to stay. We bond over cars, and I learn that his dream car is the actual car I drive. SA and JC are meeting me there. We arrive around the same time and get into our apartment. It’s very modern and surprising. We relax for a bit before we head out to explore. We end up at a restaurant where we try haggis, it is really not as bad as it sounds. We walk the roads you see in movies. We checked out the castle. We go to the Highlands the following day to see the Highland cows and the boat that takes you to see the Loch Ness monster and when we get back, we find out they are filming a famous movie in the city, so we set out to find them, which we do. We see set trucks. It’s raining and we are having a blast. We finally went to a restaurant, and we ate some really amazing lasagna. We all decided that Scotland is our favorite of the three countries we went to on this trip.

California, Oregon, and Washington - January 2020

I tell my best friend (CH) and her wife (AH) that we are heading to drive up the west coast from San Diego to Seattle. There are no other plans than what day we land, where we stay in San Diego, and what day we fly out of Seattle. We have almost two full weeks to get there. We have a layover in Texas which is where the crazy starts. We rush to get to the gate and right when we get there, we see a guy running onto the plane. Apparently, he left his phone but oddly, none of the people who work for the airlines even see him until he is on the plane. This causes major delays since they have to sweep the plane. When we get on the plane, someone has a medical issue which causes further delays. The pilot comes on and states that if we don’t get to San Diego by a certain time, we will have to fly to Los Angeles as they are shutting the runways down in San Diego. We didn’t make it on time, so we landed in Los Angeles. As we headed to grab our luggage, I decided to book a rideshare. The price isn’t as bad as it could be and it would get us to San Diego so that we can get our rental. There is a female in her early 20’s who starts talking to me. She is confused about what is happening, so I asked her if she wants to ride with us. I’ve been the lost person in a new city so easy for me. She accepts my offer and we all pile into the rideshare. This guy is speeding to get us there and ends up getting pulled over. While we are sitting on the side of the road, AH notices an actual bunny rabbit on the side of the road. We laugh and say what a bizarre night this is, and she starts taking pictures. We make it to the airport in San Diego and the female has the rideshare driver drop her off at her brother’s house while we get our rental. We make it to the apartment and then go grab some food since we are all starving and tired.

The following day, I show them San Diego. I take them to my favorite Mexican restaurant. We walk around, go to the beach, grab snacks, and goof off. The following day, we set out to head north. We have no idea where we are going to stay and I don’t book the hotels until around 9 each night. We met up with SA outside of LA. We go to little cities and towns all the way up the coast. We are staying at the Madonna Inn, insanely overpriced and ugly but it has themed rooms, and the cake is really good. We play in the massive trees, hit up shops along the way. We stay at a casino one night and we goof off in San Francisco. They take pictures along the way. There is one of me with a massive fake bear and a creepy van. We found a hotel in Portland and another in a sketchy city that I can’t even remember the name of. We make it to Seattle two days before our flight leaves. They spend time together in Seattle while I relax. I need my me time by this point. The following day, we flew home.

Nebraska and Iowa - January 2021

I know, random places. I have to add this in because I’m so proud of my best friend, CH. We have known each other since I was nineteen, which is over 20 years by this point. She is graduating college. I surprised her by flying into town and watched her walk in her cap and gown. It was a really good couple of days. It was snowing and really cold and I legitimately do not own an actual coat, but we make do with wintry weather.

Nashville – June 2022

CH, AH, and I are heading to Nashville for a concert. While we are there, we are going to meet up with my best guy friend, PH. I’ve known him since I was in middle school. CH and AH have moved to Tennessee by this point, so they are driving in. I fly in and PH picks me up from the airport. We head to his house so he can grab some things. He will be staying with me at the hotel, which is downtown, and much closer to the venue. He and I catch up while we wait for the other two to arrive. The hotel is nice. When the other two arrive, we head out to dinner and just have a good time. AH and PH have never met so seeing the dynamic of the group is funny. The following day, we do a lot of tourist things, eat good food, and then we head to the concert that night. It’s a mix of a bunch of R&B artists of the 90’s so it’s nostalgic. Seeing how everyone is dressed is just funny. We say goodbye after the concert since the girls are driving back early and I have a flight to catch. PH heads back home to leave me alone.

Atlanta – October 2022 - January 2023

I’ve given all my stuff away, sold my car, and hauled the remaining items that I do own to my parents’ house. They have a lake house outside of Atlanta. I babysit my niece and nephew for a week. I am not a fan of children so this is funny. We play some practical jokes on my brother. I hung out with my family, head to Jacksonville in December for a work trip. I’m about to embark on an epic journey soon and I’m ready for it.

Peru – January 2023

I’m in Lima during major civil unrest. I get the anger and frustration of the locals. They aren’t seen as equals. We deal with the same in the States and it’s a shame. I’m on a journey though. I’m going to figure out what I want, whatever that may be. I signed up for a trip where I’m in a different country every single month with 24 other people. I have a new roommate each month. This month it is TB. She is from New Zealand, and she is twenty-eight.

Sometimes I forget how much older I am. I have boundaries and I’m not a pushover. I don’t have FOMO. I’m one of the older ones on this journey, matter of fact, there is only one older than me and she is about to turn sixty. When you are pushed into these situations where you have people from diverse backgrounds, different experiences, different careers, it makes you think. This made me realize that I oddly found people who are actually more like me than I’m used to. I don’t typically find people who have the constant state of wanting to go, feeling restless. I meet people who like to travel, but these are nomads, like me.

These people are like me but so different from me. I’m fascinated with the dynamic. This place brings out the introvert in me even more. They always want to go out while I want to take it easy. I go on a bike ride with some of them, I learn Afro-Peruvian beats, how to salsa, and my roommate and I spend the day walking around and hanging out at the beach. The people that I do talk to, I have to explain that this adventure is not about the people for me. I’ll get to know them as much as I can, but I’m not looking for new best friends. Maybe this is where I’m making a mistake, but we will find out.

I went to the jungle the first weekend. I was there with 5 other ladies from the trip, and it was a good time. I got to see monkeys and sloths up close and personal. I walked through the Amazon, caught a piranha, and saw pink dolphins. I got to know the females more. We talked about a lot of different things, had an impromptu photo shoot on the boat. We danced and sang. We met a local tribe where I got to use a blow dart, hit the target every time. It was a really good extended weekend. They fed us all this fresh food. It was pretty amazing. This kind of adventure is what I’m looking for.

The day after I got back from the jungle, I got sick and stayed that way for almost two full weeks. I even had to see a doctor. No bueno

When I finally felt better, I joined the group on one of our last nights together. We went out to sing karaoke. I sang a few songs, two with the group, one by myself. I let the people in the group pick my song. I just had fun with it. Did I mention that I do not drink anymore? I do all these things sober with no qualms about making a fool of myself.

Colombia – February 2023

We headed to Medellin. We arrive at night so it’s dark when we are driving through the mountains. There are lights everywhere and it is absolutely stunning. I am going on a food tour. The guide is an interesting character. He is in the middle of a divorce and his filter is off, so I understand. As I get older, the more I realize my filter is off more often than not. He seemed angry and hurt but he kept making jokes. I seemed to like to pick at him. We meet these two guys on the tour, one from Scotland and the other from Ireland. They met about 20 years ago when one asked the other if he wanted to get a drink. They have been friends ever since and they travel the world together on their holidays. I find this relationship pretty amazing. They are funny together and had us laughing a lot. We ended the tour and hung out in the town with the two. It’s a good night and I get to know a few more of the people from our group.

I have a new roommate, AK. She is actually the first person I met on this trip, at the airport, in Atlanta. She is twenty-eight. She admits being self-absorbed and having the world revolve around her. It’s quite odd to hear people tell you that they are proud of you when you are just being you. Like I said, I have boundaries. People either like that or they don’t. It isn’t really my problem. I need to do some more self-reflection. Am I more annoyed by people or are my walls up? Well, my walls are always up. It’s a defense mechanism but am I being standoffish with people on purpose, using my introvertedness as an excuse to be antisocial, or has the pandemic really made me worse. I already know I’m worse from the pandemic. What if it is really more about pacing myself on a year-long journey? Maybe it’s getting older and wiser knowing this is not a race and we have several more months together. I guess these are the questions that I’ll be answering during this year. A few days of pondering this and I realize I’m treating this year long journey as my life, not as a vacation. I can’t do all the wild and crazy things I normally do on vacation because I would be exhausted after constantly going. I’m pacing myself, having fun when I find it, but not letting it control me.

I have a photo shoot with a photographer from France. I met her in Medellin of all places. She has a makeup and hair artist for me. We went to a studio close by. The makeup artist is amazing. She does hair and makeup as a hobby but is a lawyer by day. She does my makeup, then my hair. I don’t look like myself, but it works. I put on my first dress and took directions from the photographer. Before the makeup artist leaves for the night, I have her take pictures with me. We just have fun and dance to some music while we get our pictures taken. She is shy so I explained to her that life can’t always be serious and just be in the moment, just have fun. I change clothes and have my picture taken some more. At one point, I’m with a mannequin that is definitely shaped like a Medellin woman. I pose with the mannequin and then end the photo shoot. It was a good day.

I booked a photoshoot for the ladies on this trip while we are in our next country. I’ll try to be more open about getting to know people, but I’m not promising anything. The therapist, CN, on the trip told me she sees me flipping tables on this trip. My response was that I have to care enough and usually only friends and family trigger that response in me. I was protective of the young people in Egypt, people I barely knew. I am unsure of how I would respond if we were in a similar predicament in one of these countries. I guess only time will tell.