Oh No! Again

On taking a break

This Saturday morning I received a text from my youngest daughter that no, she wasn’t enjoying the gaming convention in Washington, D.C., but instead was in the ER with the same intense abdominal and back pain she had experienced earlier in the week. Ten hours later the “good news” came that her pain wasn’t from all the life threatening diseases my mind had conjured up, but instead from an infected gallbladder, which was being removed that evening.

Thankfully I had a very helpful brother nearby who could manage the situation until I drove down to check on her, and eventually return her home twelve hours later, in relatively good spirits, all things considered.

It was ten hours of driving done in twenty-four hours, and during most of that time I found myself worrying not only about my daughter’s health, but whether I would make it back in time to start my five-week round the world trip. While I always knew being there for my daughter took priority, the amount of time I still spent thinking about my upcoming trip annoyed and depressed me.

I also realized that there was a part of me hoping I wouldn’t make it back in time, so I would have a reason to skip this trip.

This is all a long way of saying, I’ve been traveling around the world for almost three years nonstop, and I need a break. I’ve put off a lot — doctor visits, family issues, and other writing — with all this travel as an excuse, and so I am going to skip this trip and take some time off and address some of those. Hopefully, for no greater than two months, but we will see.

I am going to continue to run a few guest posts, and some more essays built from the last three years of travel, but in a few weeks, I will pause payments until I get the itch to travel again. Which knowing me shouldn’t be that long from now.

This is the best “job” I’ve had in my life, and I am thankful to all of your generosity, but for the last few months I’ve started to feel less wide-eyed enthusiasm, and more misanthropic about my trips, even finding myself getting short with people who I have absolutely no reason to get short with.

I’ve generally found the good in every place I’ve gone, and recently I’ve started to see more of the bad, and the trips have started to feel like an obligation, and that absolutely should never happen to a travel writer.

So my apologies again, and hopefully I’ll get back on the road in a few months.

PS: I will still be doing the Feb 27th talk in Washington D.C.!