Before this evening’s dinner, I hadn’t eaten in two days. The thought of food left my stomach turning, while the drums banging in my temples refused to cease. Sleep came only in spurts, an hour or two here, followed by extended periods of wakefulness. For more than two days, the stress of the trip wore me out.
Only some venting to some friends back home and a solid afternoon nap led me to recover. Unfortunately I had really hoped to attend a few sights I’d missed the last time around but will miss again.
With the lessons learned from this trip, I’ve added the following new rules to my “List of Rules to Live By”: (Begin legalese) I will not travel with anyone who a) I have not known for at least five years, or have been dating for between six months and one year; and, b) if the destination is international, they must have traveled outside the U.S. prior to the commencement of the trip; unless c) the trip is a vendor-provided tour. (End legalese) Usually I follow these rules without having to enunciate them so clearly, but this exception proved to me why they should be the rule.
It would have been nice to have established some solid communication over the preceding two days. But I could never relax enough to do so, nor could I get a solid read on her. It was a shame, really.