#I suggested staying here but unfortunately that’s not how visas work

[cartridgeconverter]

Hello European mutuals. I am now in Munich (briefly), which means the borders of the EU have no power in preventing me from rapidly approaching your location. Be not afraid

[sleeping-on-cracking-ice]

pls do part two of “you're everything you once hated” 🥺

Alright! I originally wasn’t going to do a Part 2 of this but a few people have asked so here you go! 😙

You’re Everything You Once Hated | Suguru Niragi

PART 1 | PART 2

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

{Main Masterlist}

Character(s): Niragi (ft. OC, Ann, Tatta, Hatter, Kuina)

Summary: You attempt to escape Niragi to replenish your visa by yourself, but he catches you and makes sure you won’t do it again

Warnings: (okay here we go) blood, toxic relationship, abusive relationship, obsessive themes, suggestive themes, graphic violence/torture, needles, being held hostage, deranged behaviour, reader is traumatised, implications of a panic attack, dehumanisation (kind of?), mention of amputation, mention of suicide, guns, knives, reader sees a corpse, minor character death

Word Count: 4.6k

*reader is female

Author’s Note: this is quite heavy and messed up, so I recommend people under 15 don’t read this

The young man leant against the large building, holding a small rose in his sweaty palms as he waited for you to arrive from your after school class. He winced as the thorns slightly caught on his olive skin. He sighed and craned his neck back to rest on the wall behind him. No matter how much he attempted to distract himself, the rate his heart was beating kept bringing the nausea to his stomach.

The sky was painted a soft mix of orange and pink as the sun began to fall asleep below the horizon. Valentine’s Day couldn’t have created a more romantic atmosphere for Niragi, he couldn’t mess it up now or he would let cupid down himself.

“What the hell am I even doing?” he questioned himself, wiping his brow with the back of his wrist. “She probably doesn’t even see me this way. We’ve been best friends for years, if she felt something she would’ve told me by now, right?”

He was stressing himself out, continuing the doubt whether his idea was good or not. He was considering dropping the rose and just walking away, being too afraid of the reality that he had been in love with you for years and had never been able to voice it. He felt embarrassed about himself, making his head fill with insecurities and doubts.

His phone vibrating in his pocket pulled him from his thoughts. Niragi reached into his blazer and pulled out his device, noticing a text from you.

‘I’m on my way,’ it read.

He heard your footsteps around the corner and straightened himself up, letting out a sigh to relieve tension. He knew there was no going back now, so he had no choice but to go ahead with his confession.

Just as he was about to turn the corner to meet you, he noticed a male voice that echoed yours, making him freeze in his tracks. He kept himself pushed against the wall, trying to listen to what you were saying.

“I mean, movies are cheap at the moment. Do you want to go see one together?” Niragi heard the boy say. His heart sank at the males words and his hand holding the rose fell from his chest to drooping towards the ground.

Your voice, that was all too familiar to Niragi, answered him. “Sure! I’m busy this afternoon, but I’m free this weekend on Saturday.”

Saturday. Niragi frowned. You and him always went to the park together every Saturday to have a picnic together. You wouldn’t forget about that, would you?

His disappointment turned into anger suddenly. The exhilarating emotions filled his mind and heart so quickly, it took him off guard. As his hand twitched slightly, he shook his head to remove the thoughts from his head.

“Okay, I’ll send you a text later to talk about times and stuff,” the boy said. Niragi’s curiosity got the best of him and he peeked his head around the side of the building to catch a glance of who you were with. He wished he didn’t.

It was one of the young kids that picked on him in Science class, which you weren’t in. Niragi felt betrayed, but tried to reassure himself that you just didn’t know what this guy was really like.

“Bye Y/N,” the boy muttered shyly, making Niragi fume at his fake behaviour. ‘He obviously is just trying to get in her pants,’ Niragi thought to himself, jaw clenching in annoyance at your blindness.

The boy leaned close to you and left a soft kiss on your forehead making you smile and wave happily as he walked away. As soon as he disappeared up the stairs a few metres up, Niragi leant back so you couldn’t see him.

He felt tears building in his eyes, so he quickly wiped them away before you found him. He jumped as he saw you turn the corner, hiding the rose he held behind his back.

“Hey Niragi!” you exclaimed, having the same gorgeous smile that you always conveyed around him. Usually the small action would make him melt into the ground. But at that moment, he didn’t think anything you did could make him feel better.

“You okay?” you asked, leaning close to his face with your eyebrows raised. His heart beat picked up, noticing how your lips were only a few inches away from his. He turned his face to the side, hiding his blush. “Yeah, I’m just tired,” he lied through his teeth.

As he kept up his innocent façade, small droplets of blood slowly drizzled down his wrist from the tight fist enveloping the thorned rose. His confined anger flowed through the blood that spilled from the cuts in his palm, but he didn’t feel a pinch of pain through his tensed muscles.

Perhaps one day, the world would give him another chance to show his love for you.

***************

You woke with a start as someone busted through the door of the room, looking around in a panic at who would enter so suddenly. Your eyes widened as you caught sight of Niragi, stumbling into the room with his usual sniper rifle slung over his shoulder.

“Sorry love, did I wake you?”

You stayed silent, sitting up properly and watching his movements closely. You didn’t trust a single thing he did or said, so you still remained on high alert whenever he was in this room alone with you, despite the fact you had been sharing the room with him for three days.

“You getting hungry? I brought some food up last night for you while you were asleep,” he said, placing his rifle on a small table. You watched as it collided with the wooden surface, flinching at the loud noise.

You hadn’t been able to leave the room since your injury. You had been shot in the foot by an overly sensitive militant woman who you weren’t even sure was still alive after the beating Niragi gave her in front of you. His behaviour during that time alone was enough to you terrified, especially the fact that it is impossible to run from him now.

But the lack of movement on your foot has proven to help and you have noticed the bullet wound healing quite well. The ointment and bandages you apply regularly on it (no help from Niragi) has been working perfectly, and you were praying for the moment you could move your stuff back to your own room and escape Niragi’s unpredictable and psychotic behaviour around you.

As if he read your mind, Niragi spoke up. “How’s your foot? Is it getting better?”

The sweet tone in his voice was so contradictory to his intentions. You hated the fact that he thought you fell for his fake façade. To be honest, he probably knew you didn’t believe him, but continued with it to keep you on your toes.

You glared at him through the top of your eyelids, keeping your head low in suspicion. As Niragi sighed from your unresponsive behaviour, he strutted over towards the bed that you were laying on. You panicked and used your arms to push yourself away from him, being terrified of his presence alone. Spending only a few days with him was enough to make you realise how despicable of a human being he actually was.

“Shh, calm down. It’s just me,” he attempted to calm you.

You froze as he sat on the bed nearby your legs. A pained expression grew on your face as he slowly lifted your injured foot to place it gently on his lap, running his hand carefully over the bandage you had applied before going to sleep.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, glancing up at you. You shook your head no, watching as he smirked slightly and turned back to it.

“I’m going to have a look at it,” he demanded, beginning to unravel the bandage on your foot.

You remained still, watching as he was unusually careful. It made your adrenaline run rapid, not knowing when he was going to suddenly snap.

As he pulled the final layer off your foot, relief filled you when you saw that it was still fine. The injury had turned into a small hole in the top of your foot, no blood or redness in sight. Maybe perhaps you could walk again soon, and be able to replenish your visa that was due to end in a few days.

Unfortunately, Niragi wasn’t as happy about this knowledge, and he intended to do something about it.

“Hmm,” he hummed in thought, leaning over to the night stand and picking up a small unwashed needle that he had kept there. It was left there by Ann a few days ago, as she had to come to the room to stitch up a cut that Niragi had obtained during a game.

Your eyes widened at the sight of him holding the needle close to your bullet wound. “W-Wait, Niragi,” you stuttered, nervous about his intentions. “What are you doing?”

Niragi glanced up at you, a devilish smirk painted across his face. His expression made your stomach churn and you attempted to pull your leg from his grip. Your heart rate picked up and you began to panic when he refused to let go.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt much. Just... try not to scream.”

Just as you were about to protest, Niragi pinned your foot onto his lap and pushed the tip of the needle as hard as he could into your bullet wound, making you let out a silent scream and thrash in his hold.

You screamed and screamed and screamed, a horrific pain continuously shot through your foot to your leg. You swore at some point it felt like he was cutting your foot off.

“NIRAGI!” you wailed. “STOP! PLEASE!”

You begged and begged through your cries of pain. After what felt like a century, Niragi pulled the needle out of your foot slowly and placed his hand over the wound to attempt to stop the bleeding. You were now lying on your back, sobbing lightly into the sheets and given up.

You felt Niragi caress your face with the back on his hand lightly. “My little princess needs to stay here, where I can keep her safe. You can’t leave. There’s horrible monsters at The Beach and I would hate for you to fall prey to one of them.”

You felt like screaming at him. How could he be so blind, so ignorant. He was the monster, and he failed to realise it.

He placed your leg off his lap, making you let out a small cry. Niragi crawled further up the bed next to you and sat on the sheets. You were facing away from him, not even daring to turn to look at him. You could hear him unbuttoning his checkered shirt, seeing it fly over your frame and land on the floor. A shiver made its way up your spine as Niragi’s hot breath hit the nape of your neck and his warm limbs snaked around your torso. He placed his hands underneath your shirt and softly caressed the skin of your stomach whilst nipping at the skin on your neck.

“You’re so pretty. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you over these years.”

His words sounded so loving, so sweet. But your reaction was the opposite of what he wanted. A slow, sorrowful tear traveled down your face and you began shaking in his embrace in fear of having him so close. You wanted to close your eyes and wake up back home, back in your own bed with your family’s hushed conversations spread throughout the house. This wasn’t home, this was absolute hell.

“Why are you shaking? Are you cold?” your tormentor asked. He removed his hands from underneath your shirt and pulled on your shoulders to make you turn over to face him. You kept your eyes shut tight, refusing to submit to his demands.

He pulled you close once again and placed his hand on the back of your head to push your face into his bare chest. Niragi’s usual smell of blood and metal filled your nostrils, making you grimace against him.

You continued to shake, not being able to control your movements. Niragi sighed, tucking his chin on the top of your head and nuzzling into your hair, taking a breath of the all too familiar scent of the shampoo you’ve always used for your hair. How you managed to find the exact one in the Borderland was beyond his understanding.

The smell made him feel at home. The comfort he found in you was too strong for him to handle, making him become deranged at the thought of you being back in his arms. It scared him, how much he actually depended on you to keep him happy.

And while he continued to hold you close and smile happily at the feeling of your soft breath against his chest, he failed to notice the continuous flow of tears that cascaded down your face and the shaking of your hands that gripped the top of your own thighs violently, trying to realise the tension of the adrenaline in your veins.

************

You had had enough.

Niragi did nothing but put you through absolute torture and trauma no matter how much you attempted to reason with his psychotic self. Bruises littered your body from his usual violence, committing to the awful promise that he was going to make sure you couldn’t leave the room.

You were imprisoned. It felt as if you were trapped in a cage that had the easiest lock in the world to pick, only you didn’t have hands to unlock it.

So two days after the needle incident, you decided you were going to escape, even if it killed you.

You had to replenish your visa, considering it ended the next night. You feared that Niragi would just leave you to die, not caring about your visa, so you had to take it upon yourself.

You may have had an infected bullet wound and a nearly crushed spirit, but you weren’t going to let this be your end. You had to at least try.

*************

“Oi, I’m leaving now,”

You shifted your eyes from your hands resting in your lap to the tall, deranged man who stood at the door of your room. He had his usual black and white buttoned shirt on, charcoal hair tied up at the top to keep it out of his face and his relaxed hand tucked into the pockets of his dark jeans. You almost felt disappointed. How could such a handsome man be wasted by such a horrific mentality.

He carried his loaded sniper rifle in his arm, fiddling with the trigger as he awaited an answer from you.

You nodded your head and turned back to your hands, twiddling your thumbs nervously. You stayed frozen as you heard his footsteps make their way over to you.

Niragi lifted your chin with a harsh grip to your jaw and smashed his lips onto yours. You closed your eyes tightly in discomfort, feeling his desperate lips bite over yours hungrily. It made you feel sick to your stomach.

He pulled away, your lips connected by a string of saliva, making him chuckle. “I’ll be back kitten. Maybe I’ll bring you back a present,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows.

You nodded once again. You knew what he meant. Perhaps an amputated hand of one of your friends? Or the eye of a seeker/hunter to remind you of the “monsters” he’s hiding you from? At this point, you were desensitised to it.

The feeling on his lips on your head brought you from your thoughts. He softly stroked his hand through your hair, tucking slightly on the ends, making you wince.

“Stay here, and don’t answer the door if someone knocks.”

And with that, he left. You stayed completely still for a few minutes, waiting in case he decided to come back just to torment you further.

After you were sure he was completely gone, you shifted to the edge of the bed and swung your legs over the edge to stand up. You had practised walking around the room on your injured foot for the past few days when Niragi wasn’t there, so you had grown used to the random aches that shot up your leg from your bullet wound while walking.

You waddled to the door, slowly swinging it open and grabbing the small knife that sat on the table nearby. You had to have some kind of weapon in case something was to happen.

As you stepped outside, a few people were still making their way down the halls towards the lobby. You noticed a young man that you had somewhat befriended when you first arrived at The Beach named Tatta. He stopped in his tracks when he saw you, a smile growing on his face.

“Y/N! Where have you been?!” he exclaimed excitedly, running to you and throwing his arms around you in a playful embrace. You grimaced at his loud voice, being afraid of a certain someone potentially hearing him say your name.

“Hey Tatta,” you said back, giving him a right hug. You swore you felt like you could’ve cried in his arms from how deprived you were from normal human interaction without the fear of being assaulted.

“Are you coming to the games tonight?” he asked, pulling back from the hug and keeping a hand on your shoulder. You nodded. “Can I stick with you?” you asked with hope in your eyes. Tatta smiled and hit your arm lightly. “Of course! I’d feel better going with someone I knew.”

You agreed and began walking down the hall towards the lobby together in a comfortable. Tatta failed to notice you being more cautious, checking around corners before you turned and whipping your head around to glance behind you every now and then.

************

Just your luck, a ten of spades. You swore the world just wanted you dead. At that point, you had become used to the never-ending bullshit that was thrown your way.

You clawed your way to the table that held the card. Holding the single piece of cardboard between your fingers had never felt more satisfying. You slid down against the wall near the registration area, limbs shaking from the muscle strain you faced during the game. Tatta knelt in front of you, rubbing your knee in an attempt to comfort you, but nothing he could do would make you feel better.

Back at The Beach, you sat in the lobby on one of the leather couches, rubbing your foot to try and ease the aching pain coming from your wound. You had heard when you arrived back that the executives had called a meeting, so you weren’t too worried about running into Niragi.

You closed your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest, rolling your head back to rest against the couch. Moments like that were complete bliss. For a moment, you were able to forget your current situation.

A sudden hand on your shoulder ripped you from your meditation, and you turned your head to see none other than Kuina with a red face and heavily breathing from running. “Hey Y/N,” she started. You sat up and turned around fully to face you.

“The executives want you in the meeting. They heard you collected a high number card and they need you to deliver it.”

Your heart dropped at her words, realising what was coming for you. You had to walk into that meeting room, where Niragi stood. He was going to find out about your little adventure you had without him knowing. Adrenaline filled your senses from the thought of what he was going to do to you.

You slowly stood up, wiping your sweaty hands on your shorts and checking your card was still in the front pocket. You gulped heavily and nodded to Kuina. “Okay, I’ll head there now.”

Every step towards the meeting room was another towards hell. The more stairs you climbed, the more nausea filled your stomach, the more thoughts filled your head. You were seriously just considering throwing yourself off the roof of the hotel, as that seemed like a better option than facing Niragi.

You arrived in front of the double doors, freezing in your path. You don’t know how long you stood there, sighing shakily and attempting to crack your knuckles to relieve tension. But still, as you lifted your hand to push on the large wooden door, your arm shook like a leaf.

You trudged in, hearing the room fall silent at your entry. You refused to look up from the ground, keeping your widened eyes locked to the carpeted ground until you reached the end of the table.

“Ah, Y/N. Finally! Care to show your card?” you heard Hatter ask. You glanced up and caught sight of all the executives gathered around the table on chairs. One of which was of course Niragi.

You locked eyes with the psychotic man, and your stomach dropped when you saw the scowl on his face. He was staring directly into your soul, eyes hardened with anger and unforgiveness. If looks could kill, you would’ve been on the floor dead before you even made it to the table.

You focused on the task at hand and pulled the card from your pocket, placing the somewhat damaged ten of spades on the table. Hatter reached over and held it close to his face to examine it as everyone watched. Well, everyone except Niragi, who held his piercing gaze on you. You swore you could feel him burning holes through your skin.

“Hmm,” Hatter hummed in approval. “Thank you very much Y/N, that will be all,” he said, making a shooing movement towards you.

You nodded and thanked him before quickly walking out of the room. As soon as you stepped out, you broke into a sprint towards you and Niragi’s shared room.

You had to leave the room before the meeting finished. You feared the absolute worse.

When you arrived at the room, you ripped open the door and scrambled inside, groaning at the pain your foot was in. You didn’t have a choice, you had to hurry.

You made your way to the large closet, immediately reaching for the top shelf to pull down the miniature machine gun that Niragi stored up there as a spare. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to know about it, but you managed to spot him tucking it underneath the clothes at some point.

As you were shuffling around the cupboard trying to find some bullets desperately, annoyed and stressed sighs and gasps leaving your mouth, you froze when the sound of the door opening hit your ears. Immediately assuming the worst, you grabbed the door of the cupboard and closed yourself inside, attempting to enveloped yourself in the piles of clothes and resources.

The keyhole in the door of the cupboard allowed you to have a small space to look through. You closed one eye and glanced through the hole, spotting Niragi placing his sniper rifle on the bed and untying his hair, running his hands through it in stress.

You didn’t dare even breath, keeping all your limbs tucked close so you didn’t knock over anything. You were so afraid that Niragi would even hear the sound of your heart beating, as it was as loud as a drum in your own ears.

You grimaced as a sudden putrid smell filled your nose. The smell of fresh flesh that you were all too familiar with from living in the Borderland. You turned around in the cupboard and moved to the side so the light of the keyhole would at least somewhat illuminate the small space. The sight in front of you was enough to make you throw up.

There sat Tatta (or at least, Tatta’s remains), empty eyed and leaning against the back of the cupboard. Bullet holes littered his once kind face, probably counting eight at least. You covered your mouth in horror, letting out a loud cry at the sight, pushing your legs against the ground to scramble away from your dead friend.

Once again, just like the other day during the needle incident, you screamed and screamed and screamed. You fell backwards out of the closet, curling into a small ball and screeching into your palm in horror at the now clearer sight of your friend’s corpse. 

Everything was crumbling around you. Your voice was being ripped to shreds at the back of your throat. Your mind was falling apart, not being able to handle the traumatising events that you’ve faced, breaking and tearing itself apart. Your body was broken. Bruises and scars scattered your frame like an artwork, each one holding a connected traumatic event.

Niragi sat on the bed, watching as you screamed on the ground over by the corner of the room, tears sliding down his tanned cheeks.

What had happened to you? Why did you change so much in these few years?

Niragi slowly stood and made his way over to your shaking frame, hooking his arms underneath your shoulders and knees to lift you bridle style. He smiled sadly down at your shivering frame, not being able to control your rapid movements.

“Aw baby, you’re a mess,” he cried, a sob escaping his mouth halfway through his sentence.

He brought you back over to the bed, crawling on his knees to the centre of the mattress and crossing his legs to lay you in his lap with your head tucked into the crook of his elbow.

He brushed your hair with his fingers, trying to ease your breathing as you kept your eyes tightly shut in fear. “I tried to warn you. Look what happened,” he chuckled through his tears, motioning his head over towards the cupboard. “Do you like your present? I saw you walking with him on your way back to the hotel and thought it would be perfect. Why don’t you like it?”

You opened your eyes and looked up at him with fear all written all over your face. You didn’t dare move from his embrace, being too afraid.

Niragi smiled as he caught sight of your glistening eyes, reaching a hand up and stroking his thumb along your cheek. “You’re so pretty,” he breathed out, leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on your lips.

You brought your shaking hands up and rubbed your face before finally speaking up. “I want to go home,” you desperately whispered, turning your head and pressing your face against Niragi’s clothed chest. He watched as you brought your hand up and gripped the material of his shirt in your fist tightly, conveying anger and stress through your grip.

“You are home kitten,” he states, rubbing his cheek against your head. “I’m your home. I always have been.”

He wasn’t lying to you, and that was the pill that was hard to swallow. Niragi had been your source of comfort for so long, and for once in your life, it felt foreign to lay in his arms and to look into his night eyes.

Oh how weird it felt to look at something that conveyed such sweetness, such delicacy and such empathy, only for it to be utterly ruined by its environment.

You’d like to think that it wasn’t either of your faults. But in the end, it doesn’t depend on the environment, it depends on how you react to it.

Neither of you were perfect, but you were both incredibly different. It never would’ve worked between the two of you, and being in the Borderland did nothing but strengthen that fact. In the end, your differences would either tear you apart from each other emotionally, or you would tear each other apart limb from limb.

Author’s Note: Hi everyone! I’m back to finishing off the fanfic requests that have been sent to me because I finished all the prompt scenarios. I won’t be doing another part to this because I honestly struggled for so long trying to figure out a plot for this one 😭 But anyway thanks so much for your patience. I’ll be uploading these fanfics as quick as I can! ❤❤

Small addition to this fanfic talking about Niragi’s motives and intentions

[thinkingaboutyoungroyals]

Falling For You But You Are Worlds Away: Chapter 1

Summary: After a close call with a reporter that resulted in Simon getting hurt, Linda makes a difficult and heartbreaking decision. Meanwhile, Wilhelm returns to Hillerska, hoping to at least rekindle his friendship with Simon, only to find that even that was no longer possible.

Title inspired by Taylor Swift's "Come Back, Be Here."

Note: So... after several weeks of obsessing... I finally did it... I finally wrote Young Royals fanfic. And, I really shouldn't because I have Grad school and a part-time job and I barely have time to breathe.Speaking of that, I probably won't have a consistent update. There might be times when I disappear for several weeks. Please be patient and understanding with me, I'm still trying to balance school and work.

AO3 link

It was supposed to be a normal day of running errands – a trip to the grocery store, dropping off mail at the post office, and maybe getting ice creams as a treat on the way home. But, no, Simon should have known better than to think that his life would somehow go back to normal during Christmas. After all, the prince had denied his involvement in the viral video and Simon had broken up with him to give both of them some space. This all happened only a week ago.

But, even after all that trouble and heartbreak, here he and his family were, being chased down their own street by paparazzi with their stupid cameras and fake sympathy.

“Simon, won’t you tell us your side of the story?”

“Is Prince Wilhelm lying? Are you in a relationship?”

“Mrs. Erikkson, how did you react when you found out your son may have been involved with the prince?”

“Don’t say anything,” his mother hissed in Spanish, clutching Simon and Sara’s arms tighter against her side.

The plastic bag of groceries was digging into Simon’s skin and he wished he could adjust his grip but he didn’t dare slow down. Those hyenas at his heels could catch them and he didn’t want to give them that satisfaction.

But, then, Sara let out a startled scream. A reporter had grabbed her arm, making her drop the groceries. Clementines rolled out of the bag and onto the pavement.

And, just like that, Simon saw red.

“Let go of her!”

He ripped his arm from his mother’s hold and lunged at the reporter, pushing him away from his shaking sister. The reporter, a middle-aged man who had probably been doing this for a long time, released Sara. But, before Simon could pull her away to safety, searing pain exploded at his cheek. He tasted the blood before he even realized what had happened.

His mom and Sara screamed.

The other reporters began to yell at the first one. Things like “What is wrong with you?!” and “Fuck, you can’t touch our sources like that! We’re gonna get sued!”

His name was being called. It sounded like Sara.

But, Simon, feeling dazed and tired, just stared up at the bright blue sky. He didn't even realize he had fallen to the ground. It was a nice day, though.

It should have been an ordinary nice day.

 .....

“Thank you, officer, we really appreciate your help.”

“Just doing our job, ma’am. Please don’t hesitate to call us over if you see any more suspicious individuals around your home. We’ll send someone over, immediately.”

“Thank you.”

Linda bid the police officers a good day and shut the door. With them gone, she finally lowered her mask and allowed the weariness of the day to manifest in her bones. She leaned back against the closed door, letting out the breath she had been holding.

No matter how many times she had dealt with the police, it never failed to make her exhausted. She should be used to this by now.

When she and the kids still lived with Micke, it wasn’t uncommon for neighbors to call the cops to complain about her ex-husband disturbing the peace. Mostly because he was yelling at her and the children. Sometimes, even hurting her. (He never touched the children. Linda never let him. The one and only time he almost laid a hand on Sara was finally when Linda finally gathered her children, important documents, and a few meager possessions and fled into the night.)

Linda believed that they were past all that. That in this new life she built for herself and her children, they would never have to call the police to their home or worry about their safety ever again. But, after what happened to Simon today, she could no longer hold on to that dream. Not for the time being.

She knew what she had to do to keep her son safe, even if it hurt her. Even if Simon would resent her. She hoped he wouldn’t. That he would see that she was doing this for him.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Linda straightened her shoulders, lifted her head, and began to make her way back to the living room, where she could clearly hear her children bickering on the couch.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sara asked her brother.

“I’m fine,” Simon answered, sounding annoyed. “He didn’t even hit me that hard.”

“You could have hit your head!”

“But, I didn’t.”

“You should have left him alone.”

“He touched you!”

Sara pressed her lips together and looked away as she dabbed ointment to her brother’s bruised lip. Simon flinched, which made his sister’s lips quirk to an amused smile.

But, despite her children looking seemingly okay, joking around and teasing each other the way they always did, Linda couldn't stop looking at that dark mark marring her son’s handsome face. 

Clearing her throat, she stepped into the living room.

“Mi amor, how are you feeling?” she asked, sitting on Simon’s other side.

“I’m fine, mama,” he replied, immediately. “It’s just a scratch, it will heal in a few days.” He grinned. “It makes me look badass though, right?”

Sara snorted. “More like reckless.”

“A reckless badass.”

“Mi amor,” Linda interrupted, gently, not wanting them to start bickering again. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Simon straightened up, looking serious. Linda’s chest felt heavy as she took his hand in hers and stroked it. Sometimes, she wished her children were still small and had no other care in the world except for what candy they could get at the grocery store that week.

“It’s about school,” she began.

“I’ll transfer back to Marieberg,” Simon said, misunderstanding where the conversation was going. “I don’t mind. Sara can stay at Hillerska, she has friends there now, I’m sure she’ll be fine. Besides, Rosh and Ayub are excited to have me back.”

Linda shook her head. “I don’t think you should go back to Marieberg either.”

At that, Simon’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? I should go to another school? There aren’t any others close by.”

Linda sighed as she looked her son in the eye. “When the… video… first came out...”

Simon flinched and looked down at his feet.

“... I thought about how to… protect you. Especially after what happened today-.”

“Mama, I can handle it,” he interrupted, still unable to look at her. “I was fine today.”

“No, you weren’t,” Sara interjected. “You got punched.”

Simon glared at her. “They’re just reporters, I can handle them.”

Linda squeezed his hand. “It’s not just the reporters, Simon. It’s also… the others. Remember that boy from the other day? He followed you home! He could have hurt you!”

Simon's eyes flashed in anger at the memory. “But, he didn’t, you drove him away. And I would have been fine, I could take him.”

“That doesn’t stop me from worrying!”

Linda ran a hand through her hair, frustrated and cursing her son’s stubbornness. Unfortunately, that was one thing he inherited from Micke.

“Anything could have happened and I can’t protect you! Not at school, not at the grocery store, not even here at home! And do you know what that does to me?! I worry about you every time you’re out of my sight, Simon!” 

Unbidden tears brimmed at Linda’s eyes but she refused to let them fall. She had to be strong. She was making the right decision.

“A few weeks ago, I called your Tia Elena. She already knew what happened, the news reached them...”

“Oh, God!” Closing his eyes, Simon groaned and fell back against the couch.

“… and she actually suggested that… you go to live with her for a while.”

Almost immediately, Simon’s eyes snapped open and he sat up. “What?”

“I wasn’t sure, before, because I don’t want you to be away from us. But, after what happened with that boy from the other day and the reporters today… I think this is the best thing for you.”

“To send me to America?! That’s the best thing for me?!”

Simon pulled his hand away from her hold and stood up, presumably to stalk off to his room.

Linda tried to blink away the tears. “Simon, mi amor, please! This is the only way to keep you safe!”

“You’re sending me away! From you and Sara and my friends! My whole life is here!”

“It’s only until this all dies down, I promise. You can transfer back to Marieberg next school year. But, just for this term. Please, Simon.”

She watched Simon’s stiff back as he processed her pleas.

“W-What about a visa?” he asked and the hope in it broke her heart. “Don’t I need one of those? And they take time, don’t they? By the time they process it, school’s gonna start and I still have to travel and-.”

“You have an appointment with the U.S. Embassy the day after tomorrow,” Linda interrupted. “Your Tia Elena took care of everything. She even sent some money along to help with the fees.”

“Oh.” Simon’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “W-Would they even have room for me?”

“There’s only her and Ana now ever since Ricardo left them. And she says you can work at her store to earn some extra money, if you want.”

From the corner of her eye, Linda spotted Sara, who was unusually quiet. Her daughter was staring at her brother, her face unreadable. It was difficult to read Sara these days. But, Linda hoped that her daughter understood why she was doing this.

Sara didn’t want to leave Hillerska and that was fine, she had gone ahead and applied for that Grant to be a resident. But, even if Simon applied for a Grant too and became a resident, he would still get chased by reporters. He would still get recognized and followed by creeps and people who wanted to do him harm in Bjarstard. But, in America, with Linda’s older sister, he could be safe from the scandal.  

“Is there really no other way?” Simon asked, softly.

Getting to her feet, Linda moved towards her son and wrapped him in her arms.

“Mi amor, I know this is difficult for you. It is for me, too. I want nothing more than for you to stay here in Sweden with me and your sister. But, I want you to be safe. I want people to stop stalking you and bothering you about something so… traumatic. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to go to school and live your life in peace. In America, no one knows who you are. You can live normally again, go to school, and even… date someone new.”

Simon flinched in her arms and she regretted her words.

What Simon had with Wilhelm was truly special, something for the books, the kind of love story you often watch on T.V. and read about in books. She had never seen Simon as happy as he had been when he was with the prince, even if they thought Linda didn’t know. (Of course, she knew! She was his mother!) It was only a shame that their story ended in a tragedy that not only broke her son’s heart but also brought negative and unwanted attention onto his life.

“Simon, please,” she begged. “Just for a few months, I promise, mi amor. And, then, you can come home and life will be back to normal, I’m sure. Please.”

Time felt like it was slowing down as they stood there in the middle of the living room, Simon slowly breaking in her arms and Sara only watching helplessly.

Finally, her son let out a breath. “Okay,” he said in a soft voice. “I’ll go.”

Linda burst into tears and buried her face against the fabric of Simon’s orange sweatshirt.

Despite her own heart breaking into pieces at the thought of being away from her son, she was also so incredibly relieved.

 ......... 

The Christmas break was too long, in Wilhelm’s opinion.

He spent most of it making required public appearances, sitting in on council meetings, and attending royal parties. He went about his duties like a robot, his emotions numb and something in him broken. His mother thought he would get over it if she threw enough things at him to keep him busy enough to not think of Simon. But, obviously, it didn’t work.

Simon was the first thing on his mind when he woke up in the mornings and the last thing he thought of before he slept at night. He had tried texting but his texts went unanswered. His calls would result in just ring after ring after ring until voicemail picked up. He spent many hours just scrolling through Simon’s Instagram, not seeing any new posts. Rosh, Ayub, and Sara had all blocked him so he couldn’t even see any posts of Simon, if there were any.

During the yearly Christmas party hosted by the Royal family, it was normally Erik who had to socialize and make nice with all the nobility and distant relatives who came. But, this year, Wilhelm had to do it. And it was fine, at first. He managed to remember some names and those he didn’t remember, he managed to sidestep with a polite “sir” or “ma’am.” But, then… But, then!

His mother introduced to him the daughter of a Duke whose name he couldn’t remember. With the way his mother smiled and practically pushed the girl to his side, Wilhelm knew exactly what she was doing. It ruined the rest of the party for him, as well as that poor girl’s Christmas. Wilhelm was so annoyed that he ignored her when she tried to make conversation. Eventually, he caused her to break into tears when he bluntly said that he didn’t care who designed her dress.

The Queen tried to scold him, called him a disgrace, and demanded that he get himself together. Wilhelm only shot her a blank look, excused himself, and left the party.

There were no more attempts at setting him up after that.

So, when Christmas break ended and it was time to return to Hillerska, he was relieved. He dutifully packed his things, including the small Christmas gift he got for Simon. He was hoping that even if they couldn’t restart their relationship, they could still be friends. Wilhelm would take anything Simon was able to offer him right now, even if it wasn’t what he wanted.

“Your Royal Highness,” Malin called through the door. “You’re supposed to be at the church in ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Malin!” Wilhelm called back to her.

The prince looked over his appearance in the mirror one last time, making sure his school tie was tied properly and his jacket free of lint. Not that Simon would care about those, but Wilhelm wanted to look his best, for once. He even got a haircut over break. He wondered if Simon did, too. He couldn’t wait to see him.

Feeling the anticipation brimming inside him, Wilhelm made his way out of his room. He joined the others in leaving Forest Ridge to head to the church. Ahead of him, Henry and Walter waved, pausing to let him catch up to them.

Despite their initial impression on Wilhelm, they really did mellow out the more he got to know them. And when the video came out, they were the only ones who didn’t look at him weirdly (at least, not blatantly to his face) and never once asked about the video. They even texted him a Merry Christmas over break. He would take their company over August’s.

And, speaking of the devil, there was his traitor of a cousin now, pushing through the other boys to get to him. Wilhelm quickened his steps, not wanting to get caught in a conversation. He had successfully avoided him during the Christmas party at the palace after giving firm instructions to Malin and Johan to ensure that he didn’t get close to Wilhelm.

Luckily, his bodyguards were most likely doing exactly that as Wilhelm made it to the church and slipped into a pew without August catching up to him. Henry and Walter slid in after him, chatting about their holidays.

“Wonder what they’re singing this time,” Walter wondered aloud.

“Hope it’s something good,” Henry added.

Wilhelm only smiled, his annoyance at August finally melting away and replaced by excitement to see Simon and hear him sing again. Christmas break was too long.

Finally, the whole church had filled up and the Headmaster signaled for everyone to be quiet.

The choir entered.

Wilhelm spotted Felice and gave her a small wave. She had remained a great friend to him throughout the break.

As the choir began their song, Wilhelm scanned the heads, looking for that familiar head of curls. Someone else was doing a solo this time, a girl he didn’t know and her voice was nice but it wasn’t Simon. Why wasn’t Simon doing the solo?

Wilhelm couldn’t even hear the song or decipher the lyrics. His eyes desperately scanned all three rows but he couldn’t spot Simon.

Where was Simon?!?! Did he miss the first day of school?!?!

But, Sara was just a few pews ahead. She wouldn’t leave home without her brother.

The excitement that had earlier filled him turned into fear.

Did Simon quit the choir?!

Not caring about how it looked, Wilhelm scanned the pews across from them and the pews behind him, trying to spot those curls. But… he couldn’t see them. Not one strand.

The choir had finished singing now and the Headmaster had stood up to welcome them to another semester, go over the rules of the dorms, and list the school administration’s expectations from their students.

All of it went over Wilhelm’s head.

And, finally, they were dismissed to go to their first class of the day.

Wilhelm shot up and, muttering apologies to Henry and Walter, made his way out of the pew. He ignored the “hello’s” sent his way and hurried to the front.

Sara and Maddie were chatting with each other as they made their way down the aisle, all excited smiles and talking about how wonderfully Felice sang.

“Sara!”

The girl slowed down and froze upon seeing him. He saw the anger flash in those normally calm eyes. Then, she turned her gaze away and walked past him.

Wilhelm was not giving up.

He turned around and gave chase. “Sara! Sara, wait! I just need to ask you something.”

“I have nothing to say to you, Prince,” she seethed, not stopping.

He hated to do it but he gently grasped the arm of her school jacket. “Please, I need to ask you. Where’s Simon?”

Sara pulled her arm away, glaring at him. “Why do you ask?”

Wilhelm swallowed. “He didn’t sing with the choir. And I can’t find him anywhere and I just-.”

“He doesn’t go to Hillerska anymore.”

Wilhelm’s heart stopped. “What?”

Sara shrugged, turned on her heels, and walked away. Maddie shot Wilhelm a pitying look before hurrying off after her.  

His chest felt tight. And it seemed like there wasn’t enough air for him to breathe.

Simon... left?

[kikaykim]

Taiwan Trip 2018

I’ve always been curious about what the heart of Asia can offer and by taking advantage of its government’s initiative for Free Visa to attract more tourists, it’s time to get to know this neighboring country.

I turned to AirAsia for cheap flights and got a good deal for Taiwan from Dec. 17-21. The dates are the best as they’re literally 1 week before the holiday break kicks off so I don’t need to worry about the “back to reality” dillemma that we get right after spending a holiday away from home then going back straight to work.

I did a lot of research by reading blogs and watching vlogs on Youtube. The information I got from the two mediums really helped me out in planning my 4 days trip. AirAsia flights to Taiwan from Clark are always at night so I only have 4 days instead of 5.

The next thing I did after securing my flight tickets, I looked for discounted hotels/hostels. I always turn to Agoda because they have the cheapest accommodation deals. Been booking hotels with them since 2016. I never had an issue and their customer service, although the queue is too long, you’ll spend a tantamount of time waiting on the line for a rep to attend to your concerns, is superb. Agoda also have the options for “pay nothing until” or “pay at the property”. I also considered looking through Airbnb but in the end, I found myself booking two accommodations via Agoda. Mind you, always read the reviews of people for that hotel you want to book. It will definitely help you decide if it’s the right one for you.

I also thought of booking activities, buy tickets and rentals online (aside from flight tickets) when planning my trip. I turned to two travel applications: Klook and KKday.

Klook:

-Rental of 4G Wifi Mobile Broadband I got on Sale. My usage is 5 days. The pickup location is right at the Arrival Area of Taoyuan Airport T1. It was an easy transaction, instructions on the Klook voucher is accurate. I presented the QR code on the voucher on my phone, my passport and Debit card (credit card can be used too). The card is required so when you loose or damage the device, they’ll charge you. Signed the receipt and that’s it! The device was low on power charge though, so I got to use it the next day but boy, it’s so fast! No lagging anywhere I go in Taiwan. The price shown below is for 1 day use only. So the price will multiply depending on how many days you’re going to use it.

-Taichung World Flora Expo Ticket. This ticket is for the entrance fee of the three world flora expo sites. I’ll go into detail of the itinerary later on.

KKDAY:

-booked a Day Tour Package for three tourist spots: Yehliu Geopark, Shifen and Jiufen.

What you need to know for first time travelers in Taiwan like me:

1. If your arrival time and immigration process allows it, catch the airport MRT going to Taipei or any other places in Taiwan. Otherwise, take a bus or Uber or Taxi. I was lucky to catch the MRT. MRT Airport Operating hours: 6am - 12am only.

2. Purchase the Easycard. It’s going to be your bestfriend in going around the city and neighboring states/provinces. It costs NTD$500 - there is a NTD$100 fee so your balance on the card will be NTD$400. The Easycard can be used both in MRT and Bus. This is available to purchase at any Information booth in MRT stations. Taiwan has a very systematic and easy to understand transportation system so I’m really happy about it. It’s so easy going up and down stations to your destinations.

3. It’s December, it’s Winter. Do you need to wear a jacket? I would suggest to search for the weather forecast from the duration of your stay. In my case, it never rained. It was sunny. The lowest temperature I experienced was just 17degrees Celcius -at night. Temperatures tend to get low at sun down. During the day, while wearing a fleece jacket, puffer jacket and a sweater, met with humidity and highest temp of 28degress Celcius, I got too sweaty!! So on my last day in Taiwan, I was wearing a sando and shorts. No sweat, no cold feeling though I attracted attention for wearing differently. I can’t help it, I’m a tropical island girl so 17, 20, or 28 degress are not cold enough for me except when I’m about to have my period, my body temps get low, I’m shivering at 20 degress at the office aircon. Lol. But you will notice the Taiwanese people are still wearing layered jackets I think it’s because they just got used to wearing those clothing during Winter months. And anyway, most of the year, it’s raining in Taiwan and the rain adds to the cold temperature so yeah, maybe that’s the reason. I was just lucky I guess that the duration of my visit was sunny, no rains at all.

4. Taiwanese are very friendly, accommodating and helpful that in spite of language barrier, they will proactively help you out when they see you confused or trying to figure out which way to go. That alone made my journey very easy and I really felt safe there.

5. Speaking of language barrier, taxi drivers speak little to no English and they’re having a hard time understanding what you’re trying to say. So I suggest that you prepare an address of your destination that’s written in Chinese. When I was going to the hostel from Taipei Main Station, the taxi driver was clever enough to call the hostel to get the address in Mandarin.

6. There’s plenty of climbing and walking from stations to stations and hiking trails. So you must wear comfortable shoes, and you should be an active person to prevent yourself from suffering painful legs and knees.

7. Get a copy of the Taipei Metro Guide pamphlet. It will help you navigate which train line to take to get to your destinations. You can get it from the Information booth or train officers around the stations. You can also get a soft copy online at english.metro.taipei -just type it as it is on your web browser.

Here’s my detailed itinerary..

Day 1. A DIY trip I planned:

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

Elephant Mountain

Mala YuanYang Hotpot

Chun Shui Tang Milk Tea

Maokong Gondola

Longshan Temple

Taipei 101

Ximending

Shilin Night Market

What I actually able to fulfill: all of the above except the ones written on RED. Yes. I ran out of time, I wasn’t able to squeeze them to the schedule.

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial - this is just a walking distance from the hostel I stayed in. No entrance fee as it is a public place. I was in awe at how huge those traditional structures are and how spacious the whole park is. It’s magnificent! Also, the Exit 5 of the Chiang Kai-Shek MRT station is right in the compound.

Elephant Mountain - it’s a hiking trail where you can get a great view of Taipei 101 and the city from afar. It is a popular destination for both locals and tourists alike. This is where my knees got in real trouble, I could use a wheelchair! The steps are too steep going up, I was not able to finish the trail and get to the boulders because my legs, specially my knees were giving up. This is the price to pay for not being an active person. Though, there is a spot, a balcony where you can already take a photo and see the city from there without going up to the boulders. That’s where I stopped and got the below 2nd photo.

How to get here: from any MRT station in my case, Chiang Kai-Shek Exit 4 station, take the RED line to Xiangshan station and go to Exit 2. From Exit 2, go straight to the park then turn left at the end of the park, go straight then turn right. Continue walking straight until you see the sign on the above photo on the left side of the street. When in doubt, just Google then look for the result from “Guide to Taipei”. Tried pasting the link here but this silly tumblr can’t save it, the app crashes.

Mala YuanYang Hotpot at Ximending - took a lunch at this unlimited hotpot that is popular to tourists. This place gets really crowded mostly by Korean tourists. The lunch costs NTD$545 and dinner is NTD$635. You can have unlimited premium meats, seafood and other hotpot essentials, unlimited drinks with plenty of varieties and this is the most exciting part: unlimited Häagen-Dazs and Movenpick ice cream!!! Aside from other desserts like fruits, puddings and egg tart. The only limited though, is time. Your lunch and dinner is limited to only 2 hours. It is located in Ximending which is also happens to be Taipei’s shopping district. So in this stop, I was able to hit two places in one go. And I think Ximending is livelier at night. So if you want to get dinner instead of lunch at Mala Hotpot, then I think that’s a better idea.

How to get here: Ximen station is your drop point station. It is in the Blue and Green lines as it also serves as the transfer station for Green line. Blue line has transfer stations from Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center station and Zhongxiao Fuxing station from the Brown line, Taipei Main Station from the Red line, Zhongxiao Xinsheng from the Orange line, and Ximen station from the Green line. From where I was at Xiongshan station of the Red line, I dropped off the Chiang Kai-Shek station then transferred to the Green line and stopped at Ximen station.

Taipie 101 - the most famous landmark of Taiwan. It’s astonishing! Since it’s sunny on the day I went up the Taipei 101 Observatory, I was able to see the whole city, crystal clear! What I forgot to do though is to get to the 91st floor observatory. The main observatory is at the 89th floor and it took us 37seconds to get there from the 5th floor where the ticket for the observatory is being sold at NTD$600 per person. It is indeed the fastest lift!

How to get here: Take the RED line going to Taipei 101/World Trade Center station.

Maokong Gondola - it’s a gondola ride with three mountain stops. The last stop is the Maokong village where there are a bunch of tea shops. It is better to get there before sunset to see the city sunset while enjoying a tea. Unfortunately in my case, I got to ride the gondola past 5pm. Night time comes early at 5pm. But I get to see the city at night while riding the gondola and enjoying the cold breeze.

How to get here: from Taipei 101 station which is in the RED line, take the same line to Daan Park station which is the transfer station for the Brown line. Take the Brown line going to Taipei Zoo station. From Taipei Zoo staition, just follow the signs that leads to the Maokong Gondola. It will cost you a total of NTD$200 for a round trip from the gondola.

Chun Sui Tang Cultural Tea House - based on Google search, it is the one that started the Milk Tea craze! They also have the Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup which is also a famous Taiwanese dish. Hitting two birds with one stone. This is where I had my dinner. The milk tea tastes bittersweet which I really like. The beef noodle soup tastes good too! The servings are huge!

How to get here: Take the Red line going to Chiang Kai-shek station. Go to Exit 5. The restaurant is located just under the stairs of the Chaing Kai-Shek Concert Hall.

And that’s a wrap for my first day in Taiwan. My next posts will detail my journey for the rest of my 4 days in the country.

[backpackeress]

How to travel on a budget?

Today I want to take time and answer a question I am asked quite frequently: How am I able to afford travelling the world?

Well, let me tell you that I do recommend to save up a little money even if just to keep it as a prudent reserve while you are on the road having fun. One never knows what can happen while we are out exploring and let‘s get serious here for a minute – safety first, guys!

While you are backpacking around the globe there are however several life-hacks on how to safe money that are worth knowing and that I was able to learn through my own wandering.

1.) Do your research, know your stuff – hacks on flights & visas ✈

Saving money starts early on with booking a flight and applying for your visas. You do not need a travel agency to book your flights for you. There are countless websites out there allowing you to book online from your couch. Some of them even offering you to make up your own route so you don‘t have to fly back from the same country you arrived in.

Make sure to always use the ‘incognito window’ when browsing for flights as websites will be able to know what flight prices you have been shown before by using their cookies. Also, flight prices are at their lowest when you fly in and out on a Wednesday and if you book on a Thursday around midnight. One of the best websites to check for the cheapest offers out there is skyscanner. If you found and offer for a direct flight (where you don’t have to change the airline) it can also pay off to book the flight on the airlines website directly as you can save up on commission.

As for visas, depending on where you are going and what passport you hold it might not be necessary to get a visa in advance. If you are looking to get ETA (Canada) or ESTA (USA) make sure to only apply for these visas on the official government website and don’t let yourself be tricked into buying over an agency. Current prices (2019) should be a maximum of $7 for ETA and $14 for ESTA. If you are traveling in central or south America as well as south east Asia you do not have to get visas for every country in advance just make sure you have one for the country you are flying into. Crossing the borders from one country to another in south east Asia (exception for China) and central/south America is usually quite easy going and all you need is your passport and a couple of spare passport photos of yourself to put on the forms. You usually won’t have any problems crossing the borders on both plane or bus.

2.) Save money on accommodation

Finding the right hostel is usually an easy business. Countless platforms offer millions of options for cheap backpacker hostel’s around the globe. Trust me, I must know, I run one. I personally mostly use booking.com as they offer the best conditions for customers when it comes to flexibility of modifying or terms of cancellation. If you already know where you are heading and are certain your plans won’t change it is worth booking the non-refundable rate as it is usually 10% cheaper than the standard rate but as the name suggests, you cannot cancel your booking free of charge. Another little insider tip is to book on the hostel’s website directly (if there is one) as you can usually save up on booking commission that would be charged through a platform. Also, if you are intending to stay at the same place for a longer period (at least a week) it might be worthwhile to drop the hostel a direct message and ask for an offer and a reduction. Usually they are happy to give 10% off if you are staying longer and book directly.

If you are traveling as a group (at least 2 people) and also if you are traveling in areas such as south east Asia or south/central America it often is quite worthwhile to check out options on http://www.Airbnb.com. Apart from sometimes coming across rather unique accommodations (such as tree houses or igloos) you will often find double rooms for the same price as two bunks in a hostel and if you are traveling as a group you might even be able to rent an entire apartment for a really good price.

If you are an absolute low budget enthusiast you can check out couchsurfing, a social network where youngsters offer their couch or a spare room to travelers for free. Or, especially if you are travelling in warm countries, you might want to bring your tent or a hammock. Many hostels in warmer regions are used to people just paying to use the shower rooms while they set up their tents in the garden or yard.

3.) Get around cheap

When in Rome do as the Romans do. This also goes for getting around. Avoid tourist traps by taking the local bus (in comparison: crossing the border from Costa Rica to Nicaragua cost us about 3,50 $ on the local bus and would have been around $50 on the official bus bookable online). However, in countries where you have to cover hundreds of miles it might pay off to book tickets online and in advance. Buses are generally cheaper than trains. Affordable long distance companies would for example be Tiki bus (all of south and central America) or Greyhound (USA, Canada, Oz).

If you do not know how to start finding any options to get from A to B check out www.rome2rio.com. Some countries, such as Australia or New Zealand also tend to have a very organized backpacking-community and it is easy to hitch a ride with someone leaving a hostel to go see a national park or drive to another city. If you are staying long term it is always worth checking out the notice board in hostels to find a ride to share or just boldly ask around in the common room (yes, it actually works).

4.) Working abroad

Whether you are able to acquire a working visa or not there is always a way to find work abroad.

Workaway & WWOOFING: Both Workaway and WWOOFING (=working on organic farms for free) are online portals that allow you to connect with people around the world in order to find work in exchange for accommodation and sometimes a little pocket money. Unfortunately, both platforms require you to pay a fee, it is however worth investing if you are intending to stay in a country for a longer time and therefore need to look after your finances. Workaway requires an annual fee of around 35 EUR and enables you to surf profiles of users worldwide while WWOOFING gives you the opportunity to buy a list of addresses of farmers of a specific country. None of the jobs offered on such platforms should require any particular work experience nor a working permit as you are not getting paid. However, some individuals might still require the applicants to hold a work and holiday visa nevertheless so make sure to talk this through with a possible host in advance. Workaways are not only a nice way to save up on some money but are also often quit an experience in itself, whether you end up planting trees, saving turtles or working on a ranch or in a surf camp, they can be worthwhile just for the experience itself.

If you want to take a gap year it might be of interest to check out whether your country is allowed to apply for a ‘work & holiday visa’. Such visas give you both a one year permission to stay as well as a permit to work. Personally, I applied for this when I was staying in Australia and New Zealand. It was a great way to afford travelling for a year. With a ‘work and holiday visa’ you are able to apply for any workaways as well as every regular paid job and you pay taxes like everyone else (so make sure to apply for a tax return before heading home).

In countries that are used to seeing a great amount of working backpackers you are able to find work via notice boards in Hostels, through platforms such as ‘gumtree’ or in case of Australia, by calling the national fruit picking hotline. As countries like Australia rely on backpackers for most of their farm work it is super easy to get placed at a farm in need of more hands by ringing up the hotline within a few days.

If you feel I have left out on some information or you want to add some more travel-life-hacks please leave a comment and until then, happy wandering, folks!

[nadeemahmedmumbai22-blog]

Doomed in Dubai by Nadeem Ahmed

Me; a Model/Presenter/Fashion event director living in Accrington, Lancashire! Hardly the fashion capital of the world I know! Just a mere small village where news spreads like wild fire! It was a known fact that I was a successful model due to my face being splattered all over the place, even locally! I have always been and still am very committed and dedicated to my work.

 Being a model was considered a very unconventional career for a northern lad but I knew from a very early age that I was going to break the mould and do something completely different! A very tough industry to break into but thankfully through a lot of challenges, rejections and hard work I found my path.

 My story begins from December 2003. I had completed several modelling assignments up and down the country and was so ready for a break. It had been a successful year and now that Christmas was fast approaching, it was time to wind down, spend quality time with family and break all dietary rules!

Traditionally every year, my family would get together at ours for the festive season.

 I lived with my grandparents from a very early age and considered them to be my parents. Our house was the central point for all the family and the thread that kept us all together.

I had a good relationship with most of my family members but there were a few rotten eggs which is normal I guess!

 I hadn’t seen my cousins for such a long time because of work commitments and so was more than excited about our get together.

We would talk till early hours of the morning without a care in the world.

On some days we would go food shopping at the supermarket at 3am creating a harmless racket!

  We got onto the subject of travelling and lucky for my cousin, she and her family had just returned from a place called ‘Dubai’. A place I had never heard of! In all fairness my geographical skills had never been strong. She spoke about it in a very enticing way. I was sold! I needed a break after working so consistently. It seemed the perfect getaway destination as halal food was accessible throughout with it being an Islamic country. I always ate halal food and the thought of going into a Mcdonalds where I could literally eat anything off the menu was so appealing. So sad but true! She also said that getting around was easy and most importantly it was always baking hot which to me was the biggest plus because I hate the cold!

 Before long, I had decided that I would be going to Dubai for my holiday. The excitement was building up thick and fast.

 I booked my flight which was going to take me to Dubai via Istanbul.

Once I had received all the confirmations, I broke the news to my family telling them that I would be going away for New Years. They were a bit shocked but at the same time so used to me going here there and everywhere! I felt I really owed this holiday to myself after working so incredibly hard! One of my friends recommended that I should check out a website called www.expatriates.com where people connected from all corners of the world sharing their experiences of travel and living abroad. I was always an organised person and so was on the case immediately. I registered myself on the site and left a message on the forum stating that I would be in Dubai and if anyone could make any recommendations?

 I was pleasantly surprised to have received some messages from someone called Ethan who seemed most helpful. He was initially from Brazil but now working in Dubai in one of the opulent hotels.  He was kind enough to suggest sorting out my accommodation for me to ensure I got a good deal. We exchanged several messages and it felt safe to say that he seemed a trustworthy guy.

It was decided that he would meet me at the airport in Dubai and escort me to my accommodation.

 Finally having got to Dubai after almost missing my flight and paying for a Turkish visa that I didn’t need, I was feeling a bit nervous about meeting Ethan but managed to put the doubt to the back of my mind and just decided to roll with it. After all I was an adult that was capable of looking after myself! Besides, Dubai was one of the safest places in the world from what I had read!

 As planned Ethan came to the airport, tallish, slim-built with sleeked back jet black hair. Not even an earthquake could move a single strand of hair on his head. He was very friendly and seemed as nice as his messages so I chilled out and began to feel comfortable in his company.

Not long into my stay, Ethan introduced me to one of his closest friends, ‘Luca Hadad’, a television personality from Lebanon who was working for a very well established company in Dubai.

Luca was quite tall, slender built, very fair skinned with green eyes.  His hair was very dark in colour with very tight curls. He was dressed very professionally and oozing with confidence.

 I seemed to have bonded very quickly with Dubai and I was sure getting the love back! This crazy love put a very random thought into my head.

The thought of leaving my life in the UK behind and trading it in for a more exotic lifestyle! It made sense, I was meeting the right people, I was so happy and at peace, I even had continual great weather which was a big thing for me! So, in true Nadeem style I literally ripped up my ticket! In those days we didn’t have the privilege of e-tickets.

I had decided Dubai was going to be my new home. I wasn’t going back to the UK!

 Being totally spontaneous was nothing new to me. It was my comfort zone. I loved to live life on the edge!

Everything was falling into place so naturally that it felt so surreal.

 I found a lovely studio flat in Deira. It was cosy and all mine! I was settling in so seamlessly. I felt so blessed that my family were so supportive of my crazy decision.

I felt I knew Ethan and Luca on a much better level now and we were all getting on so well. Luca even suggested that I would be a great asset working for his company presenting English lifestyle programmes. This brought music to my ears after all my money wouldn’t last forever and I needed to work!

 Luca was in touch on a regular basis and he mentioned that he would have to leave his swanky flat in Sharjah because the landlord didn’t want tenants anymore. Me being me suggested that he should move into my place until he sorted himself out. I was just so grateful that Luca was pushing his seniors to have me working for them. It was the least I could do!

 A meeting had been arranged at the office for me to sign all the paperwork and get all the formalities out of the way for my new job. I got there early and eager as usual. The paperwork was all in Arabic but Luca just asked me to sign on the dotted line and pay the equivalent of £500 cash for the visa. I thought this to be very odd but paid up and didn’t question it in the hope that I would officially have my visa sorted soon and a full time dream job. He was a friend so trust issues were not even on the agenda.

 I had been most productive by contacting several model agencies. To my delight, all the hard work had paid off because the work was coming in!

 Then one day Ethan decided that we should have a party at my house to celebrate the big move and friendship and so on. He would supply the alcohol and my job was to get some food. I made it clear to him that I didn’t drink but the curiosity had always lingered with me. I had never in my life tasted alcohol! Ethan bullied me into having my first drink, except my first drink was not a little shot but a whole pint of orange juice out done by Jack Daniels. Needless to say I was paralytic. All I could remember was smashing plates, one after the other which was so out of character for me! I also remember being slapped very hard by Ethan and being thrown into a cold shower with my clothes on! The hangover was the worst anyone could ever imagine. I vowed never to drink again!

 Time was flying by and there was still no sign of my visa. Things started to go down in a very surreal way. I was told by Luca that Ethan would be moving into my flat because his contract was coming to an end and that he didn’t have anywhere else to stay. Luca who initially had promised to help me financially with rent and bills seemed to have swallowed his words as there was no sign of even a dhiram from him! My money was running out and I needed financial help. Instead, I was having to pay ridiculous amounts of money regularly for my visa that still had not been processed! Unfortunately I was not aware of the rules and regulations regarding visas in the UAE so I was at the mercy of Luca and his knowledge of these things!

 My stress levels were shooting through the roof because now I was looking after two more people as well as myself. They were becoming very reliant on me for food, bills and everything basically. They were blatantly taking full advantage of my kind nature!

 I was constantly reassured of empty promises that never saw the light of day! There seemed no end to my misery until Ethan announced that he was going back to Brazil then heading off to London to start a new life. It truly was amazing to hear such good news.

 Still no visa however there seemed to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel as Luca and one of his local friends came up with an idea for a lifestyle television show. I was to be fully involved in recruiting models and covering the fashion aspect for the show. The best part was that the local lady would be able to sort my visa out for me. This was such great news as the locals have a lot of power and can make anything happen at any time! Finally it was all pulling together.

 Luca’s behaviour was getting incredibly weird. It’s like he was testing me to see how much I trusted him by doing vile things like putting faeces on my toothbrush and completely denying doing it as no one else had access to my flat apart from him so it had to be him, stealing my phone from right under my nose and making me believe that I had lost it even though I was 100% sure where I had left it before heading out for a casting.  He had stooped to an even lower level by pimping me out to a wealthy local without my knowledge by referring to him as a ‘client’ that wanted to book me for a model shoot. When I met the client he had a totally different agenda and shouted at me when I refused to comply with his dirty intentions. He said that Luca had received an advance payment for my time with him and that Luca would not receive the rest of the remaining fees! This was all way too much for me to handle! I was losing my mind! I couldn’t believe I was being punished for being so trusting!

 I tried to kick Luca out but I became a victim in my own home. I could not get rid of him no matter how hard I tried! I was trapped!

 After shooting a fantastic pilot of the TV show in a wonderful studio in Ajman with all the amazing crew, I felt there was a bit of normality coming my way. No doubt it was going to be short-lived!

 I was still without my work visa and realised that my tourist visa was about to expire! This was such a huge worry naturally. Again like a million times before, Luca convinced me that the local lady- Fatima his friend, would sort it out!

It so happened that Luca managed to speak with Fatima after the shoot. She said that we needed to meet up with her cousin as she was too busy and hand over my passport to him. He would then insure that it got to her.

 We met her cousin who came to meet us in a very expensive luxury car. He insisted we get into the car. I then handed my passport over to him. He seemed quite genuine and concerned for me. However, that was the last time I saw my passport!

I was officially an illegal immigrant which meant I had a curfew as the police did random checks at night. If I got caught without any id then I would be put straight into jail, no questions asked! I don’t look conventionally British so how would I prove my identity without any official documents? I was a prisoner in a foreign country!

 One random morning, Luca was up earlier than normal and all I could hear was the rustling of bags. He was all packed and ready to go back to Lebanon! It was a beautiful surprise to learn that I was finally getting rid of this dishonest, self-centred person who claimed to be my friend but just used me and rinsed me dry of my money!

Whilst leaving, he kept assuring me that Fatima would sort my visa and that I should stop worrying! He had instructed her to contact me as soon as it was done! I still had that glimmer of hope and with that bit of positive feeling I said good riddance to bad rubbish!

My home was once again my own.  I was so elated! Words simply could not describe how I felt at that moment!

 I went back to bed to sleep and got up feeling fresh and happy!

My peace was brutally interrupted with a heavy knock at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone which was strange! So who was it? I went to open the door and to my extreme horror, I went flying back with a heavy punch from one of the guys that had come to my house. They were four heavy built guys on the hunt for Luca, who had swindled them out of thousands of pounds too as he had done to me. They knew he lived at my place and so came to get their money as they too were promised working visas but didn’t see anything for their money.

I tried to explain that I too was a victim of Luca’s trap but they wouldn’t  have it! I was being severely battered by the ring leader who was amused at my reactions of when I was being hit!

 They insisted that it was my responsibility to get all their money back and if I didn’t they would kill me and scrap away every bit of evidence of my existence. I was forced to write a document saying that I owed all of them money and that I would be paying the full amount back to them asap! They needed my fathers name, my UK address and my signature. According to them, this was a bound contract that I had to fulfil! I was told I was not going to get away! They had turned my flat upside down. It looked like a bomb site! They raided my wardrobes and took everything that seemed of value to them including my bag that housed my official documents including my university certificates, birth certificate, college certificates and cash money, not forgetting my mobile phone, my designer belts, clothing, camera and walkman!  It didn’t seem like there were going anywhere! I was officially held hostage in my own flat!

 I was given just a few hours to get thousands of pounds together. They hit me some more and left leaving my flat empty and lifeless with just a few things scattered around promising that they would be back the following day. On leaving I got my final punch for the day and they finally left several painful hours later!

 Naturally I was not in a good way! The Stress and panic was overwhelming as I tried to figure out how I could possibly get such a substantial amount of money together in such a short space of time?

 Time flew whilst I was lost in my thoughts on trying to make heads and tails of this surreal situation! It was too late! I got the dreaded knock on the door again. It was full blown aggressive and I felt that my life was about to be shortened! I was finished! They came busting in and continuing with the torture they had started the day before. I couldn’t get the money! It was impossible! I was being strangled and beaten. It was like I was having an out of body experience! It didn’t feel like it was really happening! The truth is that it was and I was living my worst nightmare. I was ‘Doomed In Dubai’!

Things were progressively getting worse and I was told by the ringleader that I would be taught a lesson that I would never forget! I was dragged onto the bed by my hair and held down by all four of them. I fought with my last bit of fight but failed miserably because I was totally outnumbered! Then the most horrific thing that could ever happen to anyone happened!!! The ring leader unbuttoned his trousers and thrust himself in me!! My body rose in the air like a dead corpse!

 They eventually left swearing and spitting, leaving me for dead promising to be back! I was bleeding and crying for my mum uncontrollably. I was damaged far more than anyone could ever imagine!

 Even though the situation was extreme and I was at my weakest, I needed to find a way out before they came back and finished me off for good! I had no money, no id or anything to my name for that matter. By the grace of God I found a phone card that had fallen on the floor beside my sideboard which miraculously had some credit on it. I rang one of Luca’s friends from the phone booth just outside my flat who I had met a while back because his number was an easy number to remember and for some very strange reason it was stuck in my head. It was a risk no doubt but I had nothing to loose.

I managed to speak to him and he advised me that I should go and stay with him which I did. He turned out to be an angel. He put me in contact with my family who then sent me some money over to get a new passport made from the embassy, a ticket to come back, a mobile phone and anything else that I needed.

 Getting a new passport was by far a challenge and a half. I had to go to the police to get an official letter to say that my passport was missing which took weeks. I had to go everyday to the police station and tell my story to different officers. They obviously never exchanged notes! During this time I had become so frail! I was losing my hair, weight and not to forget my confidence which was nonexistent!

 My family were in panic mode wondering whether I would ever return to the UK again? There was one particular time where I had lost the will and I remember vividly saying to my mother on the phone that I would never be coming back!

 I feel blessed to have amazing friends as one of my friends from the UK found out that I was in trouble. She immediately contacted one of her friends who was visiting Dubai at the time, asking him to meet up with me and to accompany me to all the official offices to get my documents stamped and authenticated. He came to my rescue and was a huge tower of strength.

 Eventually the day came when I finally said my goodbyes to Dubai. It didn’t feel real to me at all as I had lost all hope.  I wasn’t myself anymore. I had lost everything!

 I found it very difficult settling back into the UK.  I wasn’t in a good place! I had to start my life from scratch which was no joke at the age of thirty! Every night I would have the same nightmare reoccurring which severely affected my sleep and my health!

Whilst in Dubai I didn’t have time to absorb all what had actually happened to me, I was just concerned about getting the hell out of there, but back in the UK it was starting to hit me more and affect me massively.

 One day I took my mum and grand mother to a summer festival where my friend was performing. She had visited me in Dubai but I hadn’t mentioned anything to her about what was going on behind the scenes. We had a nice day and went back home at a reasonable time. Every day I was hating on myself more and more and on this particular day I was at my worse to the point where I ended up taking an overdose of paracetamols. I didn’t want to live anymore! I was found split seconds from death and saved. The ambulance had taken me to hospital and I had my stomach pumped. I stayed in hospital for a good few days and managed to arrange some counselling sessions with a psychiatrist. He encouraged me to get tested because I was sexually assaulted, which I did. I offloaded everything onto him which helped me hugely because it was building and bubbling up inside. I couldn’t bring myself to speak to my family about it!

 Slowly slowly I was making progress. My confidence was coming back which was quite amazing. I decided to contact my model agencies to start working again. I loved my work and needed this to keep me sane!

 I was truly blessed with another chance in life.

My test results came back negative and I started to enjoy life again.

 After settling back and getting into routine I had a fantastic job offer of presenting a travel documentary in the UAE. I panicked but then decided that it would be good for me to go back and conquer my fears plus it was an opportunity of a lifetime to work with such bigwigs of the industry. I followed my heart and accepted the offer. I pulled through nicely after confiding in my colleague who supported me throughout!

 I was always a traveller and felt that I needed a change. I was getting a lot of modelling work in London and so saw it as a sign to leave Lancashire and start afresh in London which is exactly what I did!

My life here has been fantastic and exhilarating. Naturally I still have some trust issues even today but not on the same level as before. I have surrounded myself with amazing positive people, my dear friends who have showed me how life should be lived. I am eternally grateful for their unconditional love and support!

 It was important for me to write my book because it has helped me close this chapter of my life for good! Also I would not want anyone else to go through what I did, even if it is just that one person that learns from my experience. It’s a hugely educational rollercoaster read with a warning to others especially for people who have the travel bug and want to work and settle down abroad.

On the positive side of things, I am a much stronger person. I have learnt a very valuable lesson the hardest way possible. I have taken something so negative and turned it into something so positive! In my words- “What Breaks you, Makes you”!!!!

[kihyuni3]

NCT 127 Reaction When They Get to See Their Long Distance S/O After a Long Time (Hyung Line)

I wasn’t entirely sure which unit you were asking for, so I just went with 127. I hope that’s okay. I also changed the request a tiny bit. If you want another unit please send in another request and I’ll get to it as soon as I can. Thank you so much for the request.

P.S. This ended up being hella hella long so I decided to split it up into Hyung and Maknae line

~Izzy

Scenario: You are a study abroad student, or just visiting Korea on a holiday visa (they usually only last 6 months) when you meet him. The two of you date for a few months before you have to return to your home country (in this specific reaction I’m using the US I’m sorry if that is not where you are currently living). It’s been a year since the two of you could see each other in person again.

(I accidentally changed the scenario for Doyoung, my bad)

Taeil:

Honestly I feel like Taeil will be the most apprehensive about having a long distance relationship in the first place. When he first met you he knew he was attracted to you but tried his best not to fall for you because of that. However, all that went out the window when you asked him if he would want to go get coffee with you (yes, you had to ask him out first). There was no way he could say no to you. The two of you continued to date for 3 months in Korea before you had to leave. It was a teary goodbye, but he understood that you had to go, and promised to stay with you no matter what.

After a year of waiting you finally were able to get back to Korea. As soon as you found out you called him. Both of you were so excited that you booked a flight right then while you were on the phone with him. The day of your flight he was at the airport hours before your flight was even supposed to land because he just couldn’t wait to see you again. The second he saw you enter the baggage claim area he would have to hold himself back from running to you. Your relationship was still a secret and he was trying his hardest to not be suspicious but he just couldn’t help it. When you reached each other he couldn’t help but give you all the sweet pecks and cheek kisses that you had missed out on over the last year.

“I missed you so much,” He would say to you softly in between kisses “I’ll never let you go ever again.”

Johnny/ Seo YoungHo:

You met Johnny at a street market. You and your friends had decided to rent a guest house together to stay in Korea for a few months and experience the culture. For the most part it had been incident free, that is until you were sent out grocery shopping and for the life of you couldn’t remember the word for squid and were struggling to describe what you needed to the poor confused lady at the stall. That’s when you felt a tap on your shoulder. Turning around you make eye contact with a very tall and handsome, but very intimidating man. You thought he was just trying to get passed you to buy something but as you were going to walk away he stopped you.

“What were you trying to get?” He asks sweetly gesturing to the stall.

After that he escorted you around the market ‘just to make sure you didn’t get into anymore trouble’ and everything just fell into place.

Long distance with Johnny didn’t feel long at all. You guys talked at literally every opportunity you could. This boy only wanted to take care of you and couldn’t handle the thought of you being lonely. He would even ship you little presents of things that reminded him of you and sometimes you would receive the latest NCT merch as well.

Johnny wouldn’t even tell you he was coming. He had told the company he was going to visit his family for two weeks on their break. Which wasn’t entirely a lie, he did spend the first week with his family, but the second week he reserved entirely for you. As he arrived in front of your house/apartment he gave you a call. He tried to play it off like he was just seeing if you got the last package he sent, but when you opened the door he was standing there not some little trinket he sent. While you were still in shock, he would pick you up and spin you around. He missed you so much the last year and he wasn’t going to waste his time with you on casual greetings. No matter what you were wearing he would pull you out so you guys could start a date right then.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” He would say pulling you to the car he borrowed from his parents “We have to make as many memories as we can before I go back to Korea.”

Taeyong:

I know I said Taeil was the most opposed to a long distance relationship, but I forgot about this boy: Taeyong was the most opposed to long distance. When you first met, you were walking into a coffee shop with your friends as he was walking out with the other NCT boys while they were on break from practice. Unfortunately neither of you saw each other and literally ran into each other. He ended up spilling his coffee on you, but was able to react quick enough to catch you before you fell down. He apologized profusely but couldn’t be late for practice so he told you to meet him here tomorrow at the same time and he would buy you a coffee to make up for it.

The two of you didn’t actually start dating until right before you had to leave. He didn’t want too much on his plate being leader and all that, but he definitely had feelings for you. One time when you went out together he got very serious with you and explained how he felt, and said that if you two were to date you needed to be absolutely certain about it and plan everything out about long distance before you had to actually do it. You shut him up by kissing him which, he would never admit, but he was glad you did.

Since you and Taeyong hadn’t been dating long before you had to leave he never really got to experience skinship and intimacy with you to the fullest extent, and as the months went on he was really feeling the effects of that. All he could think about was what it would be like to be able to hold you and touch you without any hesitation or pleasantry like he had in that little time you were together in Korea. He couldn’t meet you at the airport, because of his schedule, but he promised to meet you where you would be staying as soon as he was done. When he arrived and you opened the door for him he didn’t give you time to say anything. His lips were immediately on yours, his hands wandering from your waist to your cheeks and everywhere in between. He had no intentions of leaving you that night, or for the rest of you trip for that matter.

“God I waited so long to do that.” He would say to you as he pulled back to catch his breath, fully intent on returning to your lips when both of you were up for it.

This gf has me so weak tbh

Yuta:

I feel like Yuta wouldn’t be thinking about the fact that you would have to leave Korea when he first asked you out. All he could think about was how you made him feel now and the fact that he wanted to be with you in the present and not think about the future. And for the few months you were in Korea that was amazing, but you couldn’t pretend forever. When he came to pick you up for one of your last few dates before you had to leave, he found you crying. When he asked why you explained that you didn’t want to break up or stop seeing him, but you knew you had to. He would be taken aback by this at for a moment before pulling you into a tight hug.

“Who ever said we had to break up,” He would say sweetly, rocking you back and forth “I like being with you in person, it’s true, but that’s even more of a reason to hold onto you while your away. It’ll be something to look forward to when we see each other again.” The two of you stayed in that night, no exciting date like usual with Yuta, just a relaxing night of cuddling, sweet kisses, and too many bad movies.

When you first heard that NCT would be in the states for their first US tour you were ecstatic. Yuta already told you you didn’t have to come seeing as it was in a completely different state, and he didn’t want you to worry about travelling to see him,but there was no way you weren’t going to see him.

Even though you knew he couldn’t stop and see you at the airport because of all of the fans and cameras that would be there you wanted to surprise him anyway. You ended up toward the front of a rather large group of fans waiting outside the airport where they would be, you even made a sign that read ‘I’ve missed you baby’ with a picture of him that you had taken together (except you had to crop yourself out of it so no one got suspicious). When the group exited the airport he didn’t see you at first. That was until one of the other members caught a glimpse of you and pointed you out to him. You weren’t expecting him to do anything, but you would be wrong.

Yuta broke away from the rest of the group and went straight to you. In shock you dropped you sign. You had no time to ask what he was doing before his lips were on yours and every fan and camera was looking at you. When the two of you broke apart he smiled at you.

“The company said I could tell everyone about you, I was planning on telling you while I was here but I guess this works too.” He whispered in your ear. Looking down he grabbed the cute sign you had made for him before being pulled away by his staff

“Thank you for this by the way,” He yelled before getting in their car “it’s very cute.” and with that you were left blushing surrounded by a thousand questions by his fans.

Doyoung:

You were in Korea on an internship with SM’s publicity and production department. This allowed you to participate in the filming and promotion of NCT U’s Boss. This is how you met Doyoung. You were tasked on assisting in the shooting of his solo shots. When you first started the shots seemed very plain and lacked dynamics like the rest of the MV. It had nothing to do with him, but instead the staging. You were actually the one that suggested the in the final cut the shot was sideways. Doyoung was super intrigued by you creativity and watched yo work and take notes for the rest of the day.  

When the MV shoot was wrapped and the group was going around and saying their thank yous to the staff, Doyoung specifically went to find you and complimented you on you creativity and your eye for things like this. You were definitely flattered seeing as it was your first time working on a set like this. After that you saw each other very often. You were always working on their shoot and any sort of event they were at you were at too. Eventually you became a regular staff so it wasn’t weird that all the boys had your number.

You and Doyoung had been closer than the rest of the boys, and you talked more often but it wasn’t anything that hinted at romantic. The both of you had feelings for each other, but neither said anything about it or showed it in anyway. That is until you stopped showing up for shoots and events. Doyoung got very worried that he would never see you again. He hadn’t used your number for anything more than questions about shoots, but this time was different.

When you received a very panicked message from Doyoung about your absence your heart began to pound. Did he really care that much? You had to explain to him that you visa had expired so you had to end your internship. This lead to a long conversation about how he never got to say goodbye and some profuse apologies from your end. You thought that would be the end of your contact with Doyoung, but it wasn’t. The two of you actually continued to keep in contact, you would call and text everyday. It was actually over facetime that he had confessed to you. When you said you also had feelings for him he immediately asked you to go on a date with him when you guys saw each other again. Whenever that may be.

It wasn’t until a few months later that Doyoung called you excitedly saying the company would help you renew your visa so you could come work on their next comeback, that the nervousness of everything that had happened actually set in on you. You would actually get to see him again, not just through a phone screen.

You weren’t going to see him until the shoot was scheduled and you had no idea what to say. When you arrived he was nowhere to be found. The other boys were waiting and excited to see you. After exchanging pleasantries with them, you kindly asked where Doyoung was. They pointed you in the direction of the room where they all get ready for the shoot. You assumed he was almost ready and just getting his hair or makeup done so you walked in. What you saw was a shirtless Doyoung looking for his outfit for the first scene. When he looked up and saw it was you he smiled, but all you could do was apologize and turn away towards the door. Before you could leave he grabbed your arm and turned you around pulling you to his bare chest. You were still blushing but the feeling was comforting.

“I missed you so much,” He said tilting your chin up so you were looking at him. “I couldn’t wait to do this.” He said as he leaned down to press a sweet kiss to your lips. You blush again hiding your face against his chest.

“Can I cash in on that date now?” He said laughing at your cuteness.

pls ignore the caption

[dxmedstudent]

I’m not familiar with the UK, but I know that understaffing is a very general problem with the healthcare field. What do you think drives this besides the overwhelming stress causing people to leave voluntarily? Is it just lack of interest in the health profession itself? The competition of schools/ programs for the number of people wanting to get into medicine? The gov’t? Where do you see the problem stemming from and what can be done to help? Thank you so much.

That’s an interesting question, though I suspect that given the complexity of the answer, it remains without an easy fix. You’re right to suggest stress plays a huge part. Understaffing, dissatisfaction with lifestyle, pay, progression and training can all play a part. The rise of litigation culture is another key factor; we’re receiving a lot more complaints than we used to, as patients and relatives expect more, sometimes to unrealistic or unfeasible degrees. I know your question suggests glossing over this bit, but I really think this is the crux of the matter; the working conditions in healthcare are probably, in a lot of systems, where the problem arises. Getting into medicine is competitive in I imagine every country. Because it’s thought of as a good job; secure, well-respected. Relatively well-paid. Lately in the past few years, doctors and nurses have been in the press more than usual, and usually for negative reasons. Recent contract disputes, protests, strikes etc have played a role, as have all sorts of high profile cases which are poorly understood by the public at large.  Although still voted the most trusted professions, that position comes at a price; people expect a lot of us, and when you’re put on a pedestal it’s very easy to be knocked off it. If any doctor or nurse is thought poorly of, that can have a knock on effect on the whole profession, even if the reasons aren’t entirely justified. It extends  I don’t think there’s a lack of interest in healthcare, though I suspect that interest could be higher. Now that going to university is much more expensive. In the UK; it’s gone up from being free about 10 years before I went to university.  Tuition was £1000 per year the year before I started university. In my time at university it was £3,000 a year, now it’s over £9,000 a year. That change happened in the space of about ten or so years. The government didn’t even wait a couple of years to see if my generation, the first with fees of £3K, could even afford to pay that back. Students are going to have to think more carefully about what they choose to study, and how to shape their career. By getting rid of the nursing bursary, I do think that some people were put off studying nursing; applicant numbers are objectively down. I don’t know if increasing the number of places available to study nursing would even help, becase I’m not sure that all the current places are being filled. Nursing and medicine also suffer from the reality that though there will almost always be work of some sort, it may not be where you want to go. Jobs are sprinkled throughout the UK, through cities and towns right down to small villages. Whilst working in and around London remains competitive, relatively few people want to uproot themselves to a village on the other side of the UK; therefore the most likely people who’d want to work there might be locals, or foreign-trained staff who are starting afresh with few friends and family anyway and are happy to work there. A lot of people who are from the UK already have roots; they might not want to uproot themselves to a village on the other end of the UK, and that’s OK. But it leaves a situation where some places will always have less people applying because they are remote. The foundation training system combats this by forcing us as junior doctors to rank EVERY possible part of the UK; do badly and you could get sent to the outer Hebrides or Northern Ireland or wherever your last choice was. You can choose to refuse that job, but then you’ll have to wait months, maybe a year, to reapply. But you can’t do that throughout training; after foundation training we have the choice of where we apply and if we continue at all. In reality, a lot of systems are probably propped up by foreign labour; the fact that there will always be lots of people willing to move to Western countries to fill the gap. This is usually advantageous for the receiving country; they take none of the cost of training highly skilled staff and receive a ready-made workforce. However, it’s a huge burden on the training country; their system will have to pay to train more people, only to find that probably more of them will flee abroad. Unfortunately, in the long run this isn’t an ethical situatioin; we shouldn’t be causing a ‘brain drain’ on other nations in order to staff our healthcare service. We, as the NHS rely a LOT on foreign labour; on people trained abroad. On doctors from Pakistan, nurses from the Philippines and Ireland, and on both doctors and nurses (and let’s be honest, domestic staff, catering staff etc) coming from the EU in recent years. This wasn’t usually a problem, but now the government have started making it harder for even people offered good jobs (because those posts were lying empty) even as doctors and nurses, to be allowed visas to work here. Many recent stories suggest that government policies are trying to make it fundamentaly harder for anyone to come here, or to remain if they are already here. I have friends whose choices were complicated by whether the government would let them stay to work as doctors, and know people who had to leave because their visas would not be extended, despite having secured a job and paying taxes. The government may want to show its more conservative voters smaller immigration numbers, but at what cost if we’re making it impossible for the health service to hire the people it needs? As the government make it harder and harder for overseas doctors and nurses to be employed, staffing will drop further. And there’s evidence to suggest that more of our staff who came from the EU are leaving. Create a culture of hostility towards foreign workers, and they will feel unwelcome and decide to go somewhere else. When it comes to med schools, I used to get the impression that the number of graduates are enough; there used to be a good chance of getting an FY1 post when you applied, even despite a number of foreign applicants. I think that’s still probably true. If we don’t have enough FY1s, then yes, increasing the number of places to study medicine would be helpful. However, for further up the ladder it gets… more complex. Medicine is heirarchal and based on years of experience. So if you are short of SHOs or registars, having lots of FY1s won’t help you in the near future (though it might help you in the long term). And if you increase the number of trainees in general, you’ll have to make sure you increase the number of FY1, FY2 etc posts all the way up. You can’t just ‘find’ ready made GPs or consultants, or even registrars; either you get them from abroad, or else you have to train them ALL the way up. Otherwise, you’d be dooming a bunch of people to pay £9K for 5-6 years through med school only to tell them that there aren’t enough places for them to start working as a doctor, I feel that would be unfair. Granted, they might well find work elsewhere, but it’d waste both our money as students and as a society to do that, given that studies are subsidised by the government. So you need a balance.In all honesty, it’s always going to be difficult if you’ve got a leaky pipeline; the system may be set up to deal with a certain amount of staff lost but if the pressure is too high, you’re still probably going to lose too many people. And the people we are losing, they aren’t comparable to the shiny new graduates med schools pop out; it’ll take years for them to be comparable in experience to the SHOs and registrars we are losing. The doctors in the middle; worn down by the system and realising life is just too short to be miserable. Many of these people really wanted to be doctors, and many would probably have remained if conditions were different. Whilst some of us realise that we just weren’t cut out to be in healthcare, or that perhaps what we want and need has changed, I feel that many struggle with leaving precisely because some part of them loves medicine, even if it is making them ill. Occasionally, some smartass politician suggests tying in doctors to work in the NHS for a set number of years, but I don’t think this’d be either helpful or desirable. Medicine, due to the pressures and situations faced, is a field with a higher than normal rate of mental illness and suicide. It’s a risky field with significant effects on our health as a group. I’d go so far as to suggest than anyone who forces those who feel they need to leave, to stay against their will would soon have blood on their hands. The people I know who left medicine did so for their mental health, and if they were not allowed to leave, I’d be very concerned that they might risk a more… final way of leaving. I don’t believe anyone should be bound to a job they can’t stand or which makes them ill. I also think that it would do the field more harm than good; rather than showing medicine to be a desirable job, it would suggest that it is so bad that you have to force everyone to stay. With prospects like that, who would want to join? When you could be a vet, be a dentist, be any number of things where you aren’t forced to do it against your will. The key is to improve conditions so that people want to stay, and can stay without destroying their health and mental wellbeing. So that people feel valued, and respected, and feel that their issues with the health service have been taken on board. That those who are running the service understand the issues we raise and the problems we face That, for me, is the only real longterm solution. but I fear that it might be too expensive, and that few would care enough to try.

[ogrepixel]

GDC18 Full Experience

Hey! For those who don’t know, my name is Steve Duran and since 2014 I created an indie game development studio from México called Ogre Pixel where we create fantasy stories in form of indie video games.

So far we create pixel art styled mobile games and since the middle of last year I work full time in this business.

GDC18 was my first GDC ever.

Prior GDC

Every year since 2015 I have always wanted to go to GDC, but for reasons like my day job, the lack of USA VISA and even money I wasn’t able to do it.

In 2017 my wife and I made the effort to get the USA VISA thinking in going on vacation to the USA and also thinking in attending this kind of events like GDC.

This was the first time I would be attending GDC! So I started reading a lot of tips and videos about the conference, because of that I made a lot of business cards, bought candies, registered for parties, prepared a demo for our game Pixel Stars and a couple of weeks before we thought about a cool game concept and rushed on that becoming this into Jumper Jon demo.

I read about the importance of having a goal for GDC, for me, the goal was to enjoy the experience (as a first timer), learn about how everything works and show 2 game demos to press and people: Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon.

Last 4 weeks before GDC we had a lot of work rushing on game demos, because of that I didn’t get enough sleep. I was afraid the effort wouldn’t be worth it because maybe game demos wouldn’t be ready and/or people wouldn’t like them after all.

The stress prior GDC was huge!

On my way

When the day came, Jumper Jon demo was not ready (nothing happened after defeating the boss), stickers did not arrive in time but at least Pixel Stars demo was working pretty well (tested it on iPad that day in the morning).

This was the first time I would be going outside the country on my own, that wasn’t easy either, however, I kept myself thinking about it as an adventure.

I traveled from my city Aguascalientes to Guadalajara on a 3 hours trip on bus, after that I took a flight to San Jose California on a 4 hours trip on air, after that I waited like 1 hour for a bus to take me to San Francisco Airport, took the 1 hour trip to SFO Airport on that bus and finally took a 30 minutes trip on BART to a station near Moscone Center (Powell station).

A good thing about going 4 hours on air was that I was able to finish Jumper Jon demo =D! I added the intro and outro images to demo and with that, it was some kind of finished.

Just arriving near the Moscone Center I bought a 5-bucks hotdog and went to the Hotel when I stayed with a very good friend.

GDC Week

Monday in the morning I went to Moscone West to pick my badge. The feeling when going inside the building and watching all that people with GDC badges was really great.

As other game devs, always talking about this with other people feels pretty good, now, being in the same place with thousands of people who are also fascinated by the game development is really a very comforting experience.

I won’t describe what I experienced at every moment the whole week, but I will give a quick summary and will highlight the best moments on GDC:

Overall my GDC week was spent between few meetings, parties, events, networking and a couple of expo hours.

Meetings

As one of my goals for this GDC was to show Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon to people and press, I scheduled a couple of meetings to show it to good friends, a couple of streamers and press.

This was very important for us because was the result of a lot of work weeks before GDC… The good thing was that Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon had a great reception from the people who played them.

Even if these games are very different from each other, both of them were liked by people =).

Here are a couple of videos from Touch Arcade where I’m showing our games:

http://toucharcade.com/2018/03/23/gdc-2018-jumper-jon-and-pixel-stars/

Parties

Parties on GDC are something very cool because that’s the perfect place for networking, meeting cool and interesting people and also meeting good old friends.

I went to a couple of Unity parties, one of them was the keynote where we knew about the new stuff coming for the engine. There we could meet one of the guys who created Unity: Joachim Ante and that was really great.

A cool party I attended which was really great was The Other Party, that one was great because I was able to pick a free table and show Jumper Jon demo for playtesting.

That was very fun because a lot of people went to our table and went through the demo from the beginning to end (demo lasts like 3 minutes).

I received a lot of feedback, good comments and the most rewarding was that people asked us about when it would be available because they wanted to buy it at that same moment =D.

I was also able to show Jumper Jon demo on another party called BYO INIDE (Bring your own indie) there I was able to pick a table too, set up the demo and people went there to check it.

Pretty much was the same result, a lot of people enjoyed it.

Showing Jumper Jon on the parties was one of the best moments from GDC because I felt all the effort was totally worth it, we spent a lot of time programming, making art and designing the level… Knowing that people really liked it was very comforting.

Events

The best events for me on GDC were the Independent Games Festival Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

I will describe the feeling of being there and watching the Awards with just one word: Inspiring.

Watching all that talented people receiving awards, giving their speech and sharing on stage situations that many of us game devs live is something really inspiring.

Networking

Networking most of the time was made during the parties… Even if on the Moscone center and Yerba buena garden there is a lot of people around, resting or working on their computers, networking is not very good there (at least for me).

I sat down there a couple of times but I made it because I wanted to finish something or send a mail or just to charge my cell phone.

There I tried to speak with people and it worked most of the times but, for other people, they sometimes just didn’t want to talk, maybe because they were tired or something (I didn’t talk to people I found was busy).

So for networking, I would suggest parties.

Expo

Something I really missed on this GDC was the expo.

I was at the expo and could give an overall check but unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy it in detail. I was just walking through it when the GDC ended and I had to go out =(

Taking the following pic was really sad because that was the end of GDC.

Conclusions

Some friends told me that if game development is my passion I had to attend GDC… Now I can confirm that because as this is the largest professional game industry event in the world this is the meeting point for game designers, programmers, artists, producers and artists from the global game development community.

And that is absolutely awesome.

Here I made a small list of tips for everyone who is planning to attend GDC in the future:

Define a goal for your GDC attendance and work for that goal prior GDC (make a demo, a good presentation, schedule meetings)

Bring at least 200 business cards

Join the Fellowship of the GDC Parties facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheFellowshipOfParties/)

Bring a fully charged power bank all the time

If you want to show a game on parties (for free) register to the right parties and attend earlier

If you like swags and stuff go to the expo on Wednesday and take your time to check it

Take a good sit at the Awards and enjoy the show

Share business cards with everyone and take a pen with you and write down on business cards who is who so you can remember the people you met.

Business cards I received:

Last but not least I want to recommend the GDC attendees to take a time and enjoy San Francisco, this place is amazing too:

Well, that’s all, I tried to summarize my GDC experience as a first timer, I definitely want to attend next year and hope this read is helpful for the people who are planning to go and get the best experience.

Thanks for reading, hope you like it, feel free to stay in touch with us through our social media and discord server

Twitter: @ogrepixel Facebook: facebook.com/ogrepixel Instagram: instagram.com/ogrepixel

Discord: discord.me/ogrepixel

Steve =)

[aucamgirls-blog]

International Travel for work or pleasure as a camgirl

This is kind of word vomit. I don’t know how to write information out I just ramble :D:D:D

Customs I’ve been to the US 4 times now as a camgirl and to Canada twice! I’ve had HORRIBLE customs experiences and I’ve had super easy experiences. Best to be prepared.

You don’t need to get a work visa, even if you plan on camming at the convention. When you’re filling in your arrivals card you can tick vacation/holiday for reason for trip because essentially that’s what it is. No one is paying you to go to America, you’ll just continue to run your Australian business while you’re on vacation, which plenty of self-employed or online workers do. 

When asked for your occupation you can outright say camgirl or you can say entertainer, youtuber, artist, student, whatever. Don’t lie, obviously but the word camgirl can be confusing for many ignorant fucks.  My first time in the US as a camgirl I made a lot of mistakes in being ill-prepared so when they asked me questions I was lost. Make sure you have your return flight printed out (not just written down) and also your hotel or airbnb information and/or the phone number and address of who you’re staying with. And their legal name! Don’t put yourself in an awkward situation where you say “oh i’m meeting someone who goes by isuckdick69″ If you want to be SUPER cautious you could clear your browser history on your laptop before flying - customs took my computer, found my twitter and proceeded to play my video previews to their whole team and mock me. I don’t mean to scare you just to prepare you.  Questions customs may ask you: What do you do for work?  How much money do you make per year? Who paid for your flights? (don’t say a member! don’t say a friend!) How did you pay for your flights? Why are you coming here? (Google an art museum or show or anything on in the city you’re visiting. “there’s a really cool japense art exhibit on at the city museum that i’m looking forward to seeing OR my best friend from high school moved here so i’m coming to visit her OR i hear there’s great vegan food here) If you tell them you’re staying with a friend they WILL ask you how you met. 

One thing I think truly helped me is to dress conservatively. Maybe in-flight you want to wear trackies and a crop top but going through customs can be a SHIT TIME and I like to do anything to make me blend into the crowds. I hate myself for suggesting this because i’m a big believer in being yourself but sometimes you just gotta do these things.  Remember, you’re not doing anything wrong, the world just hates us. lol. Smile and be confident. They will think you’re doing something illegal if you’re nervous. 

here’s a link to a blog post i made in 2015 the first time i went to the US and customs was mean to me: https://vheidiv.tumblr.com/post/137398250135/my-unfortunate-customs-experience again, not trying to scare you just good to be informed.

i’ve had no problems since that one time now that I know to be confident and answer questions quickly and simply. 

Safety Some of these things may be obvious but putting them here anyway: -Don’t reveal your flight times or airline publicly or you may get unexpected visitors at the airport! -careful not to post street signs or other location giveaways  -keep your phone on airplane mode while you’re out then post your snaps when you get home

I don’t know what else to write haha. please send me in asks for other topics or questions :)

[madventurousblog]

Hi, All!

The blog is (maybe?!) back - for at least this one update, maybe more. I don’t really know who will be interested in checking up, but hey, we’re here. I’ve got time.

You might think it’s strange to begin blabbing on my blog again after a two year hiatus in the midst of a pandemic where we’re supposed to be sitting at home doing nothing, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we’re NOT doing nothing. We’re going on a road trip!

Now listen, I’m not actually that excited about this. I wish I was. Or rather, I wish I could be. At the moment, Australia is like most other places in the world practicing social distancing, limiting travel, closing non-essential shops, etc. However, hip-hip for the Land Down Under because they flattened the curve a couple weeks ago and overall kept numbers relatively low. Yay! 

Although things feel generally under control here, and there’s finally normal quantities of toilet paper on the shelves again, Viv and I are now both out of work and therefore have no income to pay for our $240/week rent. (Yes, that’s per week, which is how Aussies and Kiwis like to roll.) A decision had to be made, and it wasn’t easy.

Just three months ago we literally packed up our lives and took a road trip out west to this beautiful place called Margaret River. It was me who pushed for it, having heard lore from friends and strangers alike about how beautiful the area was, how hip and progressive and fun. It didn’t let us down, and we’ve made lists and plans of the things we’d like to accomplish here. This included the Cape to Cape walk: a six-day backpacking trip that was destined to be Viv’s first ever carry-all-the-shit-you-need-on-your-back-overnight type of camping. The summer camp trip leader in me is DYING not to have accomplished this. But I digress.

Interjection: I’m on what they call a “Second Year Visa” here in Australia. I did enough rural work on my First Year Visa to qualify for a second one, which is how I’ve been able to bum around here for so long. Just in case you were wondering.

Back to the story: like most people in the world, our plans came to a screeching halt with the virus. We had to choose between staying here and potentially burning through all our savings only to have to head home to Viv’s family anyway, or simply go home now with some savings to hold us over when we came out on the other side. 

We’d been leaning towards going home for a good few weeks. What made matters harder was an offer I received from a local business owner who I got to know recently. She and her husband run an auto shop in town, and she suggested that we could move onto her property with her family, rent-free, in exchange for keeping up her garden and tending her to her chickens. Amazing, right?! Absolutely stunning offer, and we debated the idea for several days. (Thank you a million times, Heather!)

But in the end, we both decided it’s wisest to stay on the path to the farm, especially knowing her family has been preparing for our arrival and (we assume) are excited for us to be back home.

“Home.” It’s a funny concept for this American-gone-rogue. I’ve found home in several parts of the world now, and in several communities in each of those parts. I’m disappointed - and I know I’m not alone in this - that Margaret River is no longer going to be home, after planning and hoping and willing it into being. But I take a strange solace in knowing that this disappointment is being felt worldwide, that we are all feeling this frustrating setback, like something has been stolen from us. And my disappointment is probably a lot less than the disappointment some other people are facing right now, or the terror, or the injustice. Perspective is important.

But we are intrepid, so we’re slowly preparing ourselves to leave town and quite literally take the roads that lead us here in the reverse direction. My new-old car has had repairs, Viv’s ute (or “truck” for us Americans) has gone in for new tires (or “tyres” for us Australians), and we’ll be packing up our things in the next few days leading up to our departure. 

As for taking a road trip through pandemic-stricken lands and attempting to cross alleged closed state borders, I’ve done my research. Though borders are closed to non-essential personnel and aimless travelers, we fall under the category of essential travel/compassionate grounds by needing to return home. I’ve called the borders to ensure we’ll be allowed through, and the very friendly patrols have told me that police are assisting at the border and will give direction or permits to people passing through. We’ll be allowed to stop for food, fuel, and sleep, but are otherwise instructed to take the most direct route to our destination, and of course to quarantine ourselves for two weeks upon arrival. 

Our plan spans six days to cross more than 3500 kilometres, which includes the famous Nullarbor Plain, a LOT of desert, and three state borders. We will leave shortly after my 29th birthday (which, by the way, holy shit), and that will be that! Or, “it is what it is.” Or something.

Catch ya on the other side, sickos.

[accuhunt]

How to Indulge Your Wanderlust During the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The past few days have been rather scary. Mask-covered faces. Queues to wash hands in public toilets. Sanitizers constantly out of stock. Accusatory looks towards anyone coughing or sneezing. Eerily empty hotels, flights and streets following the lockdown travel advice for Coronavirus. Places that were once plagued by overtourism are now deserted. The spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus has suddenly brought all usual life – and travel – to a halt.

Until a week or two ago, the panic felt rooted in social media, whatsapp forwards and even racial profiling. At that time, I posted on Instagram that I would continue my travels. But in light of recent developments, I’ve archived that post, cancelled some rather exciting travel plans until April and urged everyone to do the same.

I was scheduled to conduct a workshop on responsible tourism marketing in Madhya Pradesh and speak at the prestigious Economic Times Women’s Forum this month – but both events have been cancelled.

In fact, India has cancelled all visas for foreigners till mid April. Sri Lanka has suspended its e-visa facility. Italy is under lock down. Public events have been cancelled in most parts of the world. Schools and colleges have been shut in most Indian states. India’s travel advice for coronavirus is to cancel all non-essential travel abroad. Indians returning from China, Italy, Iran, Korea, France, Spain, Germany, Malaysia, Nepal and even the US can potentially be sent to 14 days of quarantine!

Chances are, you already know that. You, like me, have cancelled your immediate travel plans. And probably you, like me, are wondering what you can do now to indulge your wander-lusting soul!

Here are some creative ideas to satiate your travel cravings – safely and responsibly – during this uncertain coronavirus period:

Read non-fiction books by local authors to virtually explore a new region or country

I’ve dreamt of setting foot in Tibet for a long time, knowing fully well that the Tibet of my dreams is off limits (or no longer exists). So a while ago, I did the next best thing to travelling in Tibet – reading a book that movingly explores its lost beauty, culture and way of life. Tibet With My Eyes Closed is a collection of short stories by Madhu Gurung, based on the lives of Tibetan refugees in India. Some stories moved me to tears, while others left me with an insatiable longing. I can’t recommend it enough!

My point is, as per official travel advice for coronavirus, the entire world is off limits right now. But we can do the next best thing – travel to our dream places through the words and insights of people who know them deeply.

If you dream of Iran, for instance, read Reading Lolita In Tehran. If you dream of Myanmar, read From The Land Of Green Ghosts. If you dream of the Caucasus (Georgia / Azerbaijan), read Ali And Nino.

For more book recommendations, see my favorite (unusual) travel books by local authors around the world. If you’re keen to explore the world from my lens, you can also get a copy of my travel memoir, The Shooting Star

Also read: What No One Tells You About Writing and Publishing a Book in India

Learn a new language that will make a future trip more meaningful

Everywhere I travel, I try to pick up a few words in the local language. But in the weeks before I travelled to Japan, I tried to listen to one episode of a Japanese language podcast every day. By the time I landed in Tokyo, I was able to say many basic phrases in Japanese – which sure made it easier to make friends, find local vegan food and even get some unusual recommendations.

The process of learning a language can certainly make us feel like we’re almost on our way somewhere. The Survival Phrases podcast is good for conversational skills and the Babbel / Duolingo apps can help with basics. But if you really want to commit, consider signing up with an online teacher for one-to-one Skype lessons on a site like italki (I haven’t used it yet but heard good things).

I took Urdu writing lessons last year, but have been terrible at keeping up with what I learnt. I’ve pledged to practice a bit everyday now!

Also read: Unusual Solo Travel Destinations to Feed Your Adventurous Spirit

Document your past adventures

I still have tons of untold stories from my travels over the years. If you’re a travel writer, blogger, photographer, Instagrammer or any kind of storyteller, you’re probably full of stories too – and always wishing for more time to be able to tell them. Or perhaps you have a special interest in architecture, vegan food, wildlife, languages or something else – and you could combine that with your past travels to create unique stories.

All travel advice for Coronovirus suggests not going on a physical journey. But we can still journey into the recesses of our minds, relive some of our adventures and share them with the world. After all, we could all use a little break from the negative news out there!

Also read: How I’m Funding my Adventures Around the World Through Travel Blogging

Binge watch the wonders of our planet

Many of us travel to witness the breathtaking beauty of nature and the cultural wonders of the world. Unfortunately both are fast disappearing.

Video streaming sites online are full of films and documentaries about our incredible planet, wildlife, remote cultures and more. Now is a good time to plug into them, both to feed our wanderlust and to remind ourselves what we stand to lose. Maybe the travel advice for coronavirus and this time away from the road, work, school, college and social gatherings can be a time to reflect on how we need to make better life and travel choices to collectively help the planet.

I’ve been meaning to finish watching One Strange Rock on Netflix, which explains the wonders of earth from the fascinating perspectives of astronauts. And start Our Planet, which documents the impact of climate change on the world’s most remote and vulnerable regions.

Also read: Tajikistan: A Country That’s Not on Your Travel Radar, But Should Be.

Support small responsible travel businesses virtually

As you can probably imagine, this is one of the worst times for the travel industry. March, otherwise peak travel season for many places around the world, has been a month of cancellations. April might go the same way, though I really hope not. Small business owners, family-run homestays, social enterprises and responsible tourism businesses will be some of the worst hit this year.

All travel advice for coronavirus suggests we can’t physically travel this month to support them or the work they do for local communities and environment conservation. But small gestures can go a long way. Leave them a heartfelt review on Google Reviews / TripAdvisor. Mention them on Instagram / Twitter. Recommend them to family and friends for future trips. When the coronavirus pandemic is behind us, they’ll need our tourism money the most. Let’s make sure they’re found, remembered and supported then!

Also read: Offbeat, Incredible and Sustainable – These Travel Companies are Changing the Way You Experience India

Work on your storytelling

Perhaps experimenting with writing, blogging, photography or videos has been on your mind for a long time. Or you still need to perfect some skills. I know I need to get better at editing videos. I could use some professional photography help, but my heart is only half in it. I still have a ton of SEO work to do on this blog. And there’s no end to becoming a better writer.

Here’s a silver lining for the travel advice for coronavirus: Use the time you would’ve spent travelling or socializing, to work on something that might enable you to travel or work on the go in the future!

Also read: Advice for the Young and Penniless Who Want to Travel

International travel is out. But should you travel domestically now?

Many of you have reached out to ask for my travel advice for coronavirus with respect to domestic travel in India (and elsewhere). I think it’s a bad idea. For several reasons:

It’s just not fun. I felt an inexplicable anxiety during the last two days of my recent Chhattisgarh trip. Hearing someone cough sent a shiver down my spine. The last thing I wanted was to have to put myself in self-isolation in someone’s homestay or in a soulless hotel. Or worse, be quarantined in a government facility.

The fear of carrying the virus to a remote part of India. The idea of travelling from urban India – where the majority of coronavirus cases are (in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kochi etc) – to rural India is a scary one. Imagine if we have the virus but the symptoms haven’t yet shown up. We could be carrying it to small villages where medical facilities are rare and self-isolation is difficult because entire families live in a single room. It’ll be mayhem.

The fear of infecting people more vulnerable to the virus. People over 60 and those with respiratory issues seem to be the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. We can’t risk being the vectors infecting them.

Flights, buses and trains can be coronavirus hotbeds. Given how infectious the coronavirus seems to be, being stuck among scores of people in a closed environment is a big no-no.

It’s best to postpone all international and domestic travel atleast until April (maybe longer, depending on how things turn out). We need to avoid busy places, public transport and any physical contact. We must constantly wash and sanitise our hands. And if we have even the mildest symptoms of fever, cough, cold or flu, we absolutely must stay at home and follow official protocols!

How has coronavirus affected your travel plans? If you run a travel business, what’s it been like for you?

Also read:

11 Tips to Ease Your Transition Into a Vegan Lifestyle

Incredible Experiences That’ll Make You Fall in Love With Uzbekistan

Should Travel Bloggers and Influencers Voice Their Political Opinions?

The post How to Indulge Your Wanderlust During the Coronavirus Pandemic. appeared first on The Shooting Star.

How to Indulge Your Wanderlust During the Coronavirus Pandemic. published first on https://airriflelab.tumblr.com

[ricandhaiz]

#LostSouls, Part 2

Week 2

It was a little past noon by the time Emma finally got around to getting out of bed. She was wearing the same white t-shirt and shorts that she had put on over forty-eight hours earlier and felt absolutely no motivation to change or shower at any time in the near future. What’s the point? she thought as her eyes drifted back and forth between the grimy popcorn ceiling directly above her and the gloomy skies that lay beyond her bedroom window. My baby’s gone.

Emma groaned aloud as she reluctantly swung her legs over the side of the bed and sauntered over to the bathroom. Once there, she bent over the sink, splashed her face with ice cold water from the faucet, and then glanced at her reflection in the mirror as she toweled her face off. She hardly recognized the pale-faced woman with greasy brown hair staring back at her. And yet, she chose to do nothing as she pulled her hair back with her hands and opened the medicine cabinet to find a scrunchie. As her eyes scanned the shelves, they fell upon the bottle of Prozac that she’d been prescribed by her doctor shortly after Eva’s death. He had assured her that it would make her feel better. When it didn’t, she had to tell her doctor, “Thanks, but no thanks,” when he tried to suggest that she take another psychotropic drug to treat her depression.

When she finally made her way to the kitchen to get something to eat, she saw a note from Miguel pinned to the refrigerator door with a magnet. It read, “Went to Home Depot to get some paint and a few other supplies. Will be back soon.” A wave of guilt overtook her as she thought of all the big and little things he had done in the days and weeks since their daughter’s death to try to support and comfort her and of how little she had done for him in return. It’s not his fault, she reminded herself despite the persistent voice in her head that told her otherwise. Give him a break. He lost her too.

While this internal debate was raged on, she took a large mug off a shelf and poured herself a cup of coffee. After adding some cream and sugar, she was about to take a sip when she saw a young girl sitting on the tire swing not far from her kitchen window.

The girl was barefoot with long, black hair and was wearing a navy-blue sweater over a pleated jumper. Emma guessed that she was probably no more than ten years old. Curious as to why she would be there rather than in school, Emma decided to step outside and have a word with her.

As Emma got closer, she began noticing certain things about the girl’s appearance that hadn’t caught her eye at first blush. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the girl’s hair was tangled and matted while the skin on her legs appeared to be caked in dirt. Her clothes also looked ragged and stained. Given the girl’s physical state, Emma opted to tread carefully so as not to startle or frighten her away. Once she was within a few feet of the girl, she stopped and cleared her throat to make her presence known.  She quickly found herself stifling a gasp when she saw that the girl’s lip was cut and that her left eye was badly bruised and puffy. What kind of monster could have done this to her? she thought, enraged.

“I’m Emma. What’s your name?”

“Mary,” the girl said in a guarded tone.

“Do you live around here?” No response. “Are you okay? Do you want me to call your parents?”

“My mommy’s gone,” Mary said matter-of-factly. “She went away.”

“What about your dad?”

“My daddy’s dead,” she replied. “Mommy said he died in the war. I live with Sam.”

“Who’s Sam?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” Mary said with an assessing glance.

“I’m sorry,” Emma replied. “It’s just that…shouldn’t you be in school?”

Mary smiled. “Sam doesn’t think so. He says it’s a waste of time, especially for girls.”

Does he? Emma thought with some concern. “Well, I suppose that he’s entitled to his opinion but I think that most people would disagree with him.”

“Are you worried about me?” Mary asked.

After a brief pause, Emma said, “Frankly, yes.”

At that, Mary’s smiled broadened. “You seem nice. I like you.”

“Thanks. Is there anyone else besides Sam that I could call?”

Mary shook her head. “No one cares about me.”

“That can’t be true,” Emma replied as she tried to think of what she could say or do to assist this unfortunate soul. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Mary furrowed her brow in thought and then asked, “Can you stay and talk to me?”

“I sure can,” Emma said as she edged closer before sitting down in the grass beside her. “What would you like to talk about?”

Mary shrugged. “I dunno. Anything really. I usually don’t get to talk to anyone other than Sam.”

“Why is that?”

“That’s just the way things are,” Mary replied in a slightly anxious tone. “I don’t ask why. It makes him mad when I ask too many questions.”

“Does he hurt you?” Again, silence. “Do you want me to take you to the police?”

“They can’t help me. No one can.”

“Why not? My car’s in the driveway. We can go right now if you want.”

“NO!” Mary screamed as she got up from the swing and looked like she was about bolt at any second. “It’s too late.”

“Okay, okay,” Emma replied as she rose to her feet. “Calm down. No police. I promise.”

“I gotta swear you won’t. Or else…”

“Or else what?”

“I’ll go away and never come back.”

“Don’t do that,” Emma replied as she tried to think of a way to calm the girl down. “What would you like me to do then?”

“Just stay with me. I’m tired of being alone.” When Emma nodded, Mary added, “I want to hear about you.”

“What would you like to know?”

“Anything. Everything. Whatever you want to tell me.”

Where do I start? Emma thought and then said, “I had a little girl once. She was just a couple of years younger than you are now. Her name was Eva. She had the biggest brown eyes and the most beautiful smile.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died suddenly,” Emma replied as she fought the sudden urge to cry.

“Did her daddy hurt her?”

Why would she say that? Emma wondered. “No, Eva’s daddy loved her a lot. It’s just that she went onto the street when his back was turned and…”

“You blame him, don’t you?” Mary cut in. The bluntness of the girl’s words instantly rendered Emma speechless. Mary added, “I would too. Most men are pigs, aren’t they?”

“Why would you say a thing like that?”

“Because it’s true,” Mary replied. “They lie and cheat and do vile things.”

“Some maybe, but definitely not all.”

Mary stared at her a moment and then said, “You seem like a good mommy. Eva was lucky.”

“Thanks, but I think that I was the lucky one. She was my everything. But now that she’s gone I just…”

“You’ll be okay,” Mary interrupted. “I’ll make sure of that.”

 Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Miguel had just walked into a local coffee shop to buy a cup of coffee before heading home when he spotted Casey Wick, one of the neighbors that he had met a week earlier, standing by the counter. He waved. She smiled in return and then walked over to him and said, “Hello there. It’s so nice to see you again.”

“It’s Casey, right?”

“Yes,” she replied as she shook his hand. “You have a good memory. I usually forget a person’s name the minute after they tell me what it is.”

Miguel laughed and said, “Don’t worry. That happens to me a lot too.”

“How are you? I bet all that work you’re doing on your house is probably keeping you pretty busy.”

“Yes, this past week has been very hectic, if you must know. There is just so much to do. I try fixing one thing and then end up finding five other things that are wrong with the area of the house that I am working on.”

“Well, don’t kill yourself trying to get everything done all at once. Take your time and just make sure that you get things done right. Believe me, all your neighbors will thank you for it.”

“I certainly hope so,” he said. “It has been a dream of mine to own my own home since my wife Emma and I got married.”

“How is your wife? Is she doing any better now?”

Miguel stopped for a moment to consider what he should say to Casey about Emma before answering. “She took our daughter Eva’s death very hard. I think that she is still in shock and is having a difficult time copping with what has happened.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Casey replied as she gave him a quick pat on the arm. “But at least she has you to lean on. You seem like a very nice young man to me and I’m sure that you’re doing all you can to help her through this.”

“I hope you are right,” Miguel replied with palpable uncertainty. “Eva meant everything to her. To both of us.” Casey nodded and said nothing else even though he could tell that she was curious to know more. Sensing that she was someone that he could trust and confide in, he quickly added, “I came here on a student visa and was planning to go back to Spain as soon as I earned my degree. Emma changed all that. We met at a party and hit it off right away. From that night onward, we became nearly inseparable. We found out that she was pregnant just a few weeks after we had started dating.”

“Things like that happen all the time,” Casey replied sympathetically.

“Even though I was scared, I asked her to marry me right away…”

“Obviously, she said yes.”

“Actually no,” Miguel replied with a slight smile. “I had to ask her three times before she agreed to be my wife. She wanted to make sure that we were doing it for the right reasons and not simply for the baby’s sake.”

“Sounds like a girl with a good head on her shoulders. I probably would have done the same if I’d been in her shoes.”

Just then, the barista called out Casey’s name. Before heading over to the counter to pick up her drink, she said to Miguel, “Do you have time to chat?”

Miguel nodded and said, “Yes, of course. I apologize for not getting back to you. I really am interested in hearing what you have to say about my house’s history.”

“Good. I’ll go and find us a table then.”

A few minutes later, Miguel took a seat directly across from Casey. After placing his coffee and blueberry muffin on the table, he took a bite of his pastry and then sat back in his chair and asked, “So what is it about my house that concerns you?”

“Umm…well it’s hard to know where to begin. How much time have you got?”

Miguel glanced at his watch and said, “About fifteen minutes. Is that enough time?”

“It’ll do,” Casey replied as she took a sip from her coffee cup. “Like I said before, I used to play with a girl that lived there.”

“Yes, yes. I remember you telling me that,” Miguel replied as he took another bite out of his muffin. “What does that have to do with the house now?”

“Maybe nothing. But, over the years, I’ve heard stories, rumors from friends and neighbors alike about sightings of a ghost-like figure of a young girl in and around your place.”

“But I thought you said that your friend left with her mother?”

“That’s what my parents told me, but there’s always been a part of me that didn’t quite believe that story.” After a brief pause, she continued. “She used to come to school with bruises on her arms and legs. There was one time she even came to school with a black eye. But whenever I’d ask her how she got them, she’d tell me that she fallen or bumped into something.”

“Did you try to talk to your parents about it?”

“I did,” Casey insisted. “My dad told me to stop sticking my nose into other people’s business and to leave well enough alone. And for a while, I did do that but when she stopped showing up for school, I got scared and begged my mom to see what was going on.”

“And did she?”

Casey nodded. “She’s the one that told me that Mrs. Rhoades had left her husband and taken my friend with her.”

“If that is true, then why did you seem so nervous while you and your husband George were standing on my driveway?”

Instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own as she nervously drummed her fingers against her coffee cup. “Have you noticed anything odd or strange about the place since you moved in?”

“Why do you ask?” Miguel asked. “Please tell me. I want to know.”

“You’re probably going to think I’m crazy but I think that the stories I’ve heard about your place might be true.”

Miguel furrowed his brow as he placed his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands. Is Casey really suggesting what I think she is? Could my house really be haunted? As the import of her words began to sink in, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he recalled the night he thought that he saw a young girl on the other side of the picture window. “Have you seen this ghost yourself?”

“No,” Casey replied. “But I thought that I felt her presence on your property on more than one occasion.”

“What do you think might have happened to her?”

“I…I think that her mom left her with her stepdad.” She then shuddered, adding, “Just looking at him made my skin crawl. I can’t imagine what it was like for her to live with him.”

“But why would her mother do that? Even if he was only half the monster that George had described to me the other day, I don’t see how any she could have left her child in the care of such a man.”

“I see what you’re saying but Mrs. Rhoades was...different. My mom told me that she’d always been a drinker but that it got a lot worse after she found out that her husband had died in Vietnam.”

“It sounds like your friend lived a very tragic life,” Miguel said as the need to rush home and check on Emma grew within him.

“She did,” Casey replied with an air of regret. “I just wish that I could have done more to help her. But that’s all water under the bridge, isn’t it?” A brief silence ensued.

After downing his last bit of coffee, Miguel said, “I am sorry to cut this short but I really think that I should be going now. I was already running late to begin with and my wife might be wondering where I am.”

“Of course,” Casey replied. “Don’t let me keep you.”

As Miguel stood up, he shook Casey’s hand and said, “It was a pleasure to see you again.”  

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

Miguel paused and then said, “To be honest, I do not know what to believe or think at this point.”

“Fair enough,” Casey replied. “I know that what I’ve just told you is a lot to take in. Just think about what I’ve said and call me if you have any questions.”

“I will do that,” Miguel replied as he turned away from her and then hurried out the door.

[bookingbuys-blog]

What Does Travel Insurance ACTUALLY Cover?

Posted: 7/12/2019 | July 12th, 2019 Travel insurance is probably the most boring topic when it comes to planning a trip. Nobody wants to focus on the worst-case scenario before they even leave home. Plus, researching insurance is just plain tedious. There is a lot of fine print to scour, requiring you to read over the minutiae of each insurance plan before you pick the one that’s best for you. But it’s also the most important topic too. Should something terrible happen while you’re on the road, you want to have the confidence that your insurance plan will cover you. While none of us want to imagine getting hurt or robbed or having to cancel our plans, the fact of the matter is that these things happen. It’s rare, but shit you don’t expect does happen when you travel. I never expected to break my camera in Italy. I never expected to rupture my eardrum scuba diving in Thailand. I never expected to get stabbed in Colombia. And while these unfortunate events are few and far between, it’s always better to be safe than sorry (trust me!). Medical bills aren’t cheap. Emergency evacuations cost tens of thousands of dollars. Unless you have a stockpile of disposable income, chances are you’ll want to buy travel insurance for your next trip. There are a lot of misconceptions about travel insurance, so you’ll also want to learn everything you can about your plan and the company that is covering you. Will your plan cover pre-existing conditions? Is there an age limit or a limit on how long you can be out of your home country? Will you be able to see doctors for non-emergency visits? What about dental coverage? There is a lot to learn, and it can be overwhelming if travel insurance is new to you. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be! In this post, I’ll go over what is ACTUALLY covered by reputable travel insurance plans, so you know what to look for. Table of Contents What Travel Insurance DOES Cover What Travel Insurance DOES NOT Cover Our Suggested Insurance Companies   What Travel Insurance DOES Cover Medical Emergencies Chances are when you think of travel insurance, you’re picturing a medical emergency. While accidents or serious illnesses while traveling abroad are rare, here’s what you can expect to be covered by a reputable insurance company: Your hospitalization fee Surgery costs Outpatient treatment costs Visits to registered medical practitioners (relating to your emergency injury) Prescribed medicines (relating to the injury) Medical evacuation (usually this is just to a local medical facility unless you have a more comprehensive plan from a company like MedJet. See below for more on evacuation.) Emergency Evacuation Medical evacuations due to accidents or natural disasters can cost upwards of $500,000. Naturally, this is where having a solid insurance plan comes in handy. Most insurance plans will evacuate you to a local hospital in case of injury or a nearby location in the case of a natural disaster. In some cases, you will be repatriated back to your home country as well (though this is rare and usually only occurs in cases where local medical staff can’t provide the assistance you need). Dental Emergencies As with other medical emergencies, what’s covered here is accidental injury and sudden pain. For example, chipped teeth or a sudden infection. General checkups are not covered, nor is major dental work that doesn’t relate to an injury or accident sustained abroad. And if you just want your teeth cleaned or a new filling, you’ll have to pay for that out of pocket. Death Overseas I know it’s never fun thinking about something like this happening, but knowing that you’re covered will give you and your loved ones peace of mind. Should the worst happen, most insurance plans will cover the costs of a family member coming to get your body to take it home. Some policies will also include cremation services or burial overseas, should that be preferred. Common exclusions would include death from alcohol or illicit narcotics, suicide, or pre-existing conditions not covered by the plan. Flight Delays and Cancellations If your flight gets delayed or canceled, you can apply for compensation from your travel insurance provider (assuming the airline doesn’t provide coverage for you). As long as the cancellation or delay is not your fault, you can apply for reimbursement. However, if you miss your flight because you slept in, that doesn’t count as a valid reason! Be sure to keep all emails, receipts, and correspondence from your airline regarding the delay or cancellation, as you’ll need them to verify your claim and get reimbursed. Trip Cancellation If you need to cancel your trip — either before you depart or during your trip — for a verified medical reason, the death of a close relative, or the death of your travel partner, you can apply to get reimbursed from your insurance company. To verify your claim, be sure to get a note from your doctor if you’re canceling due to illness. If you’re canceling due to a death, you’ll need to submit a copy of the death certificate (as well as other supporting documentation). Lost or Stolen Property If your bags get stolen while you’re traveling, most travel insurance companies will reimburse you for some or all of the items (there are usually limits on gear like laptops and cameras unless you buy a comprehensive plan with additional coverage). Be sure to file a police report. It will be necessary for making a claim. Coverage will usually include compensation for delayed baggage or baggage that’s damaged in transit as well. If your wallet or passport is stolen, some plans will cover the cost of having a new passport or credit card mailed to you (this usually will depend on your residency). If your wallet is stolen with cash in it, most plans won’t reimburse you for the cash. One exception is the Explorer Plan from World Nomads, which covers up to $200 USD in cash compensation. Damaged or Stolen Gear Most travel insurance plans will include coverage for lost or stolen gear, such as laptops, cameras, and mobile phones. However, these high-ticket items usually have a cap on how much you’ll get back (usually under $1,000 USD per item). If you’re traveling with expensive gear, you’ll want to pay for supplementary coverage to make sure it’s sufficiently covered. Be sure you have receipts for all your gear as well. Keep copies of them in your inbox, so if something happens, you can file your claim without having to track down copies. What Travel Insurance Does NOT Cover While every plan is different, here is a list of the most common things that will not usually be covered by your standard or basic travel insurance plan: Accidents sustained while participating in extreme activities, like hang gliding, paragliding, or bungee jumping (though you can often upgrade to plans that do cover those activities) Technical climbing or alpine hiking (again, some plans can be upgraded to cover these activities) Alcohol- or drug-related incidents (including death) Carelessness in handling your possessions and baggage Pre-existing conditions. For example, if you have diabetes and need to buy more insulin, you won’t be covered General checkups for non-emergencies Stolen cash (usually not covered by the standard “theft coverage,” though some companies, like World Nomads, can insure a limited amount of your cash) Missed flights or connections for reasons under your control A few other notes about standard policies: If civil unrest makes your destination unsafe but your government hasn’t called for an evacuation, most insurance companies won’t evacuate you. (MedJet is the exception here. They have the best evacuation coverage.) Changing your mind about your trip, unfriending or breaking up with your travel partner, and pre-existing medical conditions don’t qualify for most trip cancellation plans If your visa is refused, you likely won’t be reimbursed if you decide to cancel your trip Suggested Companies To help you stay safe on your next trip, here’s a list of the best travel insurance companies:

My favorite company is World Nomads. I’ve been using them since I started traveling all the way back in 2003. They are reliable, and claims are processed quickly and fairly. The company was built by an ex-nomad so he gets the traveler mindset and knows what travelers need to stay safe. As someone who is often traveling, I prefer World Nomads because I can purchase and renew my insurance policy online in a matter of minutes (it’s super easy). They have a very friendly and responsive staff who answer questions and help solve problems via social media, they have great customer feedback, and most importantly, they provide a lot of coverage at a fair price. They are also endorsed by Lonely Planet and National Geographic, which tells you how good they are! Other good travel insurance companies to consider

Best high-end electronics coverage. Affordable deductables. Up to 5 million in coverage. Available inside and outside of the USA. Visit Site

Best for people living overseas. The closest thing to normal health insurance. Available for non-US residents. 25 different places to choose from. Visit Site

Short-term and annual plans. Extensive medical transport coverage. Available for residents of USA, Canada, and Mexico Limited time spent in foreign medical facilities. Visit Site

Affordable plans. Basic coverage options. Great for students/shoestring backpackers. Applicable accounts include a free student discount card. Visit Site

Compare plans from 28 providers. Best company for over 65. “Anytime advocates” ask insurer to give your claim a second look if you think it was unfairly denied. Guaranteed low prices. Visit Site   *** These days, I never leave home without travel insurance. Having had to make emergency claims a few times over the years, I’ve learned the hard way that it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry. Just remember that travel insurance is a for-profit industry, which means you really need to do your research before you purchase a plan. Be sure to read your plan and the fine print so you know what exactly is covered and what they expect if you try to make a claim. Keep any receipts, emails, and documentation relating to your trip in a separate folder in your email inbox. That way, you can easily make a claim if you need to. While the cost can seem like a lot up front, when you compare it to the potential cost of an emergency evacuation or a hefty medical bill, it’s peanuts. Most insurance plans will only cost you a few dollars per day, providing you — and your friends and family — peace of mind in the process. If you ask me, that’s money well spent.   Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: World Nomads (for everyone below 70) Insure My Trip (for those over 70) The post What Does Travel Insurance ACTUALLY Cover? appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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[readexplorerepeat]

What we learned while backpacking. Paris and Rome.

Before we travel, I always make it a point to research the places we are planning on visiting for things like weather, customs, special laws, walk-ability, transit and transportation arrangements etc.  Often times I find it very useful when I read tips and suggestions from other travelers and their experiences.  SO, I thought I would put together a list of tips and suggestions from our own experience while we traveled in Europe.

1. TRAVEL LIGHT.

There is no need to carry a million items. Remember, people live there and there are many places to buy the essentials like toiletries and other products should you need them. So packing travel size items is totally the way to go. Your luggage will be less heavy and your back will thank you.

2. TAKE AN UMBRELLA/RAINCOAT

I guess this one depends on where and when you travel, but generally, I always take a small travel umbrella and a light raincoat. Many times in the past I've failed to take these items and the result? I get miserably soaked by the pouring rain. Especially if you are out and about sightseeing. A travel umbrella is so small, you can place it in a side pocket of your backpack with no problem and it is TSA approved. As far a a raincoat,I opt for a light raincoat (C0lumbia Sportswear worked perfectly).  Make sure it is waterproof and not just water resistant (believe me...great difference).    

3. PORTABLE CELL PHONE CHARGER

I use my cellphone to take all my pictures while traveling.  I mean, the convenience of just having a small device which you can also use as a camera/phone/GPS and mini computer is just a great perk of living in the twenty first century...as such, I also have to deal with terrifying "low battery" pop up message that is inevitable when traveling. A small, portable cell phone charger is a life saver. You can check out all our pictures now and thank the creators of such neat device later.

4. PORTABLE SELFIE STICK FOR PICTURES

When we exerted ourselves up 37 stories just to reach the top of the Saint Peter's Basilica or the Notre-Dame top level to see the mystic gargoyles, it was worth it. But we also realized there's an incredible potential for amazing pictures that cannot be achieved with just stretching your hand.  A selfie stick was the solution.  A picture perfect solution. 

5. TAKE A SCARF

Yes, It is HOT in many places in Europe in the summer days. This was especially true when we visited Rome. You will be tempted to wear just a tank top and shorts, or a sleeveless maxi-dress. It's the perfect attire for the warmth of this spectacular place...BUT be aware that MOST (if not all) churches, and sacred places in Rome - including the Vatican- will NOT let you in if you don't cover your shoulders (and your knees).  A scarf is the perfect alternative to wrap around your neck and shoulders.  and it also provides a very stylish way to accessorize your outfit. Locals in both, France and Italy wear scarves all the time, even in the summer months - and especially at night.

6. GIRLS, MAXI OR SUMMER DRESSES ARE A MUST

A perfect outfit when backpacking is one that you can dress up or dress down with ease.  A maxi dress or a cute summer dress provides the perfect combination of style and comfort. Dress it up with a scarf or custom jewelry, or just wear it as it comes during the day. You can't go wrong with a dress.

7. TENNIS SHOES ARE TOTALLY OK

One of the things I was most worried about was the fact that I wanted to pick the right pair of shoes for Paris and Rome. I didn't want to look like an obvious tourist.  I googled a million times and read a million blogs to investigate what kind of shoes other people were taking on their trips. All suggested comfortable walking shoes, and flats for women. Many stated to stay away from white tennis shoes. Let me tell you what I saw. An unbearable amount of both men and women wearing tennis shoes (as in Nike and Adidas). I also saw a lot of locals wearing white tennis shoes (usually Converse or Keds). So I wish I would've known this before picking my shoes. I opted for taking a pair of gray Bobs (by Sketchers) with the memory foam inserts. They were very comfortable walking shoes and they looked just fine with my outfits.  Just remember, whatever shoe you pick, make sure they are made for walking (we walked an average of 10 miles per day), and make sure you break them in in advance!

8. WATERPROOF YOUR SHOES

I learned this one the hard way.  Remember when I said we've gotten soaked by pouring rain in the past? Well, this includes our shoes. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than walking around in wet soggy shoes all day. So this time, I knew better. I got a water-proof spray (make sure it works on fabric) and waterproofed my shoes all the way around.  The result was as expected, and my feet did not get wet at all when it rained -Even when I accidentally stepped in a big puddle!.

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9. PARIS PASS/TRAIN PASS 

Is it worth the money? Well, the answer depends on your needs.  There are many alternatives on packages that you can get while in Paris.  We definitely recommend to get the travel card even if you don't end up getting the whole Paris pass deal.  Let me explain.  The Paris Pass is a package deal that you can purchase online and pick up when you arrive at one of the many locations they offer. It includes a museum pass, an attraction pass, and a travel card.  You can get it for two, three, four, or six days, depending on your needs. If you purchase the whole pass, you have access to over 60+ museums and attractions and unlimited metro, RER, and bus travel, a bus tour, fast track access to many museums, and a guide book. So here's how you decide.  Make a list of the museums and attractions that you want to visit for sure, and if it's more economical to just pay for them individually (you can find the prices online) and if you are not interested in taking the bus tour either, then just get the travel card and a museum pass, or just a travel card and pay for the museum entries individually. We got the pass for convenience and peace of mind. For us it was worth it since we visited many places. 

RELATED: PARIS: CITY OF LOVE AND MANY OTHER AMAZING THINGS

10. USE YOUR MANNERS

I'm embarrassed to admit that many Americans are perceived as rude in Europe. And unfortunately it is true. I observed how many of us forget to use our manners when talking to strangers in Europe. I'm going to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt and state that it could be (perhaps) the language barrier. Many people (including myself) get nervous and forget the few foreign words they know when someone speaks to them in another language. But either way, it's not an excuse. Don't forget to use your hellos and thank yous in the respective language.  You will see a huge difference in the way locals respond to you.

11. DON'T FALL FOR STREET SCAMS

There are MANY scammers scampering the streets for their next victim. From innocent looking kids trying to convince you to sign a petition - while his/her friend steals your cellphone or wallet, from very young women posing as old and disabled gypsy ladies begging for money - you know they are not real when they won't show you their face.  Many pickpockets and fake street performers that only want to distract you so you are an easier target. Also, there are many street sellers that will literally hand you an item and once you have it in your hand they will demand payment.  Best thing to do; be vigilant of your surroundings and your belongings and you will be fine. 

12. TRY EVERYTHING (FOOD/DRINK)

Forget diets! eat everything you can and enjoy a different culture through their cuisine.  You only live once!

RELATED: ROME MUST EATS

RELATED: PARIS FOODIE EDITION

13. FACE THE HEIGHTS

The most beautiful views in Europe will be from the top of a mountain or building. We climbed Norte-Dame, Sacre-Coeur, and Saint Peter's Basilica (at 37 stories high) by foot.  Hundreds of steps later, you will be awed by the incredible views you will find once you face your fear of heights and tight spaces. Especially in Paris, prepare to climb many, many steps all around the city.

14. CARRY A MAP

If you don't have constant internet access it's impossible to rely on your phone's GPS when you get lost in the city. Having a good map with clear street names can potentially save you your sanity when the time comes. This is a good advice also for a metro or RER maps. Plan  your route in advance so you don't waste precious vacation time trying to figure out where to go and how to get there with no map.

15. SUMMER CAN GET HOT

I said it before, but I'll say it again. Summer can get hot, especially in Italy.  If you are planning on visiting in June-August, plan accordingly and pack summer clothes. Shorts, dresses, sunglasses, and lots and lots of sun screen when you go out sightseeing.

RELATED: WHEN IN ROME

16. AMERICAN EXPRESS- NOT ACCEPTED EVERYWHERE

We wanted to minimize the amount of cash we carried, in case of pickpockets. Didn't want to risk getting robbed of all our money. We thought it was a good idea to pay with a credit card whenever possible. For the most part this worked great. BUT be advised, only Visa and Master Card are accepted in most places. Coco had an American Express card that was barely used because apparently Paris and Rome (even the very touristic places) do not accept American Express.

17. THE WI-FI SCAM

One thing I would like to point out is the fact that almost every cafe, restaurant, and shop in Paris advertises free Wi-Fi for their patrons. LIES. Now, this is only a theory based on observation, but it seems to me that advertising free Wi-Fi is a good tactic to get people to have a seat and order an espresso while they figure out their maps or they make a call using internet access (namely, us).  But 8 out of 10 places do not really have this free Wi-Fi access. You have to request a password to access their network, and (if they provide it to you) the connections don't work. Our group was pretty technologically savvy and none of us could connect to most networks. When you ask the waitress for a correct password, they will say it is the password it was already provided and that it should work. Verdict: false advertisement just to get tourists to sit down while hunting for that precious Wi-Fi.

We all have different experiences every time we travel. It's our mission to share these with fellow travelers for informative purposes. We would also love to hear from you and your experiences! Comment below and tell us about your trip and backpacking experiences! 

***TRAVEL WITH US! READ ABOUT OUR OTHER ADVENTURES HERE!

[violetsystems]

#personal

I started composting this week.  Just basically with coffee grounds first.  A friend suggested it.  I’ve been trying to be more mindful of things.  It’s been nine months since I quit drinking.  It’s been anticlimactic at best.  Somebody I knew from France who offered me a job in Haiti once asked if I stopped myself or I got help to quit.  A little invasive but for the most part I just decided there were more important things to me than drinking.  Subtle things.  But they occupy my head on long runs out by the lake often.  I didn’t have any expectations.  I’ve been running since April through the entire summer a hundred miles a month and nobody really noticed.  They watched.  But for the most part it was just me and my shadow out there putting in miles in the sun.  It’s not easy.  It never is.  But you have to start somewhere and I like to think of myself as thoughtful no matter what people might think of me.  I never gave anyone a reason not to believe me.  But people still pry.  And it puts me in awkward situations and dark places sometimes.  I said the other day I didn’t want to leave my house.  There’s been enough reinforcement from people I know in my dash lately that maybe now after all these years people understand why.  I did go down the street to play magic with some people.  Gabe wasn’t there this time.  We’ve butted heads before but I know he’s pretty chill and respectful.  At first it was cool.  I played against this guy who dj’s at a popular club here.  I lost all last week to him.  After the second hand some more people came in with jugs of whiskey yelling pretty foul shit about STD’s.  It made me uncomfortable in a lot of ways.  First it’s seven pm and I don’t drink.  I don’t mind when people do around me.  But when the entire room of people I barely know starts talking about gross shit, it’s probably time to go.  I just said I had to leave after the hand.  Won it and left out the door.  Completely STD free I might add.  Cheers to me.  On the way home at the corner I passed a familiar site this summer.  A camera crew at 8pm filming.  I can’t speak for them.

I said something the next day about people saying unfortunate shit and thoughtlessness being a choice.  It’s a choice for me to wake up at five am everyday.  I get up and try to make it into work before seven am to get seven miles or so in before I spend eight more hours working for a paycheck.  Truth is work has been a lot better lately.  And in some ways it’s the way of the world these days.  People are intrusive.  They want to know every little thing about you.  Until it’s never enough.  There’s an arc that has happened with me over the years.  I’m not supposed to be a character but I feel played constantly in this city.  So much so that now it’s pretty apparent I have to think backwards and downsize the trash and detritus that litters my personal life.  If people really want to know you can ask.  I haven’t been intimate with anyone since my ex-girlfriend.  That was almost a ten year relationship.  We went through a lot together.  I saw her deteriorate in the worst way possible thanks to drugs.  I’ve lost a lot of people to drugs.  Almost lost myself to alcohol.  Lost a lot of chances.  Lived with that and made a choice to strive for better.  Of course I went out on dates with people.  We all know how that ended up.  I’m not on tinder.  I don’t use dating apps.  Sometimes people friend me and I ask them out for coffee.  And this world sucks enough for people to not give people the benefit of the doubt and I understand why.  But consistency doesn’t go away just because you stop paying attention.  I’m still the same person.  Much more focused.  Much more tied up emotionally by something I can’t put a finger on.  Much more annoyed that people keep trying to figure me out when it’s all right here in the first place.  People are dumb.  People are naive.  People live in fear.  I started composting this week.  I almost walked out the door this morning and forgot to.  I dug through the trash that time because it meant something to me.

People will keep trying.  People will keep testing your patience.  The world outside is exhausting.  I paid my rent again.  That’s also anticlimactic.  I have a job.  I’ve had the same job forever.  I’m sitting on thirty eight vacation days I have to use by next July.  My cousin in Hong Kong is excited for me to visit in February.  I have places to stay and play music.  The food out there is amazing.  Macao is across the bay.  Shanghai is a visa away.  These are the things that I don’t risk losing.  Possibilities.  The same possibilities I’ve held onto for years. The same possibilities people took for granted and ignored all these years.  It takes work.  It takes pushing yourself and taking care of your body at the same time.  You can’t short cut.  It falls apart in the end.  There are times that people will just plain ignore you.  They’ll neg you if you mention your dreams or plans.  Sit in a group and never hear any other opinion on lifestyle choices than their own collective shitshow.  Harsh words I know.  But I wake up every morning alone in bed.  I’m not asking for sympathy.  That side of the bed is occupied anyway.  You make one too many invisible wife jokes on the internet and you’re clutching a pillow at two am.  What if I told the truth to a mob of drunk people?  That I want a real relationship.  That I think about things like marriage and kids.  That I make choices that they wouldn’t.   That I’m just trying to play a game and not face the inquisition.  That’s what Tumblr is for.  I can do that at home.  I have Marvel Versus Capcom.  I know how to push buttons.  People still keep trying to push mine.  It’s not like people don’t come over and hang here in my apartment.  And it’s not like anybody actually drinks anything other than water, coffee or tea while they do.  That’s probably boring to some people.  But I know how to compost.  Just like I know how to bury the past when it comes back to haunt you for no good reason.  That’s why I keep running.  Because it means enough to me to try and be something progressively better regardless if people recognize it or not.  That’s not for anyone to see anyway.  That’s what happens when you are invisible. <3 Tim