u/ADF21a

I had tried since the 90s but because of lack of funds and living in a badly connected place well before low cost airlines even existed I couldn't. Then they split.

Then they came back for Wireless Festival and I could finally see the light 🥰

Amazing atmosphere, especially as I was with my best friend. The vibe close to the stage was electric.

After that I saw them live in London wherever they played (Brixton Academy and Royal Albert Hall) until they split again.

Hopefully I'll see them live again. I saw them last year in London, but had to miss the Latin America tour and now the European one 😔

When was the first time for you?

ETA: I found a friend's photo from the confetti throwing into the crowd but I can't seem to be able to add it 😔

Damn you, Jarvis and friends 😂

Some posts in the last few days have made me ponder whether we are losing the "art of wandering"?

Just the other day I came across this bit in one of my Substack subscriptions:

"Kids don’t have this problem. They wander. They’ll spend ten minutes looking at a ladybug or pick up a funny-shaped rock like they’ve discovered treasure. Adults don’t really wander anymore. We go places because we need something. Groceries. Dry cleaning. The gym. Work. We don’t walk into bookstores unless we’re buying a specific book. We don’t visit museums unless someone is visiting from out of town. We don’t stroll through gardens because there’s no box to check when we’re done."

I love wandering just for the pleasure of it, but I'm perplexed when nomads, who theoretically would have much more freedom in terms of how they manage their time in one place, wonder about what to do?

What happened to the childlike spirit of discovering places or things just for the sake of it? Maybe it's me romanticising the great writers on their Grand Tours.

In one of my Google peregrinations, I came across this sentence:

"The mere act of absorbing another culture permanently alters a person's emotional expression."

But this was more in terms of people from "colder" backgrounds becoming warmer and more emotionally demonstrative with direct contact with other cultures, like for example Southern Europe or Latin America.

Have you experienced it yourself? I haven't really seen it *that much* in the people I've met. They still seemed overall emotionally cold.

For me it was the opposite also, as I became more expressive when I moved to a "cold" country such as the UK.

(Before anyone starts, don't take living as literally living in one place for 3546 billion years. It can be "living" in one place for a few months etc, long enough to start absorbing the new culture in *some way*).

Because that's what I'm always cautious of, especially when asked for my opinion on something the locals love and identify with and I happen not to like.

In my latest case my opinion on Frida Kahlo.

It might seem like a silly example, but often you don't want to hurt other people's "country identity" even if you express your opinion tactfully.

So has it happened to you to unintentionally offend locals, not necessarily with your opinions, but not knowing local customs etc?

I just came across this quote in a newsletter, and it spoke to me:

“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

Not wanting to get into the inane traveller vs tourist diatribe, but I liked the sense of freedom and "flow" in this sentence.

How do you see it?

It's rare that this happens but when it does, it feels off-putting especially for women.

I posted on the Mexico City community asking for advice on how to get to the city from the airport at 3 am.

Lots of advice, some contradicting each other, on what to do. I get a DM from someone saying they can pick me up from the airport. A total stranger who knows I'm a woman travelling alone. They don't introduce themselves as a taxi driver. Just "I can pick you up". Obviously I'm not going to go along with it.

But it really reminded me of how trust in strangers' kindness can also become dangerous?

Has anything similar happened to you?

¡Hola a todos! ☺

I'm looking at flying all the way from Europe to Cancun to then fly to Mexico City (with the current situation a three flights route might be the most reliable 😬 Fingers crossed).

I've booked one night's accommodation near Cancun Airport to then fly the next morning to Mexico City but I've just noticed there's a flight leaving at 1 am which would get me to Mexico City at around 2.30 am. I would get into Cancun at 8 pm so I'd have enough time for this other flight.

So since public transport is likely to be shut at that time, is Uber/Didi the only option? Is there a night bus going to the city centre from which I could get a Uber? I've read that pick up in the airport isn't allowed? I'm travelling alone and I'm not that worried about my personal safety, but I don't want to end up being denied rides because I'm not in the right place etc (it's happened in the past). Especially as I would be travelling for 36 hours or so.

I want to get to Mexico City as soon as possible so as to make it a long three days weekend.

Muchas gracias 🙏

When to renew it, even though it expires in a year but you technically still have 6 months on it, you have to resort to booking an appointment at a consulate in another country and the latest available date is in September. On your birthday.

Spending your birthday at the consulate. Living la vida loca.

You also have to renew another form of ID, and the next available renewal date is a week after that. Having to spend a week somewhere you don't want to be just because of bureaucracy.

(Not minimising the struggles of those who have genuinely weak passports. My challenge is risible compared to theirs but the idea of spending my birthday at a consulate made me laugh).

Does anyone have good recommendations for "relaxing" music for work focus?

All the stuff I listen to gets too interesting after a while and I start drifting off. I tend to listen to Wagner but after a while I get very "Wagner-y".

Any minimal techno recommendations? It seems the easiest option.

I prefer indie electronic music. Not Dubstep or House.

One of mine is counting countries. What's up with the fixation with counting countries? Like they are things to "attain"? If you're doing one of the NomadMania things, I get it, but in general? Why do you need to tell people you have been to x countries?

I saw this earlier today on a profile, and I was instantly "Ugh!". Swipe left until eternity.

What are yours? (Apart from people who complain about people who count countries?).

This post on a Facebook spiritual group I read yesterday said this: a lady said she had travelled to many places but never felt comfortable in any of them.

I felt for her because I'm lucky to have felt "at home" in a few places, strangely enough not in my home country though.

But has it ever happened to you? Not to feel like you felt at home or "belonged" anywhere?

Next week I'm having my "first" group IFS session with as topic my family system (the emotionla avoidance in my father and the emotional volatility in my mother) as a way to understand and heal my disastrous attachment patterns.

I've done one session about 15 years ago when I was training to become a counsellor: that was very powerful, but back then I was in the midst of my major attachment issues, so not much really percolated through.

This time I want it to be more intentional. I have already attended three sessions with this facilitator as a representative, and they still touched on issues relevant to my situation, even if the case wasn't mine (the last session was particularly heavy).

I'll try to have a calm and quiet place to go to when the session ends, even though I am sure I will face the situations that have brought me to the session in the first place.

What do you suggest I prepare especially for the aftermath? I'm thinking of taking the day after off (I work from home so I can luckily do that).

Anything else?

Many thanks 🥰

Has anyone used them? I currently use gua sha and a jade roller two or three times a week.

How do these brushes compare?

Silly question. Facebook Memories reminded me of two trips I took on this day exactly in 2014 (Toronto for a music festival) and 2024 (Tuscany to go petsit for a friend).

Were you travelling on 21st May of X year? If so, where?

Somewhere you feel that in hindsight was a mistake to visit?

Yeah, yeah, every place is a lesson, and all that jazz, but some places are also "Why the hell did I come here?"

Malaysia was such place for me. I went for practical reasons. I should have followed my gut feeling and gone somewhere else, i.e. Bangkok. In hindsight that trip didn't "flow". I hated most of my time there. That taught me a lesson for sure.