preparing for a month of travel

up until a month ago, i wasn’t even certain this day was going to come, but i’m finally traveling back to sri lanka after being away for 8 years. that’s 8 years of not seeing my uncles, aunts, cousins, my grandma and missing my other grandma’s funeral. it’s also been 2.5 years since i’ve seen my parents.

it’s such a weird feeling that i’m not going to be able to express but think of happiness to see everyone + excitement to be home and do all the little things i grew up doing + fear of how much has changed and seeing my family older + sadness for not having a grandma to visit down the road + cravings for the food. it’s indescribable and oh, frank is coming too and it’s the first time he’ll be meeting my parents. it’s going to be crazy.

anyway, the itinerary for the next month is sri lanka for 10 days, back to the uk for the week, then to prague for a week and finally back to dubai for 2 weeks. i’ve never been more eager to get on a flight. i can’t wait! but can we have a moment to deliberate on why plane tickets cost a kidney? i’m sure with the way technology is opening doors, this stuff is supposed to get cheaper?! incase you want to share the disbelief, a (non-direct) return ticket for 2 from london – sri lanka is approximately £2900!! yeah … we could fly to prague and back 10 times with that money.

anyway, frank and i were actually supposed to go to see joji live in london today but he got covid last week and a bad case of it so we passed on that one. i still came into central to do some last minute shopping, soak in the sun and hit a cafe or two.