You Know You've Been Traveling A Lot When...

A few thoughts since getting "home" to Musomaland after all my travels this summer...

• You get messages from close friends that start with, "I don't know where you might be in the world right now, but..."
• Seeing the word "transition" - even in a writing-a-paper-context - makes you cringe...
• The word "visa" really DOES make you think of something you put in a passport...
• You realize your (brand new) credit card is pretty much unusable in England because of it's lack of a smartchip...
• Getting on a plane for 8 hours is as normal as getting in a car for a road trip... except you don't have to worry about bringing snacks!
  

  

  My regular super-unhealthy-but-keeps-me-awake roadtrip food of choice in the States.
  Road trip snacks look a lot bit different here in Tanzania... :)

• Every.single.phone.number in your phone has a country code already added in, so it's usable from whatever country you might happen to be calling from...
• You have long, well-informed conversations with friends about your most-favourite airport in the world and why...
• You veto your friend's idea of a travel-themed journal because traveling more is the LAST thing you want to think about or do!
• You recognize the importance of Subway cookies in your life... And make sure to take advantage of their existence in any country you enter (same goes for berries... And good ice cream...)
  

  

  Strawberries and Cherries?  YES please!!!

• You appreciate Whatsapp mucho (an app that lets you text around the world for free) so you can be in regular contact with amazing close friends in other countries and those fitting the same description down-the-road. And because it's your source of new-niece pictures from Florida!!!
• You accidentally use Swahili in text conversations with friends from the States, and when you try to correct yourself with English, they let you know they remembered the translation from last time you accidentally used it!
• You think, "Someday, I'll live in one place for long enough to buy a decorative bowl and have a place to keep it!" then again, maybe moving often is good for my accumulative nature... ;)
  

  

  Germany.  With a guy just behind the counter making them by hand.
  Oh, I would have loved to bring one of these home...
• You make decisions on size and model of guitar based on travel plans for the next several years (got it 5 yrs ago... It's concert-sized for a reason!)
• You know the name of Walmart-owned chains on at least three continents
• Your little Bible is your primary one - the one you use always. (And that had to be duct-taped to continue it's longevity...) Study Bibles are great, but too heavy to carry on airplanes and buses and ferries and... and... and around the world!
  

  

  Big thanks to my friends in MI who made the duct tape job look professional! 
  Never could have done this myself!
• You're not surprised when the people you'd hoped to meet up with in England happen to be in the guesthouse in Nairobi heading back to England from Zambia as you travel back to Musoma... Meeting up with random people unexpectedly isn't all that unexpected. Just God! :)
• You pray. A lot. And expect God to show up big time. And aren't surprised to see when He does!