Made it to Vietnam!
If you’d like a sneak peek of what the race can often look like here’s a little something for you!
A few days ago we traveled from Albania through Macedonia to Bulgaria. A trip that took 18 hours by bus. Rested for one day. Left on a plane the 9th to Moscow and then from there to Vietnam. The plane rides combined were only 12 hours but after layovers and airport time it was about a day and a half. During those 3 nights I slept maybe 8 hours total and was feeling pretty sick.
I planned on sleeping on the plane but I was running a fever and my legs were restless. I was on the biggest plane I’ve ever seen in my life! I seriously don’t understand how those things work. I’m pretty sure it’s just magic because something that big should not be able to fly.
I was sitting between 2 strangers, only seeing a couple people from my squad of 29 around me.
So instead of sleeping, the plane ride looked like me wiggling, glowing with a nice layer of sweat, and having to ask if I could go pee every few hours because my bladder is tiny.
Also, and I won’t give too many details, but because I’m a female and hormonal I was feeling a little emotional. There was a movie I’d been dying to see based off a true story and it was pretty intense but I knew the ending was going to be happy.
I was told wrong.
I ended up silently bailing my eyes out and telling myself to “get it together Makayla!” As the guys kept glancing at me out of the corner of their eyes, I think afraid to actually look at me.
So I put in a funny movie, ended up laughing too loud…
Watched Megalodon and literally jumped and grabbed their arms when I was startled.
I. was. a. nightmare.
So I get off the plane, absolutely exhausted, still feeling sick and have to stand in not one but two huge lines and I get to the guy who’s looking at my passport and he asks for my flight number.
I have no idea. I’m digging through my pocketbook, I’m asking my teammates, so he says, “where did you just come from?” And I swear to you for the second time on the race I couldn’t remember. He did not like that! Thankfully my teammates minds were working better then mine and I got through.
We then took a taxi to the bus station and got tickets for Da Nang, aka the city we will be staying in for the month.
So I’m currently on a 22 hour sleeper bus making this travel day 3 days long. I was exhausted when we got on at 1 pm and thought for sure I could sleep through the day and night.
Once again, I was wrong.
So it’s now 1 in the morning, I’m wide awake and asking myself, “what have I done?!”
I say all this to say that the race isn’t always glamorous. It’s hard, it’s tiring, it’s a lot of being on the go and constantly changing environments and climates.
As I look out of my window at all the people on their mopeds, all the marshlands, all the Asian cuisine (thank you Jesus!) I can’t help but smile and thank God for it all. For the good times and the hard times. For all the things He’s teaching me, all the things I’m getting to experience, all the stories I can tell.
Because this is life.
It’s messy, it’s work, it’s choosing, and it’s beautiful.
I’m learning to look at things through a new perspective and while I think this might have kicked my butt before, now it’s kind of an adventure of a lifetime.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, man, God is so cool.
