Two Fish Traveling

Taiwan road trip from Kaohsiung in the south to Taipei in the north.

Can anyone else can relate to these feelings? Not strictly as they pertain to travel.

Travel creates a constant push-and-pull between doing something comfortable and doing something challenging that requires more human interaction. This comes up over and over when we're making decisions:

- Do we stay in a locally run guesthouse or an Airbnb?
- Do we take public transit or use a rideshare app?
- Do we shop at the traditional public market or the fancy supermarket?

These questions come up most strongly when we're in lower income countries and we can afford more. In the Philippines, our best local interactions have taken place on the bus and in guesthouses (Filipinos are incredibly friendly). Neither is as simple or comfortable as a Grab ride or staying in a high-rise apartment. The wealthier we become, the more we can afford to atomize--to avoid human interaction, lose the sense of meaning that travel provides, and become lonelier.

Diary of a transit day (where Sterling almost died for his sunglasses):

6:30: Wake up
6:45: Drive rental scooter to gas station and fill tank.
6:55: Return scooter, which has become a 4-day rental because no gas stations were open past 8pm the night before.
7:00: Eat pancakes at guesthouse.
7:30: Victory photoshoot with overly sweet "pineapple" drink for Jimmy Buffett themed March Madness bracket.
7:45: Pack bags.
8:30: Walk to highway and hope the hourly bus goes by soon.
8:45: A resort shuttle van stops and offers us a ride to the Tagbilaran ferry, 2.5 hours away. Five hundred pesos per person. We negotiate to 250 pesos. We suspect the driver is making side cash since he was already driving to the ferry to pick up resort guests. The van has AC and cushy seats, unlike the public bus.
11:00: Order Grab (food delivery) to the entrance of the ferry terminal.
11:15: We arrive in Tagbilaran. Shuttle driver tries to squeeze us for an extra 100 pesos to drive to the ferry instead of the center of town. We say "No."
11:20: Driver drops us at the ferry ticket office, which we suspect is a fake ticket office.
11:22: Sterling realizes he left his sunglasses on the van. Leaving Sarah with the bags, he chases the van through a traffic circle. The van disappears down the road. Sterling continues the chase, running through traffic.
11:23: Sterling runs past an armored security van, nearly colliding with a man holding a bag of money surrounded by three men holding shotguns. Everyone is terrified. Sterling’s already going top speed and continues running, hands up, while yelling "SORRY!"
11:24: Sterling catches the shuttle van turning left at an intersection. He retrieves his sunglasses.
11:30: A very sweaty Sterling returns triumphantly to Sarah. They grab their bags, check with ferry terminal guards, and confirm the ticket office is real.
11:35: Wait in bureaucratic ticket office run by 90's technology. Watch two women get in fight about who got in line first.
11:40: Meet Grab driver by the side of the road and collect food.
12:00: Purchase ferry tickets to Cebu City.
12:15: Clear 5-6 bureaucratic security/ticket/port fee checks.
12:30: Arrive at first bathroom since leaving our guesthouse.
12:35: Eat tofu adobo for lunch.
12:45: Terminal loudspeaker announces that 1:00 ferry is delayed to 1:50 (due to fuel rationing). We relax.
1:40: FINAL BOARDING CALL! We have assigned seats (and typically like to board last), but haven't realized everyone still in the terminal was waiting for the 2:00 pm ferry.
1:50: We rush to get on the boat. Ferry departs. We have seats on the top deck. The deck is shaded and open to the wind.
1:50 - 3:50. Ride ferry to Cebu. Listen to podcasts and Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" while seated behind the only two white men on our level of the ferry. One is biting his fingernails and twisting his nose ring, and the other is eating sunflower seeds and licking his fingers. We have mild seasickness.
3:50: Arrive in Cebu City and decide it will be more interesting to take the bus than Grab. Walk past touts for 10 minutes to bus stop in 90 degrees.
4:10: Get on bus recommended by Google Maps. Confirm destination with driver's assistant. Half-way to our stop, the driver starts speaking loudly to us in Cebuano. Passenger translates: “You need to get on a different bus.”
4:30: Get on the next bus recommended by Google Maps. Confirm destination again, and we're on our way. We sit behind the driver and become responsible for passing all bus fare and change back and forth between the driver and passengers. Another passenger teaches us the Cebuano words for “Please” and “Change.”
5:00: Arrive at stop and walk to Airbnb.
5:10: Sterling has tense conversation with property manager about why every cabinet in the apartment kitchen is locked, leaving us limited food storage options.
5:30: Shower, change clothes, unpack.
6:15: Take overdue laundry to the laundromat. Staff promises to wash brand new red shirt with cold water. Between the language barrier and custom in many countries of washing everything in hot water, we pray our clothes don't all turn pink (they didn't).
6:30: Arrive to dinner at nearby restaurant.
6:30-7:00: As multiple cockroaches scuttle around the floor, we debate the politest way to tell our server without alarming the other patrons. We discretely tell the server, who cheerfully scoops the cockroaches with a broom and dustpan.
7:00: The three dishes we ordered each arrive 10 minutes apart. We eat "tofu buffalo wings" and "Caesar salad" that taste nothing like those things.
7:40: Arrive at the grocery store shortly before closing. The fruit and vegetable section is already cordoned off.
7:50: Sarah runs back to laundromat to check on clothes before closing at 8:00. Owner laughs at her and says "Come back tomorrow, or the next day."
7:55: Sterling pays for groceries (oatmeal, oat milk, and instant coffee) and searches for a fruit stand.
8:00: Dodging traffic, uneven sidewalks, and mystery liquids, Sterling arrives at the fruit market. The sad fruit stand is surrounded by unrefrigerated seafood and Sterling decides he has run out of energy for adventure.
8:10: Sterling walks to the nearby fancy supermarket located in the basement of a mall. The mall is under complete renovation with no other stores. Access is gained by walking down the ramp to the parking garage.
8:15-8:45: Sterling walks up and down every aisle, scoping out the food. Blueberries from Mexico are $10, but a frozen package of "forest" berries from Poland is only $5. Muesli, walnuts, chia seeds, and Polish forest berries are obtained to supplement breakfast.
9:00 - 9:15: Sterling returns to Airbnb, takes another shower, and goes to bed. Sarah does the same.