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Transit Without Visa in Spain as a Myanmar Citizen – By Lydian Shipp

Spain is a major hub for flying to and from Ecuador, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, so when we learned that it’s possible for Myanmar citizens to transit through Spain, we were excited. I was initially worried that Spain would be difficult to transit through, but our experience was very positive.

After we got off the plane from Qatar, our first mission was to find a ...
Transit Without Visa in Barbados as a Myanmar Citizen – Lydian Shipp
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Transit Without Visa in Barbados as a Myanmar Citizen – Lydian Shipp

Barbados allows Myanmar citizens (and citizens of other countries) to transit without visa for 12 hours as long as they stay on the international side of the airport. In the Caribbean, Barbados is a major hub. We transited through Barbados on our way from Ecuador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and also from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to Nicaragua.

The TWOV process in Barbados was ...
Hoping for Honduras: Planning a Wedding from Outer Space — By Jennifer Shipp
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Hoping for Honduras: Planning a Wedding from Outer Space — By Jennifer Shipp

The people on remote islands tend to be a bit closed-minded, like people in small, isolated towns in the Great Plains.

But people in bigger cities bumble. They stare at the their phones as they walk down crowded sidewalks. Why are big city people so tuned out?  John has taken to running smack into them head-on just to prove a point.

The language of the country where ...
Spring Break — By Jennifer Shipp
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Spring Break — By Jennifer Shipp

Spring comes around againInto my hemisphereAnd I feel something missingSomething that was lost in the winterThat fell from my heart like teardropsFrozen



I imagine the green and I exhilarateOver the possibilityOf having fewer imperfections this timeThough the imperfections are the mostSun-drenched parts of me that poke through the ...
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Big Bang vs. Blisters
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Choose Your Own Adventure: The Big Bang vs. Blisters

When I was 5 years old, Grandpa had a heart attack. My dad found his body in the field on the other side of a truck where they’d been scooping wheat or corn (as I recall). Dad and Grandpa were alone in the field, miles from town and other human beings, so Dad rolled up a coat and put it under Grandpa’s head. Then, he ran to the truck and drove to my Grandma’s house to call 911 (this was before cell phones ...
Near-Death Experiences and Thoughts from Terminal 4
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Near-Death Experiences and Thoughts from Terminal 4

Over the past two years, John, Lydian, and I left a place we called Home and we named a new place Home. We camped inside this cement structure like squatters and learned, through this physical and existential discomfort to regard this Home-Base in a new way. Two months after the building was completed, Lydian, John, and I left on our annual winter trip abroad. Southeast Asia was the chosen destination; a ...
Wishing for Death in Thailand: Malaria — By Jennifer Shipp
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Wishing for Death in Thailand: Malaria — By Jennifer Shipp

You know you’re really sick when you shit yourself.

I won’t say more about that, but I do want to point out that, malaria is quite a trip. A lot of people don’t realize that malaria is a long-distance journey. It can last for years if you’re not paying attention to yourself. Like all parasites, it brings people down in cycles and then loosens its grip insidiously to allow timely returns ...
The Silver Pen and the Singapore Wedding — By Jennifer Shipp
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The Silver Pen and the Singapore Wedding — By Jennifer Shipp

I always knew, or rather, believed, that when Lydian finally met the right guy that things would happen quickly. I had a hard time picturing her dating for a prolonged period because Lydian makes tight relationships quickly. She gets attached and holds on to people for dear life. I figured the odds were good that she’d fall for someone who was wired with a similar attachment style. And they wouldn’t dither. ...
On Leaving Lydian Behind in Burma — By Jennifer Shipp
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On Leaving Lydian Behind in Burma — By Jennifer Shipp

John and I are on the final leg home after two months in Southeast Asia. For the first time ever on these long journeys abroad that we’ve taken since 2010, Lydian is not with us. She stayed behind with a man she met in Burma. In fact, partway through the trip, she abandoned us to rendezvous with him in Yangon.As John and I retrace the same steps back through the same airports we took when we left home ...
Untitled – Not Sure What We’re Doing Here — By Jennifer Shipp
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Untitled – Not Sure What We’re Doing Here — By Jennifer Shipp

About a month ago, we arrived in Singapore following about 44 hours of land and air travel over the course of three days.

Our mission: to figure out our mission.

We’ve seen the colisseum in Rome. We lived next to the pyramids in Egypt on our first trip there (we’ve been through Egypt 3 times). We’ve laid our eyes on all the requisite tourist destinations that have ...
“Gimme Your Guitar” — By Lydian Shipp
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“Gimme Your Guitar” — By Lydian Shipp

I wouldn’t say I’m new to dating/courtship rituals but… well, I’m new to dating/courtship rituals in the “real world.” Since I’m 18 now and working with adults instead of kids, it’s almost like all the “experience” I have from when I was younger is invalid. It’s not, since I’ve thought seriously about every relationship I’ve had from a variety of angles to get as much as I could out of the experience, but ...
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Roman’s Bloody Thumb and the Homemade Table Saw

Felipe made a table saw out of my circular saw. He used a piece of plywood and cut a little slit in it so that the saw blade stuck up far enough to make cuts. Then, he took scrap wood and screwed it onto the ply as a “guide” for cuts. It was clever. I congratulated Felipe for the idea and Felipe smiled and was proud of it. The make-shift stuff our workers concoct to get a job done never ceases to amaze and ...
AirBnB Inside Out — By Jennifer Shipp
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AirBnB Inside Out — By Jennifer Shipp

John, Lydian, and I have been staying in AirBnB’s since 2011. We consider ourselves to be experts on the AirBnB experience because we’ve looked through the lens into many properties all across the world to choose dwelling spaces to live in for months at a time in nearly 30 different countries. But in addition to our global experience shopping for, choosing, and then sometimes regretting or being grateful ...
On the Way to San Antonio to Get Jace: Photo Gallery
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On the Way to San Antonio to Get Jace: Photo Gallery

Related Posts:Lydian, John, and Jace on a Callejoneada in Guanajuato, MexicoCool Things to Do in Guanajuato, Mexico: CallejoneadasJace Dances for the Camera During Callejoneada in Guanajuato, Mexico

Jace's Plane Arrives in San Antonio ...
Jace: Spanish Beginner Learns Left and Right
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Jace: Spanish Beginner Learns Left and Right

After his first day of Spanish classes at Adelita Language School in Guanajuato, Mexico, Jace realizes that he needs to know how to say "right" (derecho) and "left" (izquierda) as well as "ahead" (adelante). In this video, Lydian and Jennifer give him these words so that he can find his way around this confusing city if he gets lost. It's one thing to know how to ask where a place is located...for example: ...
“Fat” as a Legitimate Feeling: How Iodine Changed Our Lives – By Jennifer Shipp
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“Fat” as a Legitimate Feeling: How Iodine Changed Our Lives – By Jennifer Shipp



Anyone who knows me knows that for most of my life, I’ve been an avid runner. I’m not fast, but I can run long distances. But not super-long distances. Mostly, I’ve been a runner in order to avoid gaining a lot of weight, but I’ve also spent time running as a meditative activity. For me, running wasn’t competitive. It was a part of my identity that was basic to my self-care routine like ...
Sapito: The Sapo Frog Medicine Part II — By Jennifer Shipp
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Sapito: The Sapo Frog Medicine Part II — By Jennifer Shipp

We really didn’t know anything about sapito before we arrived at Karolina’s on the Saturday following the summer solstice. I’d never heard of it before and though I did a little research, I wanted to be careful about doing too much research because there’s a lot of bullshit and fear-mongering online. Americans are taught to believe that all entheogens and psychedelics are bad and there’s a lot of ...
Petra, Jordan: Photo Gallery
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Petra, Jordan: Photo Gallery

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Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan: Photo Gallery
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Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan: Photo Gallery

We arrived about 11 hours early for our flight from Cairo to Amman because we misread the time on our tickets. That was the first and last time we ever did that. Instead of going back to our Cairo vacation rental, we just stayed at the airport and waited for our flight.

Related Posts:Flight from Egypt to Jordan: John Makes a Friend (video) ...
The Sistine Chapel: Photo Gallery
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The Sistine Chapel: Photo Gallery

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Bruised Banana