2023, Guatemala, Reflections

Travel Planning – or not

2 nights?
I left Harvey Bay on Friday. I had only booked one night at Jen’s Getaway in the Glass House Mountains. I had plans to take the bus to Ocean Shores on Monday. My only plan in between was to do a little hiking and exploring in the Glass House Mountain area.
It should not have been a surprised that there were two more nights between Saturday and Monday.

I woke up early and took a very hot bath, trying to fix my back/neck issue.

Had breakfast at Jen’s and headed to Nguyen Mt, the closest and possibly easiest of the Glass House Mt hikes. The 1.25 mile round trip was mostly rock stairs and a little scramble at the top. There were so many people and it started to rainy lightly while I was enjoying the view. Still, it was pleasant and a great way to wake up the body after the relative inactivity in Harvey Bay.

With the weather cooler and raining, I wasn’t in a hurry to head to the Sunshine Coast. I drove north to the Malena Botanic Gardens and Bird World. The drive was beautiful, over a ridge that allowed great views of the Glass House Mts, valley and view toward the ocean. I was allowed the pensioner’s rate for admission after showing my driver’s license. The girl looked at the date and said – oh yeah, easy – like I was years older than needed to qualify. : )
It was a perfect place to spend the afternoon. The guided tour took us through 5 connected aviaries where the birds would land on my head or arm and sit until choosing another guest. I loved it!!!

I wandered the gardens past bamboo, ponds, irises, roses and even more views of the mountains in the distance. Not having any place I needed to be and no reservation to move toward, I was comfortable simply enjoying the place with no agenda and no sense of time. I looked at places to stay while waiting out a rain shower but didn’t get too focused on it.

As I was getting ready to conclude the tour, I heard a screechy voice say “hello”, over and over again. There had been some mention of a place where the adopted birds lived. These birds, hundreds of them, had been given to the sanctuary by families who either didn’t realize how long these birds live or were left to them in people’s wills. Some types of parrots live 120 year, other 80 – 90 years.

This group of birds were sitting on perches in a cluster near a building at the top of the path. There were 20 or so, each on it’s perch. The guide said that they had had their wings clipped incorrectly and would never be able to fly. The vocalization’s were so clear, I thought that the hellos were coming from a speaker as a prompt for the birds. Not true. They were talking.

One talked non-stop, except when singing scales. She had been raised by an opera singer. I sang some scales as a way to converse with her.
A white cockatoo came to investigate my scarf and was quite forward. I so enjoyed the encounters! Absolute JOY!

When I decided to leave, I still didn’t have a destination so I went back to the Mary Cairns.. wilderness park. Not much to see but some thick bush trees, even along the butterfly walk. I didn’t explore far, being a little tired of walking by this time.
I set course for Caloundra, thinking I would see what showed up in the way of accommodations along the way.

Made it all the way to the beach, parked and got out to a very heavy wind and rain so I walked only a short distance along the beautiful beach/park path.
Back in the car, I needed to make a decision about where to to spend the night.

It was then that I realized that there were two nights between Saturday and Monday! I was sort of confused with the discovery. In my head, I had booked one night and needed to book the second, after which I had to drive back to Brisbane to return the car and head to Ocean Shores.

All day, I kept thinking about the mistakes I have made in planning. They aren’t mistakes, I know it doesn’t work that way. I had decided to take the train to Brisbane to pick up the car. I did check and didn’t see any available one way car rentals but only after I have booked the car and train. Maybe I would have tried harder if I had done the planning in a different order. The south bound train actually stopped 600 meters from the place I stayed the first night. It took me over an hour to drive back to it after I picked up the car. that feel like a mistake.
I could have taken the train from the airport south the Victoria Lakes, then caught a bus to Brunswick Heads instead of taking the $68 bus from the Brisbane airport. I didn’t really know that until I was on the AirTrain from the Roma Street station to the airport and saw the transit map. But still…
the list of possible mistakes goes on and on.

Then the thought came, who is judging me?

That was followed by – if there is a judge, who is the accused? Who is the accuser?

Well shit, those three entities can only be ME! What’s that all about? What’s the point of such thinking? What beliefs do I hold that generate such thoughts? Something to ponder to be sure.

The judgement has come up many times on this trip. There are places I was going to visit but didn’t and now regret missing. I talk about my next trip when I will know more about where to go and how to get there but there is no assurance that I am coming back. I guess I will if I decide to.
It just seems like I should be smarter about planning travel.

There’s a belief.
Here’s another one- I SHOULD know what I am doing – where I am going, the BEST way to go.
In the middle of the judging, I also KNOW that I will end up where I want to be.
I have faith in chance decisions taking me to great places and interesting people.
I know I will be safe. I know I have options. I know that even if it take a little money, I can end up where I want to be. Even if i didn’t want to spend much money, there are options.
So why do i go through the accuser/accused and judgement thoughts? Can I let that go?
Is that answer part of my purpose right now? Making room for chance and embracing the outcomes?

Now, here I am in an amazing Airbnb in Toorbul, Queensland. The place is huge, very clean and has a view of the bay and looks over to Bribie Island. I am looking forward to exploring the Bribie Island National Park tomorrow or maybe the shorebird sanctuary.

Whatever I feel like – maybe nothing at all.