The banality of the travel day

One of my favorite maxims is that time - not money, nor oil, nor water - is in fact our most valuable resource. That theory is put to the test on days like today; Rachel and I are on our way back to Singapore from our island getaway on Tioman, but the return trip isn't quite as straightforward as it was on the way out. We awoke in darkness at 5:30 this morning, needing to catch a 6:30 AM ferry back to the mainland. However, due to some incongruity in the bus/ferry schedules, we were presented with the prospect of a nine-hour wait between the ferry arriving and the bus leaving. We've spent the intervening moments alternating between sleeping under the fans in the ferry terminal (no A/C or Internet here), reading and listening to books, eating pre-packaged Nestlé ice cream, and trying to figure out the best way to use bathrooms that have no locking doors and no toilet seats. The idea of a lengthy global honeymoon definitely seems glamorous, but it does push your limits of tolerance for boredom, comfort, and cleanliness now and then. Sometimes, I suppose, there are in fact things more valuable than time. -NAP

Update: On top of the above, our bus is going to be anywhere from 2-4 hours late, because some of the passengers must have missed the ferry they were supposed to be on and we are waiting for the next ferry to arrive for an indeterminate amount of time. Serenity now, my friends.Read more