Joanna goes on vacation

Day 1

Dear diary,

My knock on the carved oaken door was greeted by a smiling English woman who motioned for me to come in. I thanked her and smiled back, happy to finally have started my sabbatical. After a tough year fighting through a divorce with my husband and winning several new clients for my department, I was absolutely exhausted from worry, legal proceedings, and emotional stress. I'd been here as a teenager and college student, studying the local language and doing some missionary work with my church, so I knew it was the perfect place to relax and 'just be' for a while.

My host offered her hand and shook mine, she was a few inches taller than me and a few years older, probably lower forties. She looked very good for her age though. "Hello dear, you must be Joanna, from the US? We spoke on the phone, I'm Jean. Let me welcome you to our little hotel and to our village."

I shook her hand and she led me up to my room, the suite overlooking the courtyard. It was charming and cute, just a small boutique hotel with a half dozen rooms around a courtyard. "You can drop your bags here, get settled in and come down and we can settle all the paperwork, alright love?" Jean told me.

So, first disaster of my trip. After getting my bags out and rummaging through my purse, I couldn't find my little wallet. I must have left it on the plane without realizing it. It had my cards, my passport, and my phone. I couldn't believe it! I went down to explain to Jean, and she was very understanding. She offered to let me stay in the room without paying until I could call the embassy and get a new passport, and of course, figure out the number to my personal assistant. I didn't have it memorized since of course, I kept it my phone.

Jean let me use the hotel phone, and I managed to get through to the embassy, but the phone didn't work for international numbers and the hotel was one of the last that legitimately didn't have internet access. I'd wanted to get off the beaten path and unplug, and now that was a serious hindrance. Jean offered to drive me to the consulate over the weekend, a few days away as she was going to head into the city for some essentials. Until then, she offered that I could charge food or anything to my tab, and pay when I got my new cards sent. I thanked her, and hung around the pool in the courtyard for the rest of the afternoon, trying to decompress and relax, as hard as that might be.