Traveling During Mercury In Retrograde

This past week I traveled to Moncton, New Brunswick to teach a Clifton Strengths Workshop and I was really excited because the last time I visited the Eastern provinces was back in 2003 when I was still in University! I forgot how luscious and glorious the land is here and I was so happy….once I arrived. It just so happened that this trip was booked for the week of an Eclipse + Mercury in Retrograde and whether or not you believe it, the weird shit that happened to technology + travel was nuts.

The fun began as soon as I went to print out my boarding passes and baggage tags at the Winnipeg airport. Despite the machine showing that I had 1 checked bag, it refused to print out my baggage tag so I had to wait in a relatively long line up to have someone help me. Once I got to the agent, she said “Why didn’t you print this on the machine?” This was the start of the unraveling of my emotional regulation. I explained the situation and she said “The machines have been really weird today - printing too much, not printing anything, printing the wrong info. Something’s going on today.”

As the plane descended into Toronto - the first leg of my trip - I started planning my food run before catching the connection. That was quickly thwarted by having to sit on the runway for an additional hour due to the short staffing situation that’s happening right now. I wasn’t surprised but that didn’t help my hangry. Finally, we got off the plane and I looked to see what gate my next flight was at. The sign said Gate 11, Flight Delayed - awesome, but again, not surprised. At this point, I decided I should get some food and decided to check out the Air Canada Lounge (I have the credit card that gets you in). I approached the desk and scanned my boarding pass and showed the lady my credit card at which point she sucked in some air and said “I have bad news - your card doesn’t seem to be connected.” To which I tried to remain calm and responded “Well, it worked in Winnipeg.” “Well, Winnipeg did it wrong.” I could feel myself starting to tunnel vision into stress and immediately pulled myself away from the situation by leaving. I did some deep breathing and found a quiet spot to just collect myself.

At this point, I was hungry, frustrated, thirsty, AND tired. The perfect combination for an outburst - so I pulled myself out and just found the nearest quick restaurant and scarfed down a poke bowl. I noticed how I wanted to stuff my face full of food - anything to avoid the feelings I was feeling. But the day wasn’t over yet.

Once I had eaten, I checked my phone to see how much time I had left due to the delay but something inside me said to check the travel board closest to where I was. I looked and my flight said: GATE 35 ON TIME. Here I was, at the other end of the terminal and taking my sweet time due to the “delay” and so I rushed to the new gate to arrive just in time for boarding. I told the gate agent what had happened and she said “Yah, it’s weird. Some of the boards have been displaying the wrong information - they are working on it.” What the hell is that chance? In any case, the flight took off on time and I thought I had escaped any more problems. How silly of me.

Waiting for the baggage to show up on one of the two carousels in Moncton, I thought I was in the clear - but suddenly, my eye caught the sight of my peach bag wrapped with plastic….my lotion and my clothes hanging out in this plastic bag. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a walk of shame, but having to pull this completely mangled suitcase covered in plastic off the conveyor belt with everyone watching brought up a lot of feelings. At this point, however, I could only laugh. It was the perfect way to cap off the day’s events.

The funniest part was having to drag this bag across the floor because the wheels were covered in plastic - it probably didn’t look as hilarious as I felt it did, but I was just ready to get my rental car and get to my hotel. I have to say I was relatively proud of myself for how I handled most of myself during the entire process - but minor inconveniences are almost more of a pain in the ass than a big hiccup. The things that went askew were not the norm and when I travel I try to be relatively flexible because shit ALWAYS happens, but having tiny thing after tiny thing happen is literally death by a thousand paper cuts - but tis the joys of traveling during a pandemic + mercury in retrograde.

A few of the tools that I used to keep myself in check as much as possible:

• Mantra: I am safe/I am supported

• Deep breathing: When I’d catch myself getting hot or tense I would do 5 rounds of 4x4 breathing to keep my body calm

• Listening to the Expanded podcast to keep myself in a positive state of mind

• Reading

• Looking for the helpers/practicing gratitude (at one point I dropped my headphone container and my air pods flew everywhere - some older gent got up and grabbed them for me)

A few things I will do to prepare going forward:

• Protein heavy snacks in my pockets

• Drinking water

• Trust & Verify (Check the board, but ask an agent)

Traveling is the perfect opportunity to test your ability to keep your peace unscathed - I remember a story by Jay Shetty where he talked about how it is easy to keep your peace in a quiet ashram, but it is much more helpful and important to keep your peace in the loud, busy market. For me, I recognized myself becoming someone I haven’t been in awhile - someone who lashes out at others when she doesn’t get her way, someone who used to let stress and fear dictate her behavior, someone who would be driven to tears by something so frustrating. However, in recognizing myself becoming that I was able to choose a different path - I removed myself from the situation, I calmed myself through breathing, I redirected making the best of a bad situation, I laughed and chalked it up to great fodder to use for my presentation, and I asked myself what I needed and took care of it: bathroom, food, water, break. As the saying goes, we can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to it.