The Death of 'Me': A Travel Memoir Part 4 of "yes"
April 6, 2022 (Still chilling... but I effed up...)
(Full Journey Map)
This day was not that chill, but I was really trying 😅
I still didn't have a whole lot of energy at this point but exploring was calling my name! So I was a bit more up and at 'em.
When I tell you that everything is different there, it's so freeing. The thing is, nearly nekkid people are walking around the city as ads... and everyone else was wearing anything from cheesy vacation clothes to formal wear. Nobody cares what you are wearing here.
I come from an area and an upbringing that 'prefers' being covered up. I can struggle to wear certain clothes that I feel like 90% of the population wouldn't bat an eye at. But here? Nope! I felt so free to wear whatever I wanted, for the first time. And I did. Obviously, I didn't have anything crazy but I did think to bring the outfits I couldn't bring myself to wear back home. It was colors and styles that were just more fun too. Stuff that stood out. I don't like to be seen so much, but nobody saw me here. And I loved it 😂
I was gonna get purdied up and go explore outside the hotel a bit. There was a promenade right outside the hotel... I'm not exaggerating either. It was so much fun.
I picked out an outfit to wear and was doing my hair and stuff. Nothing crazy... as expected. But after I get done with my makeup and everything, something felt off...
I didn't understand why my makeup was melting off my face. My face started kinda burning... Turns out, my precaution sunscreen under my makeup wasn't for your face! I should know this but didn't. It had been years since I had worn much less paid attention to makeup and skincare. It had been long enough that I forgot how sensitive my skin was!!! I shouldn't have been putting anything new on my face! 😅
But, I got it washed off... And now my face looks like a tomato. It doesn't even look burnt, just weird lol
This doesn't do it justice!!! It was bright red and stayed that way for days! 😅🤣 and I couldn't use any of the makeup I brought the whole week! (I wish I could make this picture smaller though lol)
So yeah, great start to exploring 😂
I was still so determined to go out. I figured that nobody knew me and maybe they would just think I was sunburnt if anyone saw. So away I went...
I did get to go out in the outfit I picked so I still felt pretty good. It was still liberating even with a tomato face hehe (I don't have any pics of the outfits because I wasn't planning to share...). For the next trips, I will be making sure to take more pics with me in them! These could almost be anyone's memories. I have very little proof to myself that I was the one that experienced this firsthand. Believe it or not, I have a really good imagination and can feel like I have been to places that I haven't. Which is why I think flying felt so familiar to me... I like the idea of flying off into nowhere so I imagine traveling and airports a lot... too much maybe 😅
With so much around me to go see, I knew I didn't have to go very far to see a lot of stuff and get a feel for things. I didn't expect myself to trek the entire strip or anything... But I wanted to feel like I went somewhere.
I don't think I was gone for even an hour before I felt like heading back. A huge start for me. I start small and then work myself up slowly. I made sure to return before I felt it was too much. I wasn't here to exercise my scaredy-cat muscles! Not specifically anyway...
Proof that I did in fact, leave the hotel... 😂😅
This is a slightly deceptive pic, however. This is only a small section of the hotel...
I walked a bit on either side of it. Which did end up being useful later on. Just from my little walk I could get a pretty good idea of where I was and the stuff around me. I had all but studied the map of the area surrounding my hotel when I booked... Maybe that's weird, I don't know 😅😂 It greatly helped my anxiety but was also just really fun. Maps are kinda fun.
Everything where I was had so much going on. The roads were dressed up, if that can happen... Everything is dressed up and expensive looking 😂
I thought this was a cute little cubby of restaurants. It was tucked into the side of fa bigger building, almost hidden.
I went to Guy Fieri’s restaurant, which was also… just downstairs from my room 😂 (The main message is I never had to go far, but got to do a lot… hehe)
I learned a lot here. Most importantly, if you have never had bourbon…let me describe my experience…
If shoes had butts… they would taste like bourbon… I will leave that there…
I was ready to pay for it still but they took it off my tab before I could even ask for anything else 😊 I was super grateful.
I don't know why I thought people were making a big deal about the burn of alcohol...I'm nearly 100% certain it's the taste they don't like now.
Everything else was delish, of course, 🥰 alcohol just isn’t for me. I would rather eat dessert, thanks. 😂
Something I just can't get over.
Ya'll have probably ridden in an elevator... but you know how it's a bit of a wait, right? It can get a little scary in some?
The elevators there go at the speed of light! And it's so smooth!!!
This shouldn't be such a big deal but it is 😂 They were so nice. Riding in the elevators was enlightening. You don't realize just how behind things are back home until you leave home!
I recorded it on my phone because it was that big of a deal to me. I was on the eleventh floor and it took SECONDS to get down.
I'm not adding the video here because it's crap quality, but it's only 37 secs, and most of that is me getting in and hitting the button 😅😂
That was how I spent my third day of the trip. Walking around and surviving...sorta XD
This experience I had really made me curious about what other places could unlock just from one visit. I was now more empowered to wear things I wanted to. What's next? What else don't I know? I can't wait to find out, honestly! 🥰 This felt like being in a different movie and experiencing everything from a different lens and as a new character. Suddenly there was a different writer or something. The music felt different. The ideas I had were new...
I don't have a whole lot recorded as I really didn't think about sharing this on here. So this is just what I remember and have to pictures to spark memories for. 😊 Thanks for reading!
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what I was talking abt earlier. we have fully looped back around and away from feminism, societally, whereas before it was very Feminism 101 to acknowledge that many parts of existing as a woman in a misogynistic society are painful and upsetting.
not that being a woman is Inherently Negative in a bubble. but that living on this earth, in the conditions we're living in, is hostile to women.
and that gender is a performance. that many of the Staples Of Femininity as accepted by society are things that you have to create and perform and mold artificially and aren't inherent, that COMPLAINING about day to day difficulties of existing as a woman is something that you're allowed to do.
acknowledging these basic, again, feminism 101 things, that something tied to womanhood is more time consuming or more expensive or more dangerous Because Of The Problems. does not CREATE the problems. that when women complain about having to perform femininity, they are not, in fact, oppressing themselves. the call does not come from inside the fucking house.
saying that you HAVE suffered does not fucking equate that you believe you SHOULD have suffered.
like I could talk about this for hours. how braindead and one-dimensional the Takes are getting. "being a woman is looking in the mirror and going fuck yeah i'm a woman" damn. I guess any negative experiences you have by living in a misogynistic world... are your fault if you are anything but positive?
"you don't actually want liberation" we've fully gone back to telling feminists "you WANT to be oppressed" when anything negative about our society is pointed out. it's not real until I say it out loud, I guess, and then I'm actually the one who caused it.
if anybody expresses any unhappiness with how they're treated or the status quo or the language and culture surrounding womanhood and femininity. they've created it, right that second. they invented it just now. it wasn't a problem before somebody complained, right?
also trans women aren't braindead zombies who just follow the flow of whatever cis women around them say. I am pretty fucking sure they are very much aware of pain, and are MORE than aware of the swirling torrent of misogyny and standards of femininity than anybody else. actually. and I am pretty sure someone complaining on tumblr that being a woman means always putting on a performance is going to make someone change their mind about transitioning. also "performing femininity" as a necessity to being treated well as a woman is not fucking NEWS to your Local Trans Woman. I AM PRETTY SURE SHE GETS THE CONCEPT. using trans women as a scapegoat for this braindead perspective on gender politics is spineless, meritless, and pathetic.
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