One of the things that I love about traveling is that it forces you to work on your adaptation skills.

My flight plan to Bulgaria was originally quite simple. Go to Munich, transfer, then go to Sofia.

After 4 hours of delays, the plan evolved to: go to Istanbul, wait for 4 hours, then go to Sofia.

And then wait 2 days for bags to arrive.

I was forced to improvise with only the clothes I had worn on the plane and my medicine/laptop/phone.

Fortunately, there was an H&M nearby and I picked up a new wardrobe.

This isn’t meant to be a “travel horror story.” In fact, it’s anything but that. It’s about, as my sister likes to say, remembering that “if you can’t deal with the volatility of travel, then don’t buy the ticket.”

I actually enjoyed the process, strangely, because it forced me to practice patience. To recognize that, like travel, life gives us unpredictable delays, twists, and turns.

It’s not that they happen, it’s how we respond when they happen.

As Viktor Frankl said, “no matter your situation, you always have a choice of how to respond.”