Dispatches - 26 May 2025 - Costs of Doing Business

The book is out! Finally! You can get it from one of the distributors here.

It has been a frustrating process, and there are still on-going issues. Barnes & Noble, surprise surprise, may not fill by bulk order for on-hand author copies. No explanation, no reason given, and, in traditional Barnes & Noble fashion, slow to respond to inquiries. Their processes are terrible, which is a shame, because their product is beautiful. Fingers crossed I hear back from them on Tuesday or Wednesday on the final verdict so I can order author copies from Amazon.

I've been watching the Feria de San Isidro live online. While I love the corridas and almost nothing will change that, there is something different about watching it online. It just doesn't have the same appeal. Maybe it's because broadcasts all show the up-close performance rather than the zoomed-out experience I get in the stands. I like the close-ups, but there is something about the whole ambience of the stands that makes it so much better. I also don't want to get to the point where I was at the end of my Aficionado tour, where I became a critic who didn't enjoy them to the fullest extent. Granted, it was all for research for the second book, so it was necessary and worth it. Even so, it was a good lesson in not binging on things we enjoy, even for professional reasons.

I've also watched a couple of adventure movies and played the Uncharted video games a bit. I love adventure movies, and one of the few things I miss about home while travelling is playing the Uncharted series. We all need something to keep our adventurous spirit alive; too many people have snuffed theirs out in the name of a career or a "normal" life. I've long said that normal is overrated; after almost two years of travelling the world, that sentiment has become a staunch belief.

The costs for trekking in Morocco and Iraq are STEEP. I knew these two would be more expensive, because I will need a guide. Even so, the quotes are pretty high. I understand that there are costs involved with everything, but knowing these economies and having visited them before, I can't help but wonder why the prices are quoted in Euros and American dollars (and priced accordingly). Jo and I paid about 85 USD a day for a world-class, premier tour through Egypt; hiking the trails in similar countries shouldn't cost 200 USD per day when we're staying in homestays and campsites instead of four-star hotels. That's just part of doing business in the Middle East as an American, I guess. Even Americans of Arab descent complain about it.

At least I have my mom's dog to hang out with while I'm home.