Thoughts on Travel + Italian Food Porn

Nothing like some food porn on a Friday afternoon.

Thoughts on Travel

You know, when it comes to travel, Europe is not big on my list. Not that I don't wanna visit but as a Jamaican or any "third world" citizen, you grow with an inferiority complex that entails, "Oh I will need a visa to go there, they will probably just deny me anyway so I won't even try.

Now this has happened to me before. I remember some friends and I were supposed go to Australia. Now these friends had passports from "first world countries", so they didn't need visas. But me, I had to pay $200 and send my passport and bank statement for them to consider. The thing is I rarely keep money in banks. I deposited some cash into an account that had money going through it for for the sake of the visa. Long story short, I was denied and my friends ended up in Australia without me.

To go to Thailand I almost didn't make it. I had to pay around $150, have a guarantor sign some documents and go visit the Thai embassy. Such a hassle. Now, once travel resumes I shall first visit places I don't need visas for, like the Philippines and Hong Kong. But who knows, the way the world is heading we may all need Covid visas to enter any country.

Wouldn't it be great if we were all global citizens not needing a passport? I know many would agree but of course others would disagree. Now with the pandemic and all, many are seeing how it feels to be restricted from travel. Shiiiiit for most of the world, travel means going to the countryside to visit Grandma an dem. I guess my point is, I just want to be free to roam the world that was created for all of us.

China at the top of my list

Believe it or not, China was on the top of my travel list. I love the food, the hustle of the Chinese people and the deep history. But come to thing of it, one place in Europe I'd like to visit is Italy if only for the food and fashion.

Discrimination

Though I have heard bad things about Italy and how they treat black people, I won't let that kill my experience when I am there. I realize that different people experience different things in their travels/lives. For instance some foreign friends I have here complain about discrimination and racism in Japan, but I have personally never experienced it. Usually these same friends are always carrying themselves in a defensive manner and somehow what they prepared for mentally shows up in their experience. Have you ever noticed that?

Well until it is safe to travel again I will enjoy going to restaurants of various countries ( When Possible ). Japan is good for that. Though this restaurant isn't owned by an Italian, the Japanese chef learned from the best while living in the country. I gotta give it to the Japanese when it comes on to "creating with" others' culture, they try to recreate the fine details. Well, I have never been to an Italian restaurant in Italy but I have passed thorough a few owned by Italians in LA. With the Jamaican restaurants I have been too here, they really do try to bring the authenticity. And I won't call it cultural appropriation, I will simply say it is globalization and human pursuit of happiness.

I really gotta learn the names of these pasta dishes, I just call it a seafood pasta but there is some fancy Italian name for it.( Jumps to next window and does a google search) I think it is Pescatore..wait but that may be the tomato based one, is there another name for the cream version? IDK 😄. I really don't care, I will learn when I go to Italy some day.

Where do you wanna go after after covid ends?