Dyslexic Travel Fails

After a year of not writing because I was worried about all the spelling and grammar mistakes I was making, I’m back! Its hard to be dyslexic because 1) dyslexia is the worse word to spell ever 2) you no idea about the mistakes until someone calls you out on them. It stopped me a lot during school from doing things I think I would have enjoyed but was too nervous of showing my learning disability. So I’m trying not to let it effect my adult life and thats why I’ve started this blog up again.

This is a travel page not dyslexic awareness blog but I think its important to not as it does effect my everyday life and does not make it any easier to navigate another country with a different language. Sticking with the theme I’d like to share some dyslexic travel fails stories.

Eating at Restaurants

Even in my native language English I struggle when eating out. I can never read the menus and end up ordering something simple because of the pressure of not making anyone wait or reading the title wrong. Countless times I’ve tried to oder something that wasn’t on the menu but I had miss read and thought it sounded great. This is magnified with the menu has been poorly translated. Its a dyslexics hell.

While I was traveling solo in South Korea I was starving. I had been traveling all day and no restaurants had been open for me to get any food. I happened to pass what seemed to be the only shop open in the whole town. It was a small town and no one spoke English. The menu was translated but it might as well not be so I sent a photo to a Korean friend for help. Nothing came back and because I was the only one in the restaurant all eyes were on me. I gave a sort of I don’t know sign and pointed at something. In return I got a big smile and a thumbs up as the lady ran off into the back room. I sat down on the ground starving but happily thinking I made a great chose.

A big bull of soup came out with the typical Banchan (반찬 , small dishes of kimchi and other sides that accompany the meal). Inside the soap were different types of pale tan looking chunks, not thinking much of it I dug in. Some peaces were crunchy like grissel you’d find on bones but it was flat. Other peaces were soft with a very strange texture that I really did not appreciate. While the tan chunks were really not doing it for me the broth was great so I finished off the Kimchi and rice, choked down as much of the floaters as I could before leaving. Shortly after leaving I got a message back from my friend translating the menu. I hade eaten cow head.

Applying for Visas

Vietnam

My mom, Beth, has always been my best travel companion. We just run on the same schedule, love trying new food, and exploring. We’re both very organized and share the tasks of planning a trip. She has just got back from her first solo trip to Asia and desperately wanted to show me for my 21st. We were getting our visas together to go to Vietnam and I was applying for them online. All was good and we got them without any dramas. . . at first.

We get on our flight with no issues but once we arrive and head towards customs we are pulled out of line. Not knowing whats going on and a little bit nervous as you would be being pulled out randomly we do whatever they asked. They ask us to to wait in another line with no signage as to what we are waiting for we just stand sighlently until its our turn. They start question my mom, asking her where she’s been and what she’s planning on doing in the country. They then point at her visa and ask her why her name doesn’t match her passport.

I look at it and don’t understand what they are talking about. My mom giggled because she couldn’t help it and then tried to explain but they cut her off and just asked us to pay to fix the mistake made on the visa. As we walked away she told me I had spelled her name Bath not Beth. Something she wont let me live down to this day.

Australia

During the peak of the pandemic I was exploring New Zealand. Knowing I didn’t want to go home to the mayhem I looked at my options. Australia was offering visas to most working holiday visa holders in New Zealand as we didn’t have any cases after locking down for six weeks. My friend and I applied for our visas the same day. Filling out all the questions i.e. are you a criminal, where are you from, what countries have you been to in the past bla bla. A couple days later they receive a conformation email that they have been approved a working holiday visa.

Two months later I look at my application wondering what the heck was going on. I read through my application and cant understand whats going on at all. In the middle of the night I woke up with this weird feeling I had put the wrong country on my application. During my university years I did an exchange to South Korea and had to declare that on my visa. The next morning I go back to my application and see that I had said I spent six months in North Korea. I quickly requested to change my information but the damage was already done. They have requested I do a $750 NZD medical exam to make sure I don’t have teburculouses TB and asked me a lot of questions.

Moral of the story is being dyslexic costs a lot and sometimes leaves you hungry.