A brief stop on US soil
Long story short, while I was traveling in Africa I realized that I needed to renew my passport. At that time internet access was limited, so I asked for my mom’s assistance in researching which US embassies would be the most convenient to renewing my passport. A huge shoutout to her for her tireless research and support (although I have a feeling she also enjoyed doing something unrelated to work 😂).
After reviewing and narrowing down options, I chose to renew my passport at the US embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It wouldn’t be too inconvenient with my travel plans but most importantly, I’d have the option to pick up my new passport at the embassy in person. According to the embassy’s website, mail in Uzbekistan is unreliable so they don’t trust mailing your new passport to you. Fine by me! Additionally while the embassy processed my new passport, they’d let me keep my current one so that I could travel internationally - bonus points! The embassy also had a surprisingly high rating on Google Maps (4.3 with over 200 reviews - rare for a government operations?). This was validated by my email communication with them - the American Citizen Services, the embassy department managing passports, was very responsive and incredibly helpful.
The day before my embassy appointment, I practiced traveling from my hostel to the embassy which took a little over an hour by metro. Why would I do this? Well because the US embassy doesn’t allow for any electronics, and that includes phones, laptops, USBs - you name it. My appointment confirmation even said that if I showed up to the embassy with any electronic devices, I’d be turned away and asked to make a new appointment, and I definitely did not want that!
My very handy map, including embassy information just in case I needed to approach a stranger for help.
It was such an interesting - and new! - experience navigating the city without my phone. I had a SIM card while traveling in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan so it was pretty easy to quickly open Google Maps and figure out my route. Or when traveling in countries where I didn’t have a data plan, I’d reference my offline Google Maps (highly recommended travel tip!) to make my way around a foreign city.
I wrote down instructions of which metro to take, how many stops to stay on, and how to change metro lines. I drew a map of how to walk from the metro station to the embassy (a 30 min walk) and identified what viewpoints would be nearby to use as markers during my mark. With the help of Google Maps street view, I was able to see what the viewpoints would look like so it would be easy to identify my location and direction once I was there.
I was a bit familiar with the route given I had practiced the day before and had been going on morning runs to familiarize myself with the city, so on the day of my appointment I semi-confidently embarked on my phone-less adventure.
However, I didn’t realize all the ways I rely on my phone and realized this by noticing that I kept on unconsciously reaching for it. I wanted to check the number of steps I ran that morning, write down a passing thought so I wouldn’t forget it, check and confirm I was walking in the right direction. It was an opportunity for me to practice being truly present. And it was hard at first, but I began to be more and more aware of my surroundings, observing more things and being more aware of what was going on around me. I felt like I could truly be here. I didn’t realize how much my phone ends up being a distraction rather than a tool, especially when I spent the rest of the day without my phone wandering around the city and visiting a museum. It was eye-opening for me - I had prided myself on being the type of person who could be away from her phone and not bothered, but traveling in foreign places has made me more reliant on my phone than I’d like and it’s become a distraction for when I’m bored or lonely. I came away from this experience grateful for this experience and not as annoyed at the embassy for forbidding me my phone.
I’m trying to think of how to describe the experience of walking onto the grounds of the US embassy (the first US embassy I’ve ever been to) as it became a bit of an emotional experience, which was entirely unexpected! It was a moment I wanted to capture and share in this journal.
In a way, arriving at the US embassy felt like coming home. I felt emotional knowing that I was technically on US soil and that this was as close as I’d get to US for a while. The embassy also felt familiar in some ways: the security guards were dressed in military outfits similar to what you’d see on security personnel back home rather than the uniforms of the local Uzbek police; the layout of the embassy reminded me of something I’d see in D.C.; and American flags were subtly on display everywhere within the embassy.
I also felt a sense of relief. It’s sounds strange but the moment I stepped foot on embassy grounds, I felt secure - I was a US citizen on US soil protected by the US embassy. I felt like I didn’t need to be on constant alert here and could finally relax my guard. Whenever I travel, a part of my mind is always on alert and dedicated to scanning my surroundings and assessing whether or not I’m safe. It’s not to say that I’m in unsafe environments (I’ve felt pretty safe while traveling in Central Asia), but I didn’t realize how much of my brain has been dedicated to keeping me safe, so it felt so nice to feel like I could just relax and let go. Granted I’m aware that I do have certain levels of privilege in being able to feel relaxed in this environment and not everyone would have a similar reaction.
The appointment itself was easy and straightforward. I was greeted with smiles and familiar American accents while a BBC TV travel program played softly in the background. I submitted my paperwork surrounded by posters of America’s famous national parks and photos of famous Olympians before making my way back through the security gates and into the busy streets of Tashkent, feeling grateful that I’d had a brief stop on US soil.
Not Tashkent.
A photo from D.C. (you can see the Washington Monument in the distance) that came to mind that seemed fitting for this post.