Nikki Vargas's Blog
June 29, 2023
Call You When I Land: A Travel Memoir
My family has always been one for superstition.
We throw salt over our left shoulder. We “knock on wood” to stave off tragedy. We wear yellow underwear on December 31st to secure good luck in the coming year. We sit down before leaving the house on a trip, to ensure safe travels. And we always text each other before takeoff, with the simple promise of "I’ll call you when I land." This phrase holds all the magic in the world to me, as though it casts a force field around the plane, guaranteeing it will blissfully sail through the clouds and reach its destination. It’s a wish to hear my loved ones’ voices again and a comfort that I’ll feel connected to them even from 39,000 feet in the air.
In my twenties, when traveling became my way of running away from reality, this phrase took on another meaning entirely. It became a promise that one day, when I eventually figured everything out (whenever that would be), I’d call my loved ones and let them know that I had finally arrived. That I had not only returned to New York City, but that I’d landed on the woman I hoped to become, the career I strived to have, and the relationship that felt right.
This book is a journey over ten years in the making; an adventure marked by landings and takeoffs, epiphanies and revelations, beautiful countries and crowded hostels. My memoir details the many ways travel has shaped my life and morphed me into the woman I am today, and how the simple act of traveling has the power to completely transform us on an almost molecular level, bringing us to new places far from where we started.
I dedicate this book to the people still out there searching for themselves. But above all else, this book is for the people in my life: those met along the way, the broken hearts left in my wake, my family and friends who watched my evolution from afar, and everyone who waited for me to call them when I landed.
We throw salt over our left shoulder. We “knock on wood” to stave off tragedy. We wear yellow underwear on December 31st to secure good luck in the coming year. We sit down before leaving the house on a trip, to ensure safe travels. And we always text each other before takeoff, with the simple promise of "I’ll call you when I land." This phrase holds all the magic in the world to me, as though it casts a force field around the plane, guaranteeing it will blissfully sail through the clouds and reach its destination. It’s a wish to hear my loved ones’ voices again and a comfort that I’ll feel connected to them even from 39,000 feet in the air.
In my twenties, when traveling became my way of running away from reality, this phrase took on another meaning entirely. It became a promise that one day, when I eventually figured everything out (whenever that would be), I’d call my loved ones and let them know that I had finally arrived. That I had not only returned to New York City, but that I’d landed on the woman I hoped to become, the career I strived to have, and the relationship that felt right.
This book is a journey over ten years in the making; an adventure marked by landings and takeoffs, epiphanies and revelations, beautiful countries and crowded hostels. My memoir details the many ways travel has shaped my life and morphed me into the woman I am today, and how the simple act of traveling has the power to completely transform us on an almost molecular level, bringing us to new places far from where we started.
I dedicate this book to the people still out there searching for themselves. But above all else, this book is for the people in my life: those met along the way, the broken hearts left in my wake, my family and friends who watched my evolution from afar, and everyone who waited for me to call them when I landed.
