The Journeys of Miles
✈️The Journeys of Miles – Episode 1: The Empty Suitcase
Meet Miles, the protagonist of The Journeys of Miles, a thirty-year-old only child with an introspective nature. At his desk, everything seems under control: papers stacked, folders aligned, every object in its exact place. Yet the open suitcase on the floor dissolves that order instantly.
Unsure of what he will need outside, Miles hesitates. In his hands, a list he wrote himself: clothes, documents, phone charger. Once more, he checks it, convinced he has forgotten something. The passport draws his attention again—for the third time in ten minutes. However, an anxious mind never settles for the first reassurance.
📖The Beginning of the Journey
Thus, his journey begins not with a plane or a ticket, but with a silent battle against himself. Thousands embodies the anxious traveler, the one who starts walking long before leaving home. Instead of freedom, he feels trapped in a labyrinth of anticipations and invisible fears heavier than any garment.
📖 The Anxious Traveler According to Psychology
Pre-travel anxiety is a common, almost universal phenomenon. Psychologist Andrew Stevenson, in The Psychology of Travel, explains that the days before departure can feel more overwhelming than the trip itself. The mind fills with anticipation, fears of the unknown, and the unsettling sense of losing control. Therefore, it is no surprise that, for many people, packing a suitcase, checking documents, or buying tickets becomes a ritual loaded with tension rather than excitement. [Stevenson's article in Psychology Today]
Meanwhile, psychologist Jaime L. Kurtz, in The Happy Traveler, points out that anxious personalities often fall into the trap of overplanning: endless lists, constant passport checks, imagining possible catastrophes. In fact, she observes a curious phenomenon: once the journey finally begins and the “worst” does not happen, these very travelers experience intense relief and joy. As a result, they feel they have survived what they feared the most. [Jaime Kurtz's profile in Psychology Today]
Between Stevenson's analysis and Kurtz's observation, the portrait of Miles emerges: a traveler who has not yet left his home but already carries the weight of uncertainty within The Journeys of Miles.
📖 Invisible Luggage
The suitcase is empty, yet he holds the doubts that paralyze him: the fear of forgetting, the suspicion of not being ready, the certainty that even before departure, he is already burdened by something invisible. This is how every anxious traveler begins: with luggage no one else can see, but that shapes every step. Miles' journey has only just begun, and he already faces his own reflection: the squeeze of insecurity, the urge to flee, and at the same time, the hope of finding himself along the way. And so The Journeys of Miles begin.
📖 The Journeys of Miles – Episode 2: From Chaos to Champagne
Eight o'clock. Thousands look out the window and see the taxi waiting at the door. Everything goes exactly as planned: tie tightened, papers in order, suitcase locked. He breathes with the satisfaction of a watchmaker.
By 8:15 the taxi is moving, but painfully slowly.
Five minutes later, traffic traps him on the same avenue.
At 8:30 the road becomes an impenetrable wall.
Finally, by 8:45 the airport lights appear—yet his calm has already fractured.
📖 A Tight Schedule Unravels
The check-in line greets him like a slap in the face: endless, motionless, exasperating. Everything he had calculated evaporates in the slowness of the real world. The clock luggage seems to speed up while the ahead barely moves. Meanwhile, every sigh from another passenger echoes in his nerves.
Then he remembers: he is traveling first class. Priority is your right. His heart skips a beat, as if he had found a secret exit in the middle of the maze. He rushes to the right line and, for a moment, feels he has regained the control he lost.
However, tranquility is short-lived. He runs to the security checkpoint with his passport in hand. He stumbles, the document falls to the ground, and a passenger glares at him. Shame burns his face. The scene strikes him: everything he had tried to keep under control slips away like sand through his fingers.
Yet the unexpected occurs: the screening is quick, almost automatic. In fact, instead of more obstacles, the machine reveals no forgotten metal objects, and the guard barely glances at it. Within minutes, boarding is announced.
📖Losing Control, Finding the Journey
Miles' anxiety feeds on an illusion: the idea that everything can be foreseen, noted, calculated. But a taxi stuck in traffic or a passport slipping from his hands is enough to remind him that control is always fragile. The paradox is clear: in those moments when he feels everything is falling apart, the door to the real experience also opens. Therefore, traveling is not about imposing order but about moving through disorder.
Episodes like this show it clearly: the passport falling, the stumble in line, the stern look of a stranger. All those small accidents, as annoying as they are inevitable, also mark the beginning of a lesson: learning to let go, even if only by force.
📖 Chaos and Calm
The plane takes off and he finally lets himself sink into the seat.
He discovers that no list, schedule, or calculation can stop the unpredictable current of a journey.
A red light, a slow line, or a passport on the floor is enough to prove that nothing depends entirely on him.
And yet, he also learns that in the midst of chaos, calm can appear,
like that glass of champagne that arrives just when the body can take no more. And so The Journeys of Miles continue.
✈️The Journeys of Miles – Episode 3: The Hall of Oddities
The plane had already landed and, after collecting its intact suitcase, Miles headed toward the airport's transfer zone. The sign for his hotel indicated he should wait there, along with other passengers. The clock read five in the afternoon. Each time the automatic door opened, a cold breeze slipped in, reminding him that the world seemed to pass through without asking permission. Time seemed motionless, yet every second felt heavier. At that moment, he began to observe those around him.
📖 The Characters of the Waiting Hall
In front of him, a man in a wrinkled suit opened and closed his briefcase every few minutes. He pulled out his passport, stared at it carefully, put it back, patted his pocket, and started again. Miles mentally named him the passport obsessive. In that repetitive gesture he recognized his own anxiety: the attempt to control the uncontrollable, as if each verification could ward off the fear of vanishing.
To his left, a woman impeccably dressed in white disinfected every surface with precision: the seat, the handle of her chic suitcase, even the water bottle she had just bought. After each motion, she applied sanitizer with near-surgical discipline. “I'm allergic to airport air conditioning,” she whispered when she noticed his gaze. Miles thought she wasn't so different from him: he too tried to “sterilize” reality, but with lists and calculations. He silently named her the nomadic hypochondriac.
A bit further on, a young man with a tiny backpack smiled smugly. “Traveling light is traveling free,” he proclaimed loudly, as if delivering an impromptu lecture. Miles watched him with a mix of irritation and envy. Indeed, he knew he could never reduce his life to two changes of clothes and a toothbrush. That boy embodied the extreme opposite of his own insecurity. He called him in his mind the radical minimalist.
📖 Waiting and Watching
The transfer was delayed. Half an hour passed and the murmur among passengers grew. Meanwhile, the passport obsessive sighed each time he repeated his ritual. The woman with sanitizer offered wipes with a protective gesture. At the same time, the minimalist spoke of his travels as if reciting a manifesto.
Then the fourth one arrived. A man dressed like a tourist catalog: light shorts, a neatly pressed polo shirt, sandals with white socks, and an immaculate bag. He sat down with a polite smile, opened a plastic-covered folder, and began reviewing an itinerary filled with schedules and reservations. “They should be here already,” he commented calmly. "The transfer is exactly twenty-three minutes late. If we don't leave soon, we'll miss the 6:45 pm restaurant reservation, and that will throw off the entire schedule." Therefore, Miles looked at him in fascination: the tourist–controller I could turn the future into a mental Excel sheet, masking fear of the void with serenity.
📖 Shared Quirks
Against all odds, Miles began talking to them. He discovered that their quirks, far from driving them apart, created a kind of complicity. Yet they all shared the same suspended time, the same delay, the same absurd wait.
In that improvised hall he realized he wasn't traveling alone. Not because he was surrounded by friends, but because every stranger carried their own invisible luggage. Perhaps that is what traveling means: coexisting with the fears of others and discovering that each obsession — a passport, a drop of sanitizer, a tiny backpack, a tightly scheduled itinerary — is just a different way of shielding oneself from the same abyss: uncertainty. And so The Journeys of Miles reveal another lesson.
✈️The Journeys of Miles – Episode 4: The Missing Room
Upon arriving at the hotel, the receptionist announced a problem: a room was missing. The entire group froze, trying to figure out who would have to share. As soon as Miles heard those words, a chill hit his stomach. “What if it's me?” I thought. In seconds, his mind turned into a French calculator, sketching possible scenarios.
📖 Imagined Scenarios
- Option 1: Miles + the passport obsessive → Guaranteed insomnia from endless rituals, but everything under control. Space divided to the millimeter, nightly passport checks, and long debates about the suitcase's exact position.
- Option 2: Miles + the nomadic hypochondriac → Chronic stress and a world record in hand sanitizer consumption. Every move under surveillance: wipes, disinfected surfaces, and the chance of having to sleep wearing a mask.
- Option 3: Miles + the radical minimalist → The feeling of forced retreat in a monastery without heating. Conversations about detachment, shampoo considered an unnecessary luxury, and an air of involuntary spiritual retreat.
- Option 4: Miles + the tourist–controller → Sleeping inside an Excel sheet. Lights out at 11:07 pm, alarm at 6:43 am, and breakfast scheduled with military precision.
📖 Living Catastrophes Before They Happen
Each calculation tangled him further. His mind raced: "Do I need an escape plan? A bathroom schedule? A night-time silence contract?" Meanwhile, his body endured every possible discomfort, as if they were real. Finally, the coordinator announced that the shared room would not be Miles'. Immediate relief followed. However, it was too late: his head had already lived each scenario as if it had truly happened.
🌪️ Anticipatory Catastrophizing
What Thousands experienced in that lobby is a clear example of anticipatory catastrophizing: the tendency to imagine the worst scenario as if it were inevitable. This mechanism once helped us anticipate real dangers. Today, however, it often becomes a trap: confusing imagination with reality. Psychology explains it as a cognitive distortion that fuels anxiety, drains energy, and steals emotional vitality. Therefore, the lesson is simple: the more we let the mind run unchecked, the more we suffer from hypotheses. And the more we return to the present, the more we discover that, in this very moment, no catastrophe is actually happening.
"If the problem doesn't exist yet, why carry it? And if it already happened, why carry it again?" This reminder stays with Miles, shaping the path of The Journeys of Miles.
✈️ The Journeys of Miles – Episode 5: The Gladiator School
Under the Roman Sun
The Roman sun beat down hard over a hidden spot in the heart of the city. A sign painted in gold and purple, the solemn colors of the empire, announced Scuola Gladiatori – Ludi Romani. Miles and the group approached with a mix of curiosity and fear. Meanwhile, the air smelled of old leather, polished wood, and dusty sand.
Enter Dracon
There awaited Dracon, the master. Slim, white tunic, gladius in hand—he looked as if he had stepped out of an ancient mosaic… until he opened his mouth. His words carried the pomp of a Roman orator and, at the same time, the absurdity of an accidental comedian.
“You are not tourists here — you are gladiators in training!” he thundered. "Bird… musculus doloribus!”
The group glanced at each other in confusion. Was it Latin? Was it nonsense? No one knew.
A Very Precise Routine
Dracon began handing out wood gladii and explained the routine with surgical precision: "Left foot forward, exact turn of forty-five degrees, thrust into the air, retreat two steps. If anyone dares make forty-six... may the gods save you!"
The Group Objects (Naturally)
The Radical Minimalist crossed his arms and protested: "A true traveler doesn't need a sword. Give me something small, a pugio, and that's enough.”
Dracon cut him off immediately: "False! Even the poorest gladiator carried a gladius. Without it, even chickens would defeat you.”
Meanwhile, the Cleanliness Neurotic raised the helmet with two fingers and muttered: “This needs three layers of disinfectant before it touches my head.”
Unfazed, Dracon replied: “Rome didn't have hand sanitizer either, but if Julius Caesar had, he would have conquered much faster.”
Miles vs. The Excel Tourist
Miles was paired with the Excel Tourist. The gladius trembled in his hands; I have feared injuring even with wood. The other, however, calculated out loud: “Strike at 45°, block at 30°, retreat two steps… according to my tables, you have a 72% chance of losing.”
Their duel looked more like a clumsy choreography than a fight. Dracon paced around the arena correcting everyone: "No, no, no! At this rate, even a sleeping Roman would beat you. More strength, more honor!"
Miles vs. The Radical Minimalist
The second match put him against the Minimalist. Instead of wielding the gladius properly, he insisted on brandishing a tiny wooden pugio that looked more like a toothpick than a weapon.
“This is enough,” he confidently said. “Less weight, more freedom.”
The Minimalist launched short, almost symbolic moves, as if practicing tai chi. Miles, meanwhile, hesitated with every strike. Dracon roared from the sidelines: "This is not sword yoga! I want sweat, not cheap philosophy!"
The fight ended in a ridiculous draw: two soft thrusts that looked more like greetings. Consequently, the sand burst into laughter.
Miles vs. Dracon
Finally, it was time to face the Master. Dracon solemnly declared: “A gladiator does not fight another man… he fights his own cowardice!”
With exaggerated, choreographed steps, Dracon spun around, loosened his legs, and let himself fall theatrically, pretending to be defeated by Miles—a death so overdone he drew roars of laughter and applause from the group.
Miles, trembling yet smiling, realized something had changed. He was no longer the anxious traveler with the empty suitcase. He had stepped into the sand and discovered the courage to try. For the first time, he didn't feel just fear — he felt courage.
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