I didn't think I'd be welcomed into the USA by being interrogated and stuck in a small room for 48 hours, but that's life.

Arriving to O'Hare airport, I was told to wait so they could ask me a few more questions. I was detained for hours and finally told I would not be allowed to enter the USA on the ESTA visa waiver program, due to my deportation from Mexico two years prior, and as a perpetual traveller, it wasn't clear where my home was.

I sat and meditated quite a lot during those couple of days, looking for reasons to be grateful. It's funny, because in good times I don't always think too much about how to be happy. But in tough times, I always put in the extra effort, so paradoxically I can be happier in the face of adversity. And so, despite external factors, I must proclaim my visit to the USA as a success.

A one-time home to liberty, then people could arrive in the US by Ellis Island as ship crew, passenger or even stowaway and receive an immigration visa. Now, that is certainly not the case. At least I know there are plenty of places in the world that will treat me more kindly.