Episode 5: Now That’s Bologna

They say "and they lived happily ever after" like that's the end of the story. But here's the thing about happily ever after... nobody tells you about the paperwork.

I'm Charity Nicole, y yo soy Eribel Delis Danger, su esposo. This is Living DANGERously in Love. A podcast for anyone who believes love is the biggest, scariest, most beautiful adventure you'll ever choose.

After everything — the months apart, the impossible journey, the stranger who reminded me that hope exists — we were finally together. In Belarus. Just the two of us, building a little life in a country where we couldn't read the signs and the clock was ticking.

Thirty days. That's all we had. And we had a plan.

But plans have a funny way of falling apart when governments get involved.

What happened next involved an uncooperative travel agent, two foreign delusions, and a choice neither of us wanted to make. Just when we thought we'd made it, the door slammed shut again.

And we had to decide: do we give up? Or do we find another way?

Grab your coffee, wine, or Cuban rum — and welcome to the Dangerously in Love Crew. This is the one where everything changes. Again.

PLUS: Enjoy our original salsa song featured for the first time right here!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Now listen, you know how people say and they lived happily ever after? Like that's the end of the story? Well, here's the thing about happily ever after. Nobody tells you about the paperwork. And well, ours involves an uncooperative government, two foreign delusionals, and a plan so risky it would make our mothers faint. I'm Charity Nicole.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

The one who worked 90 minutes for an astrology up and would do it again.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

And this is Living Dangerously in Love, a podcast for anyone who believes love is the biggest, scariest, most beautiful adventure you'll ever choose. So grab your coffee, wine, or welcome. Each week we're pulling up a virtual chair to share the messy, scary, and absolutely glorious story of how my beautiful wife and I said Arriesgemonos and build a life together.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Welcome to the dangerously in love crew.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Wait, are we ready?

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Passports?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Check. Open heart.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Suitcases?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Zippin' them up. Hey Last we left off, I had finally made it to Belarus. After twenty months apart. After nine countries. After a stranger's kindness in Lithuania reminded me that hope exists when you least expect it. And we held each other in the middle of that Minsk airport like the world had stopped spinning just for us.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I remember getting to the airport and seeing that her plane had arrived six minutes ago. I wrote to her and she wasn't getting my messages. I went up and down the airport looking for her for her gate and basically praying she hadn't left yet until I saw her exhausted, beautiful, Mia. Like after all that time, all that distance, she was finally where she belonged.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And let me tell you, after five days of airport survival mode, I was ready for something that felt normal, routine, boring even. Boring sounded like heaven. But first things first, we needed to get all the marriage details in order. We weren't sure how long it would take, and after all, we only had 30 days visa-free, which for Eddie Bell was already down to 25. And then reality came knocking. We went to the local government office to figure out how to get married in Belarus. Like what documents did we need? How much would it cost? And how long does the processing take? We had our hope. We had this beautiful, naive belief that love conquers all.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

The woman behind the counter looked at our passports, she looked at us and said, very simply, no.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

No. Because neither of us was a resident, neither of us was a citizen. Belarus was happy to let us visit for 30 days, but to marry us, they needed paperwork we didn't have. Paperwork that would take time we didn't have. Paperwork that required a home address, a physical address in Belarus because to government officials, home is not where the heart is.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

I watched her face fall after everything, after all that time, and no other closing.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I looked at him across that cold government office and felt that familiar panic rising in my chest. The one I'd been fighting for 20 months. But then I looked at him and I remembered that we'd already survived worse. We'd already crossed borders that said no. We'd already chosen each other when the world said we couldn't.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

We will fill it out. Whatever it may be, whenever it may be.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

We woke up early. Well, early is a subjective term. Did yoga together on the floor. Well, I did yoga. Eddie Well did whatever you call what he was doing. Let's just say flexibility runs in the dancer's blood.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Hey, I was just trying to keep up with her. She'll say downward dogs, and I think watching her move so focused and strong, I like starting our days like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Then we would hit the streets of Minsk. Now picture this. Two people who speak Spanish and English trying to navigate a city where everything is written in Cyrillic. Every sign was a puzzle. Every billboard was a duolingual test we didn't quite study for.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

She was still a sign squinting like this will make the letters change.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Hey, I was trying. And that's not a P, it's an R. Wait, is that a restaurant or a government building?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

We got lost so many times. By getting lost with her, that was never the problem.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

We cooked together. He taught me the secret to perfect rice. I taught him that garlic goes in everything.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

She puts garlic in the eggs, in the soup, in the water, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

And it's delicious. Don't let him fool you. I'd spend my afternoons tucked away with my laptop, finishing my university assignments remotely. Because apparently, even when you're running away with the love of your life, homework still exists.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

I'd sit nearby pretending to do something important, but really I was just watching her. The way she with her leap, when she was thinking, the way she would celebrate finishing an assignment, like she'd just won a price.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And in between, we would dream about our future, about where we'd live, about what our life would look like when this was all over.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah. We had time. We had each other. We thought we had everything we needed.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

But life has a way of reminding you that nothing is that simple. One night we were cooking dinner and I looked at him and said, Okay, be honest. What do you miss from home?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

The music in the streets, the sun, my family, my friends, dancing, my mother's rice and beans. But also I was curious about things I've never tried.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

So I made it my mission. First up, strawberries.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Listen. In Cuba, we have fruits. Yes, so many, so different kinds. But strawberries, those were rare. Something you just saw in movies, you know. She brought home this little red basket, and I remember thinking, this mall? This pensive?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

He looked at that strawberry like it was a rare artifact. He held it up, examined it from every angle, and then he took a bite.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

I closed my eyes. It was sweet. So sweet. Like a little burst of sunshine in dark cold country. I looked at her and said, another?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

He ate the whole basket. I just sat there watching him thinking, This man has never had a strawberry. And now he's eating one in Belarus with me. The world is so strange and beautiful. Then came McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Oh, she was so excited. Like she was talking or taking a child to a carnival, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Okay, in my defense, I grew up with McFlurries and Happy Meals. The idea that someone had never experienced the specific joy of hot, salty fries straight from the bag. I had to fix that.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

That was like insane. That was insane. Like I tried the hamburger, the fries. Yes. And then you hear there was something called the Mac Flurry.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah, this is a montage. Is it chicken?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Wait, how many flavors of ice cream? Oh my godness! Boring life. She was so patient with me though. With all of it. Everything was new. Everything was strange to me. But she made it feel like an adventure, not a problem.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Never a problem, puppy.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

And even the food at the supermarkets. I have never in my life seen so much food in the same place. They even had different types of the same food. Even something as simple as milk. Like 1%, 2% reduced fat, fat-free, whole milk, almond milk, soy milk. Like, and that's just the milk. In Cuba, we had one type of milk, milk. And it was powder, you know? So now mangoes were another thing, alright? I could talk your ears off about the monton de mangoes, the types of mangoes that we have. You can ask Charity.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yes, he can. This man once spoke to me for like an hour on the phone about the different types of mango. I was like, this man really likes his mango.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

For real. But yeah, um, I spent like five hours in that market every time reading labels, translating because everything was in Russian or in you know, in something I didn't understand, or researching in on Google to make sure I I knew what I was buying, you know, and just enjoying the view, just enjoying the view, because that was from another planet. I remember thinking this country has so much, and still for me, somehow it feels like something is missing. I'm here enjoying myself, experiencing these things that my family can only experience through my pictures and videos. Uh oh yeah, because any chance I got I will take pictures, videos, and also video call them so they will be able to see what I was seeing and what I was leaving. Remember, this was my first time out of Cuba, yeah. So I'm here enjoying myself even though in a couple weeks we won't have a place to live.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Like we were right to make the most of our time together in Belarus, but the clock was still ticking and our visa-free stay was running out. We needed to figure out what was next and how we would make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

So we got on it, doing what we did best. We researched. We searched the internet for a country that would say yes if finalmente we found it. Serbia. Three months visa free. You hear that? That was so rare. Three months visa free and for both of us.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

There was just one problem. Every flight from Belarus to Serbia passed through Russia.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah. For me this was fine. Um but for her, an American traveling through Russia, she needed a visa. A visa that takes weeks to process. And we were running out of time already. A visa we did not have.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But there were no other options. No direct flights, no trains, no buses, just Russia. So we did what any two people running on hope and desperation would do. We walked into a local travel agency and bought the tickets anyway.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I remember the travel agent behind the counter looking at us like we were crazy. Like we were making things more complicated than it needed to be. He assured us that since we would only be passing through, Russia would not be a problem. Like we asked like multiple times to make sure there was no translation problem, you know, issue there, but he assured us that wouldn't be a problem. So we paid. And he printed the tickets, two seats, one flight through Russia.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

So the morning of our flight, we packed our suitcases, his and hers all together. We were ready. We were together. This would be our first flight together, and we were finally going to Serbia where we could breathe for three whole months and figure the rest out. We checked in ahead of time, got to the airport early for once, greeted with that nervous excitement you feel right before something wonderful is about to happen.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

And then we went to do some cobby checking, let out a breath of relief when we had everything we needed. But then the airport lady asked to take a look at her passport. Then she looked at her at the ticket and said the words we both knew were coming, but could not believe we were hearing.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Where is your Russian visa? I'm sorry, ma'am. You cannot board this flight without a Russian transit visa. I looked at him, he looked at me, and in that moment the world got very, very small.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Mira, I wanted to scream. I wanted to fight. I wanted to grab her by the hand and run into that plane anyway. But I couldn't. The rules were the rules and the rules were saying no.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

They said yes to him though. He could go, he could get on that plane and fly to Serbia without me. I looked at our tickets, two seats, together, now divided.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

I looked at her and said no, no way mommy, I'm not going without you.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

And I looked right back at him and said, Yes, you are.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

We can't do this after all this time that we've been fighting to get together.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Yes, but if you don't go, we both lose. I could find another flight out to a different destination, but with Adibos Cuban passport, this was it. The agent told me there was a flight I could take, but we had to act fast. The flight was in two hours of flight to Italy, transiting through Turkey. In Turkey, I could get a visa on arrival. For Italy, no visa needed.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Italy? When my cousin lives, she said charity could stay there with her while we figure out how to get some how to get me there. Thank God. One of those moments of hope, you know?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

We stood there in the middle of the airport, pulling clothes out of suitcases, dividing our things. Yours, mine. We figured that I should take most of the luggage since we already knew that I had a home to stay in, a home where Edibelle would soon join me. We had two hours before my flight. Two hours to figure out the impossible. I still needed to complete my COVID travel paperwork and the European train travel pass because once I landed in Italy, I would need to get to Bologna, where his cousin was waiting for me, where I would wait for Edybell, where we would find a way.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Oh yeah. I remember holding her face in my hands again, always saying goodbye. Always wondering when we'd see each other next.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

But I told him I will find you.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I said, I know. I watched her walk towards her gate, my suitcase beside me, her heart with me. Para siempre always.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

From the dangerous zone, she no place like home. We live in dangerously in love. When the heart sucks, love is the answer. We live in dangerously in love. Abre el corazón, veni conecta con nosotros. There's no place like home. When we live in dangerously in love Tu paste temblando en la mano, me quedo, me voy quiere. Tu lágrimas mojando mi hombro. Mama said girl you're crazy. Friends said you will break. But they never felt your heartbeat. Oh yeah. La música nos dio la ruta. Now we're writing every chapter. For the world to feel us card. Baby, this is our song. Come and sing with us from the danger zone. To no place like home. Yeah. We're living dangerously in love. When the heart talks, love is the answer. We're living dangerously in love. Abre el corazon. There's no place like home. When we live in danger. In love. You are the Cuban dancer. I was just passing through. Strong so hard we live with us. Si se siente real, no es locura. El destino en tu cintura. This is our life. Come and walk with us from the danger zone. To no place like home. We're living dangerously in love. When the heart talks, love is the answer. Dice load que ella descansa. We're living dangerously in love. Abre el corazon. There's no place like home. When we live in day, should be in love. When the heart talks, love is the answer.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Next time on Living Dangerously in love, what happens when an American and a Cuban are stuck in two different countries? One in Italy, the other in Serbia, with a whole being challenged and every border. And well, you'll see. Grab your coffee, wine, or human wrong.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

This story is far from over. Stay tuned.