32000 ft above the Caucasus - 19th Oct

Am back to tripping on the wonders of flying...all brought on by the seat-back screen in front of me, which shows a continuous downward view. Imagine looking down at the earth as you fly over it, seeing it as though there were nothing between it and you. And I like the idea that it does not make me gibber with terror, considering how high up in the air I am, at the moment!

We are currently flying over some part of the Caucasus mountains, and I can see every fold, every pleat in the land. Though it is a little disturbing to see these folds interspersed with the neath patchwork of fields and homes that indicate the steady march of civilizations.

Wisps of clouds pass between the land below, and the airplane's camera above; cloud shadow dots the landscape. It's exciting to see this from a completely different perspective. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...there's nothing like flying and nothing like being suspended miles above the earth, in the atmosphere, to put an entirely objective cast to Life as you know it!

Oh wow...snow-covered heights...there's just one word that can do this view justice...breathtaking!

Travel bug...once bitten...!

Well, I’ve gone and got my visa done, and bought my tickets. All that remains is to pack my bags, and go bring Faz back home. 2 months of his being away and I am ready to climb walls....so, before I start showing some serious withdrawal symptoms, it’s time to take action. And while I’m at it, to take a nice 2 weeks off to bum around the US, meet folks and get in some serious shopping. Neatly packaged, what!

Apart from the slow derangement, thanks to the lack of my daily comic relief (kidding…I really am nuts about this guy…but there is only so much redecorating my house can tolerate!), I am looking forward to this trip as the first long break I will have had in a long time (2 weeks flat on my back, with my jaw wired, don’t count!)…no work, no work, no work. Can’t get much better than that! I am a firm believer in working so you HAVE a life, not making work your life. So weekends are normally a total detox (if you can call total system shutdown a detox!), and most Monday mornings I actually have to take the time to stop and try to remember what I was working on the week before…suits me! :o)

Yenivays, coming back to the trip. Apart from a rather adventurous trip to Dubai a few years back (another story for another time), this will be the first solo trip, overseas, I will have made since I was 5 yrs old and come to think of it, that wasn’t really solo either! So, yeah, my first ever solo overseas trip. At least until I reach Faz, and then woe betide him if he leaves me to wander on my own.

It’s exciting to visit new places and experience new things…am looking forward to bumming around San Jose and San Francisco for a while before heading east to do the rounds. I can barely sit still, while waiting for this month to pass…waiting is such squirmy torture, for me. Good thing Faz & I both love to travel, so he understands when I get this way! Well, I get this way a lot, because the best part of looking forward to something is not being able to wait for it. Did that make any sense?!

Yenivays, I remember visiting a lot of the US with my parents, when I was a kid. Actually I remember visiting a lot of most countries with my parents! And they used to travel with 2 kids in tow! Yesiree, every year, we would travel during the summer hols, and come back to visit family in India. And every year my folks took my brother and me to tons of new places, and few of the old ones. Growing up, it felt like my parents went just about everywhere…Europe, UK, the US, Egypt, the Far East and of course India. And everywhere that Mary went, the lambs were sure to go….we had traveled so much by the time I was 12, I had gotten used to having a birthday in a different country, each year. Which was a real peeve for some kids, I knew, who were sure my folks were taking us traveling just to celebrate the fact that I was born! Ah, their parents had a tough time for a while :o) (For the record, my birthday had nothing to do with the trips…it just happened to come by at the same time…!)

Growing up outside India, 6 years of traveling to different places, seeing different cultures, kind of changes the way in which you see the world. Coming back to live in India, permanently, was a tough change for Hem and me, and it took quite some getting used to! But the experiences of an entire childhood have totaled to making us what we are today. And I hope Faz and I are able to do the same for our family going forward….those will really be trips to look forward to. I can only hope we will be able to make them as exciting & wonderful, for our kids, as my parents did for Hem and me. And still remain sane, the way they did!

Now, excuse me while I go squirm some more…! :o)