A Path Less Trodden #CarpeDiem: The Art of Sitting and Happiness

I seem to have a knack for getting delayed in airports. On the way back from Peru, I ended up spending the night in Miami airport, then another night in Denver, before finally getting back the 3^rd day. And I didn’t even end up in my hometown of Gillette, mind you. I ended up 2 hours away, but fortunately I have a caring mother willing to drive the 4 hour round trip to pick my jet-lagged body up. If I had chosen to fly to my original destination of Gillette, I would have had to wait another day in Denver as a result of delays and complications.

I suppose that sitting in airports for extended periods of time is something to be expected with travel, just as food-sickness and mosquito bites are to be expected. So, today I have made a radical decision to embrace extended periods sitting in airports. As a result, I am not perturbed in the least as I sit here in the Bangkok airport, and where I will remain seated for the next 12 hours. In fact, I am quite content; sitting here with a bowl of noodles and a cup of coffee as I dither away on my latest (and late) blog post. I must confess that my placid contentment is occasionally disturbed by fits of uncontrolled wrath and irritation at my present state of forced-seatedness, however I feel this will go away as my mind adjusts to being happy about being delayed in airports. Time will tell.

I hope your holidays were uneventful and eventful in the appropriate ways. After the final week in Lake Titicaca, (which I must describe), I ended up having a wonderful month back home with friends, family, and of course my incomparable cat, Flopsy. I also had more than a few visits to the Highschool, where I talked in classes, and judged for a practice DECA competition. Perhaps I was reliving my glory days in highschool.. Am I already sentimental about highschool? “Glory days”?? Yikes! I’m starting to talk like an old man now. Perhaps I should have noticed, since I was termed “grandpa” during my trip in Latin America by Maggie, who said I had mannerisms that reminded her of an old man. Dang nabbit.

On a side note, you may be curious to know that there is new information regarding the consumption of coffee. It is now regarded by some studies as safe, even healthy, to drink large amounts of coffee. This is a relief, as I occasionally go on binge drinking episodes (of coffee of course). The only thing I would recommend if you have now decided to drink large amounts of coffee is to occasionally apply Crest 3D Whitestrips, which will keep your teeth white in spite of all the caffeinated abuse.

In the past 30 hours, I have spent a total of 20 hours sitting on an airplane getting a progressively more traumatized posterior. My itinerary goes as follows, Denver to Tokyo: 13 hours, Tokyo airport to a different Tokyo airport by bus (resulting from flight cancellation): 1 hour, Tokyo to Bangkok: 7 hours, sitting in Bangkok: 12 hours, Bangkok to Krabi Thailand: 1.5 hours. So, I am really quite close to my final destination, and if all goes as planned I should be sitting on Railey beach by 6 PM tonight. Once I arrive in Krabi, I will take a Taxi to the ocean, where I will hop on a boat for a 10 minutes ride to Railey beach, which is apparently only accessible by the ocean.

Railey beach is perhaps one of the most spectacular beaches in the world, and within hopping distance of several equally spectacular beaches and islands. In fact, the film “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed on Phi Phi Island, which is a 3 dollar boat ride from where I will be staying! As you can imagine, however, the notoriety given by that film has turned “The Beach” into something more suitably described as “The Zoo”. Nonetheless, I plan to visit this spectacular beach, and with any luck there won’t be too many other people with the same plan.

Anyway, I have one week of independent travel before I start a 2 month program similar to the one I participated in throughout Latin America. Then, I have 1 more week of independent travel at the end of my trip before returning home. I am excited by this new set-up, as I will get some independent experience, along with the service and learning aspects of a program.

I have some more sitting to do, and some caffeinated abuse to partake in, so I guess I will let you go now. I hope all is well, and I will let you know if Railey beach and the surrounding areas stack up to the expectations. As always, stay classy, and till next time!