The strangest thing about this job is the travel; there’s huge chunks of my life where I am not really of any world, I’m above it. That takes some getting used to, but this trip – this one is a little more intimidating than anything that has come previous.
I’ve flown internationally many times, but the trick is I’ve almost always been flying home. Usually when I’m flying out I’m flying to the states, or – in a pinch – to Europe. And I always, always have landed during the day. When my flight details came through for my transfer to the new position, it became swiftly apparent that such was not going to be the case this time.
I’m flying to Mumbai, which in and of itself is not a huge problem – I’ve been there before; and while I am not necessarily in comfortable agreement with the culture, and while I will never fit in there, I’m not…too terribly concerned.
That is to say, I’m not terribly concerned when I’m there in the daytime, with a group of people
Instead, I am landing at 2:15am, alone…
Amras says that this is the time when I should channel the kick-ass world traveller he says I always represent myself as, but I wasn’t truly aware I represented myself that way at all – I never go out alone, and I never travel at night. And as much as I’m relatively savvy in how to handle myself in port, and I find foreign cultures facinsating, I also find them intimidating..
Plus I am going to an entirely new job, which I’ve only barely had time to study for because circumstances have been a bit more busy lately than I anticipated…
In short – this is an adventure for me, one that I hope everyone is right about my being up for…