Lesson One "In the Now"

The business of travel creates such excitement for those stepping out of their comfort. Some travel for business, some to reunite with family, for me, I travel to experience culture. I embrace the global community and I will forever be the global student.

The destination this round? Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. For some reason people more often than not, forget about the journey despite the simple formula - getting from point a to point b requires a medium. I was so excited in planning the destinations that I missed my first flight out of Calgary. Quite silly. So what happens when one misses their flight? First off, if there's a will there is always a way. I had not time to beat my head about my mistake. There was an express business flight to Salt Lake City in which I was told, may be able to catch a Los Angeles flight - and it had to arrive before 1pm. I gambled. I booked the flight to Salt Lake and then booked a flight online from Salt Lake to L.A. One thing to note - booking flights online does not guarantee a seat. It will be what it is.

Problem number two. In my haste, I left my journal with details of my journey and my paper ticket out of Los Angeles and onward. My nerves were breaking. In Salt Lake, during my run to wait in line for open seating, I called my beautiful mom to help me out and do some leg work in Calgary. She did just that. I got on the flight to L.A. Now, when you land in L.A. there are two terminals; one for domestic and one for international. So, I booked it out of the building and asked for the quickest way...the A bus. Right, there are about a dozen buses that pass by each 10 seconds. I almost jumped in front of this A bus to flag it down and she let me on. At the next terminal I jumped off and started running to the second floor and to Singapore Air counter. Whew, made it. Lee, the lady at the counter knew who I was and got me on my way. I was escorted to my gate and issued a new ticket and told to not lose this one.

The experience was the first lesson of my journey - stay in the now. Otherwise, by focusing on the destination so attentively, I could easily trip over or fall into the cracks under my feet. Like glacier hiking, there is a definite reason for taking baby steps.