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The Zen of Travel


Double self portrait at BDL
Originally uploaded by p2son.
Yep, my flight is delayed. I have been on dozens of delayed and cancelled flights in my life, and it always puts me in a good mood.

I somehow feel that real time doesn't count when I travel. Once I put my life into the hands of ticket agents, flight attendents, train conductors and taxi drivers, I give up time as I know it. If I like it or not, it becomes all about the journey, because it seems like I will NEVER arrive at my destination.

Great way to meet folks, catch up on people watching, chat with friends on the cell phone and eat junk food. And if they have wireless (like they here do at Bradley Airport near Hartford, CT, well, this is a vacation in itself.

Off to Northern Michigan for The Point Foundation retreat where I will perform Queer 101 and Talkin' Trash in the Homo No Mo Halfway House, a talk about language and oppression in the "ex-gay" movement.

The Point Foundation is awesome. They provide scholarships to LGBTQ youth whose parents won't pay to put a queer kid through college. I feel so pleased to get to know these folks from schools all over the US.

My first presentation is not for another 24 hours, so I should get there in time, but ya never know.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have a programmer's conference in Portland I will be going to during the first week in August, and I tried so hard to get a direct flight in and out of there, but the Institute told the agency to book the least costly route, which meant I have connections to make now. I appreciate that we're on a tight budget these days, but if I miss just one connection it's going to cost them more then if I got my direct flights, in terms of a lost conference day that they've already paid for.

I wish I could find that peaceful timeless zone during business travel, but I haven't managed it yet. Ironically, my favorite form of vacation is throwing my bags in the car and taking a long cross-country road trip. It's exactly that timeless zone that I love about doing that (and seeing things I've never seen before). I don't make any reservations and only generally outline my course. I just drive around and let the road take me wherever it goes. It's very peaceful. Somehow on business travel I just can't manage it.
9:39 AM
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