15 minutes into take off and I knew I had to write to calm my frazzled mind which was all over the place.
From an exhaustive , relentless work week to mid night landing to packing bags to running to banks to closing credits to shopping to cleaning to all the mad driving to drafting last minute work emails to making calls ,I was this close to giving in to the swirling vortex of stress when miraculously it all cleared up. I had it under control .I was finally flying out , just a few hours away from realizing my dream. Yes, I was leaving , leaving on a jet plane ...
Let me rewind a bit so that you can draw context from there.It's November 8 , 2013 , 11 am PST , sunny blue skies in San Francisco .
I arrived home last night from Denver where I delivered a Tech Deep Dive, something I had been burning the midnight oil for over the last few months.Glad it was a success.By the time I reached home , did my laundry , ate dinner , the clock had struck 1 and I was all set to hit the sack.I had no preparations done for the D day . Nothing what so ever . Null. Zero !
In case you are wondering what 'D day' I'm talking about , let's turn the calender back to one mighty frustrating afternoon in early October when I had it with work, with life , with myself and had my mind made up on setting the office on fire . That was the day I got up from my chair , went to the pantry , made myself a cuppa coffee , came back and booked myself a trip from San Francisco to Paris to Rome to New Delhi and I gave myself exactly a month to convince my family, get a schengen visa and plan my trip. Since this was my first crazy step out of US , the rest are usually inbound :P , I decided to take some calculated risk and planned an itinerary for 17 days .It looked like this -- San Francisco to Paris ( 6 days ) to Rome ( 4 days ) to Florence ( 3 days ) to Pisa ( 1 day ) to Venice ( 3 days ) and finally to New Delhi for three weeks .
So here I was , exactly a month later , taking off from San Francisco to Paris , only this time with the convincing and visa taken care of :). My planning involved bare minimum - 2 Lonely Planet Guides ( Paris and Italy ) , 2 Phrase books ( French and Italian ) , a 4 days Eurail pass for Italy , hostel bookings and 7 sets of clothes in one GIANT rucksack.I had no clue where on the map of the city of Paris would I land , how would I get to the hostel, how would I find my way through , what would I do if I lost my way ,whom would I call if I ran into any issues .Nothing .I hadn't an inkling , a clue.All I had was an unwavering faith that I'll be fine and that I'll be able to handle it and that I needed this real bad and that this was it .The only time in my life when I get to do this , to live it up .That never again will this moment come back , never again will I get to experience what I'm experiencing right now and that this will be one ride that I shall never forget and so it was ....
November 8, 2013 .A momentous day of my life that etched an indelible mark in my memory.
I set 3 alarms for 4, 4:30 and 5 am and finally woke up on the third one .Put my laundry in the dryer, made myself breakfast , did my morning chores and started putting things together in my backpack.At 9 am , I hit the road and went to the bank to collect some foreign currency, headed to work to file my expense reports and then to the store to get some essentials.As the clock struck 11 am , Gul (my roommate, my friend , my family) and I reached home and I gave 'my turkey' its final stuffing :P and at 11:20 am ,we were out ,heading to San Francisco International Airport .
It was then when I got my first strike, my first kick , my first jolt ,my first sinking sensation ,whatever you call it ,that 'THIS' was finally happening .Gul and I had a cuppa coffee at Starbucks, exchanged a few bear hugs and then bade each other good bye.Farewells are never easy and it is then that you truly and sincerely realize how much an individual means to you.Bidding her good bye just reminded me of how much she meant to me all these years .How we transitioned from roommates to friends to best friends to sisters.I was slightly miffed leaving her behind and not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving with her and at the same time grateful to having her in my life as such a dear friend.
Soon after, I went past the security check and there I was at the gate , 45 mins away from take off .Before I could enjoy the 'Yay ! I'm going to Paris !' feeling , I realized , I had yet a bunch of tasks to complete :) I made a note of my traveler's checks, sent out a few emails, called AMEX to nullify my outstanding balance, tried to unsuccessfully locate my hostel on Google maps , made a few final phone calls to family . 15 mins to boarding and kick 2 struck me . Partially excited , partially nervous , partially pumped up , partially freaking out and amidst all the toiling , I took my attention to the boarding announcements and voila , I discovered that 'FRENCH' sounded nothing like English and that there was no freakin' way on this planet that I could possibly speak French even with a phrase book in hand ! However, it was just too late to turn back.I boarded the flight , dumped my hand bag in the cabinet above , parked myself in my seat , switched off my phone and took a deep breath. This was when I had truly , deeply , totally accepted that I was leaving to Paris and as soon as acceptance poured in , anxiety left the room.
Yes ,I was leaving , leaving on a jet plane ...
From an exhaustive , relentless work week to mid night landing to packing bags to running to banks to closing credits to shopping to cleaning to all the mad driving to drafting last minute work emails to making calls ,I was this close to giving in to the swirling vortex of stress when miraculously it all cleared up. I had it under control .I was finally flying out , just a few hours away from realizing my dream. Yes, I was leaving , leaving on a jet plane ...
Let me rewind a bit so that you can draw context from there.It's November 8 , 2013 , 11 am PST , sunny blue skies in San Francisco .
I arrived home last night from Denver where I delivered a Tech Deep Dive, something I had been burning the midnight oil for over the last few months.Glad it was a success.By the time I reached home , did my laundry , ate dinner , the clock had struck 1 and I was all set to hit the sack.I had no preparations done for the D day . Nothing what so ever . Null. Zero !
In case you are wondering what 'D day' I'm talking about , let's turn the calender back to one mighty frustrating afternoon in early October when I had it with work, with life , with myself and had my mind made up on setting the office on fire . That was the day I got up from my chair , went to the pantry , made myself a cuppa coffee , came back and booked myself a trip from San Francisco to Paris to Rome to New Delhi and I gave myself exactly a month to convince my family, get a schengen visa and plan my trip. Since this was my first crazy step out of US , the rest are usually inbound :P , I decided to take some calculated risk and planned an itinerary for 17 days .It looked like this -- San Francisco to Paris ( 6 days ) to Rome ( 4 days ) to Florence ( 3 days ) to Pisa ( 1 day ) to Venice ( 3 days ) and finally to New Delhi for three weeks .
So here I was , exactly a month later , taking off from San Francisco to Paris , only this time with the convincing and visa taken care of :). My planning involved bare minimum - 2 Lonely Planet Guides ( Paris and Italy ) , 2 Phrase books ( French and Italian ) , a 4 days Eurail pass for Italy , hostel bookings and 7 sets of clothes in one GIANT rucksack.I had no clue where on the map of the city of Paris would I land , how would I get to the hostel, how would I find my way through , what would I do if I lost my way ,whom would I call if I ran into any issues .Nothing .I hadn't an inkling , a clue.All I had was an unwavering faith that I'll be fine and that I'll be able to handle it and that I needed this real bad and that this was it .The only time in my life when I get to do this , to live it up .That never again will this moment come back , never again will I get to experience what I'm experiencing right now and that this will be one ride that I shall never forget and so it was ....
November 8, 2013 .A momentous day of my life that etched an indelible mark in my memory.
I set 3 alarms for 4, 4:30 and 5 am and finally woke up on the third one .Put my laundry in the dryer, made myself breakfast , did my morning chores and started putting things together in my backpack.At 9 am , I hit the road and went to the bank to collect some foreign currency, headed to work to file my expense reports and then to the store to get some essentials.As the clock struck 11 am , Gul (my roommate, my friend , my family) and I reached home and I gave 'my turkey' its final stuffing :P and at 11:20 am ,we were out ,heading to San Francisco International Airport .
It was then when I got my first strike, my first kick , my first jolt ,my first sinking sensation ,whatever you call it ,that 'THIS' was finally happening .Gul and I had a cuppa coffee at Starbucks, exchanged a few bear hugs and then bade each other good bye.Farewells are never easy and it is then that you truly and sincerely realize how much an individual means to you.Bidding her good bye just reminded me of how much she meant to me all these years .How we transitioned from roommates to friends to best friends to sisters.I was slightly miffed leaving her behind and not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving with her and at the same time grateful to having her in my life as such a dear friend.
Soon after, I went past the security check and there I was at the gate , 45 mins away from take off .Before I could enjoy the 'Yay ! I'm going to Paris !' feeling , I realized , I had yet a bunch of tasks to complete :) I made a note of my traveler's checks, sent out a few emails, called AMEX to nullify my outstanding balance, tried to unsuccessfully locate my hostel on Google maps , made a few final phone calls to family . 15 mins to boarding and kick 2 struck me . Partially excited , partially nervous , partially pumped up , partially freaking out and amidst all the toiling , I took my attention to the boarding announcements and voila , I discovered that 'FRENCH' sounded nothing like English and that there was no freakin' way on this planet that I could possibly speak French even with a phrase book in hand ! However, it was just too late to turn back.I boarded the flight , dumped my hand bag in the cabinet above , parked myself in my seat , switched off my phone and took a deep breath. This was when I had truly , deeply , totally accepted that I was leaving to Paris and as soon as acceptance poured in , anxiety left the room.
Yes ,I was leaving , leaving on a jet plane ...
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