The Romance of Travel

It’s 2 am in the morning in the Marriot Lobby near the Kansas City Airport and I'm sitting here eating potato chips. There’s three TV’s. playing on the same wall. One is football, one a shopping channel and one The Bourne Identity. Wouldn’t mind watching the latter again, but no sound. Instead, there’s insipid light disco music. Why am I here? At 2 in the morning?

Well, I’m in the lobby instead of my room because the lobby offers free Internet, but 50 feet away in my room, I have to pay. And exactly why is this? And it’s 2 am because it’s daytime in Japan and part of my body is there. It doesn’t care that I have to get up in five hours and teach a whole day workshop. I left Japan at 4pm on Thursday, arrived in San Francisco 9:00 am on Thursday—always an astounding feeling that, crossing the dateline—slept for a few hours, then up until Thursday night and a miraculous sleep through the night. Score! I beat jet lag!!

But my euphoria was short-lived after flying to Kansas City today, turning in at 9:30 pm and waking up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 11:30. So three hours in the lobby catching up on e-mail and five to go before my wake-up call. Isn’t travel fun?!

While sitting here, a friend Skypes from Germany and keeps me company for a half-hour of chat. And reveals to me the secret formula I’ve been needing—Melatonin. Says it’s just the ticket and you can get it in pills at the local drug store. I’ll keep you posted. 

So a reminder to all the people who tell me I'm so lucky to get to teach and travel like this and how they wish they could do it. "Be careful what you wish for—it just may come true."