Maybe it's just my way of thinking about things these days, but it seems to me that my perspective on the size of our world is getting smaller the more I travel. Apparently distance is relative and is defined by hours and not by miles. I am back in the hotel in Abu Dhabi for a few more weeks before we head back home for Xmas and as usual I have been thinking about where I've been in the last few weeks. I flew back to Virginia and did a small pack out which turned out to be a little more taxing than I thought it would be. It's a lot easier to have the movers come in and pack up the whole house...just sayin! We sent over very little this time and I had to really think about it as I selected those things I did send over...a different experience for me! I flew to the Atlanta area for a week and then headed for Cleveland to see Tim and Caitlin. I had two full days of fabulous newly composed music, food everywhere, interesting conversations with lots of their friends who live their lives in music, and rain (which I loved), I headed back to Virginia to turn around and head back to Abu Dhabi. Did you know that it only takes 20 minutes to fly from Cleveland to Detroit? Apparently you can't get back to DC without going through Detroit which has been the case for me more than once. It only takes an hour and twenty minutes to fly from Atlanta to DC, five hours to get from Atlanta to LA, and only 14 hours to get from DC to Abu Dhabi. Now, I know in the age in which we live for some people this is no big deal. But, we watch the news every day and the places that are talked about seem so far away...a world away, in fact. Or... maybe we are all closer than we seem....
This time I went through Amsterdam. I had a couple of hours there before the final leg of my trip so I walked around and kind of took it all in. I watched the sun come up and that was pretty cool. I did notice that even though it was so early in the morning, the place was buzzing...there was a lot of life going on and the people watching was fun. Yes, there were lots of tulip stands and blue delft everywhere and I loved it. I found a place to sit and caught up on some email. There were others doing the same thing, but from other parts of the world from the different languages and quiet conversations going on around me. I imagined the mom talking to her very tired daughter about keeping up with her own things...only in Russian. There was a young African couple beside me discussing music (I think) as they constantly referred to their plugged in Ipods with their heads moving to a beat. I did see a big group of American teenage boys in the area which was obviously some sort of tour or sports team and I have to admit there was some sort of nice familiarity to that scene. I laughed slightly to myself with that one remembering my chaperoning years with my own kids. For all of them I hoped wherever they had been that their trip was a good one and I realized then maybe we all aren't so different or really so far away from each other.
It's only six hours to Abu Dhabi from Amsterdam...Again, I watched the flight tracker on the plane and marveled at all the places I was flying over...all those places we hear about that are so far away and it only took six hours.
Perspective is an interesting concept, isn't it?
This time I went through Amsterdam. I had a couple of hours there before the final leg of my trip so I walked around and kind of took it all in. I watched the sun come up and that was pretty cool. I did notice that even though it was so early in the morning, the place was buzzing...there was a lot of life going on and the people watching was fun. Yes, there were lots of tulip stands and blue delft everywhere and I loved it. I found a place to sit and caught up on some email. There were others doing the same thing, but from other parts of the world from the different languages and quiet conversations going on around me. I imagined the mom talking to her very tired daughter about keeping up with her own things...only in Russian. There was a young African couple beside me discussing music (I think) as they constantly referred to their plugged in Ipods with their heads moving to a beat. I did see a big group of American teenage boys in the area which was obviously some sort of tour or sports team and I have to admit there was some sort of nice familiarity to that scene. I laughed slightly to myself with that one remembering my chaperoning years with my own kids. For all of them I hoped wherever they had been that their trip was a good one and I realized then maybe we all aren't so different or really so far away from each other.
It's only six hours to Abu Dhabi from Amsterdam...Again, I watched the flight tracker on the plane and marveled at all the places I was flying over...all those places we hear about that are so far away and it only took six hours.
Perspective is an interesting concept, isn't it?
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