Date: Saturday,
20 April 2013
Time: 09:00
EST (15:00 SAST)
Place: My
hotel business centre, Washington D.C.
It's
rather apt that I started my blog and wrote my first post 33000 ft up in the air. Travel excites me to
no end! I'm absolutely enthralled by the endless possibility and riveting
adventure that I often say is synonymous with travel. Now I know some will
argue and say that travel isn't always about exciting expeditions and glamorous
gallivanting. Especially when, for example, it's always for work. And yes, to
some the thought of leading such a nomadic life can be a bit unsettling. I
certainly see where these folk are coming from and perhaps the day may come
when I will share in those beliefs. But fortunately today is not that day! For
now, I will jump at any opportunity to hop on a plane and venture into new
lands, and old :)
This
morning I landed in Washington, D.C. My first (and only) trip to the U.S. was
back in 1996 when we visited Disneyland on a family holiday. As you can
imagine, that was a child's dream come true! That was in fact, also my first
trip overseas. It was back then already that the travel bug started to visit.
There was something about this thing called travel that captured the
imagination of this curios teenager. Subsequent to that trip, I was
fortunate enough to have travelled fairly extensively - initially mostly on
family holidays to the U.K., Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, India and then in
more recent years for work to South Korea, The Netherlands and an incredible
opportunity to live in Germany for just under 2 years! Now it was during these
past 2 years that the travel bug not only became a more frequent visitor, but
happily sunk down an anchor and decided to make itself at home. During my time
in Germany, I pretty much conquered Europe. Well, to as far as my Schengen Visa
would allow at least!
Initially
the travels were just for fun, for keeping myself busy over the weekends. But
then something happened, trip after trip I started seeing a change in me (yes
over and above the extra pounds I was putting on as a result of the foodie in
me indulging in my adventures). I realised how I started seeing the world
through different eyes, how I had become more confident in my ability to
navigate through unknown lands (both literally and figuratively) and just how
much I was learning about everything from people, food, culture, history,
economics, and simply the ways of the world. This is the type of knowledge that
one can merely not, as powerful as they are, receive from books or television
or word of mouth. I returned home a changed person, one with a different
purpose in life and an even deeper curiosity to continue to explore the
enormous world of untapped possibility that lies out there.
So you can
imagine just how over-the-moon I was when, only 3 months after I returned, I
found out that I was selected to be part of an incredible program (which I will
most definitely be blogging more about this in the coming weeks) that would
take me to the U.S. for 4 weeks! And this is how I ended up in Washington this
morning :)
I
fortunately have 2 and a bit days free before the program officially starts so
I am looking so forward venturing out and exploring the city. Any hints, tips,
must-do's are most welcome! I can't wait to share in my adventures, so since I
can’t check in for another 6 hours, let me sign off here and get started...
:))
Congrats lady, I can totally regret to your feelings about traveling, it is what I live for! How amazing that you're in the US for a month, hope that you're planning to visit NYC! Looking forward to reading about all your adventures, and give me a shout if you need any blogging tips ;)
ReplyDeletex Hasmita
Oops, meant relate not regret ha
ReplyDelete