THE SPIRIT OF TRAVEL IS AN ACT OF OPTIMISM

From the minute you decide travel, there is risk.

Like, who's going to feed the dog while your'e away, and who's going to take you to the airport? A Dog doesn't understand abandonment with out some kind of advance notice. And this generally means chopped sirloin in his/her bowl for a month prior. Now, a Cat will abandon you before you even finish packing. As for the Bird, the cage will be full of shit after the first week and it will succumb to its own fumes.

So then, how do you get out of town when your frieinds are wishing you a Bon Voyage at the speed of light and disappear for weeks, hoping you wont ask them to take you to the airport. Bon Voyage really means, Bon Chance/Good Luck, which translates to "take a taxi."

Then there is the packing. Over weight already with: Mosquito repellant: pills for pre-, during-, and after-cold; jet lag pills; malaria pills; h2o purifier pills; Tiger balm; Dragon Balm; and that around your neck air purifier from Sharper image (air blowing up your nostrils when you're crammed into the middle seat, three in a row, knees to chest, when you specifically asked for an isle seat/bulkhead--a Sharp image indeed).

Then there is the plane itself. Oh, I dont mean the fact that it could crash land (did that in Singapore), but that you could be air sick for 13 hours enroute to Hanoi, landing in time for a tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels, or 16 hours to Columbo now sleepless and throwing up, or 24 hours to Cochin and Curry.

OHHHHHHH the food. JAL enroute to Narita. 9 hours out and still air sick. I am delevered a meal of tofu and fermented black bean sauce with a side of shredded white radish. Dessert? Green tea soufle.

OK, OK, this is about travel being an act of optimism and Ill get to that soon as the air sickness passes. Lets pause here for a movie aboard flight 333 enroute to Optimism.