…Bound for Unexpected Enlightenment
By the time I boarded Swiss Air flight 55 from Boston to Zürich, I was already running on fumes. The previous 36 hours had been a roller coaster of caffeine and melatonin, owing to the insomnia accompanying taking the FE exam and making last-minute preparations for this trip. As soon as I got off the standby list (an added frustration, as I had purchased my ticket in full months ago) and onto the plane, I popped the maximum recommended dose of melatonin, fully intending to wake up 7 hours later across the pond.
Alas, even the best laid plans tend to come undone. My eyes drooped as we stalled on the runway for over an hour, sans explanation, a delay that would certainly jeopardize my connection. The moment we finally cleared 10,000 feet, I reclined my seat into an onslaught of punches and kicks from the energetic, inconsolable 4-year-old behind me. I had managed to just fall asleep when I was promptly awakened by the flight crew, who bafflingly insisted that all passengers be seated upright during the dinner service. This was a debacle that lasted over an hour, including a passenger tirade about dietary restrictions and the dramatic spillage of scalding hot tea on the lady sitting in front of me. Why did I have to stay up through all of this? Something about not inconveniencing anyone, I was told. A particularly hard kick to my lumbar and I turned to give the kid behind me a piece of my melatonin-drunk mind, and his mother said to me defensively, “Okay, but maybe you should move your seat more forward.”
Half asleep, stewing over my reheated beef stew, the man seated directly to my left started chatting with me. I couldn’t imagine an occasion when I was less inclined to small-talk, but since I was forced to sit up anyway I begrudgingly returned conversation. It didn’t take long to realize that this man was one of the most interesting individuals I’ve ever had the fortune to meet. He was an American expat living in Vienna. His father played in the NBA in the 50s. He grew up in New Jersey and had a budding career as a sportscaster in the 80s. Around age 30, he suddenly quit to travel the world and raised his daughter across 17 countries. He has written 3 books that weave scattered anecdotes from his unbound life experience. We talked some sports, being fans of pro basketball and collegiate baseball. But we mainly talked travel, as he recounted stories of writing about random encounters for Tokyo Monthly magazine, backpacking through India and Nepal, hitchhiking across Mauritania and Senegal, learning from elders in Vietnam, and making educational trips to the Galapagos as his daughter was growing up. He spoke incisively, voicing strong convictions formed from years of listening to people from all walks of life and various corners of the world.
This man, with his jeans ripped, face gray-stubbled and sun-worn, living his retirement dream as a vagabond for a few hundred dollars per month, was special – I realized in my middle-of-the-night melatonin stupor – he is the embodiment of Worldly Observations. He represents the future that I did not take, but may have if I had the fortitude to follow my freelance tornado modeling vision to its furthest end. For better or worse, social and physical pressures pushed me to refocus on engineering, career growth, and stability. But I have to admire this man’s perseverance toward his own dreams, traveling to places from the top of my bucket list to places that I can’t imagine experiencing in my wildest dreams. That’s how one winds up with perhaps the most fascinating Amazon bio, all wild and all true. Connecting with people is truly one of the most rewarding aspects of traveling, and I consider myself lucky to be seated in that exact middle seat on that horrible, horrible flight. To crossing paths again under more wakeful circumstances, somewhere in the world, and continuing conversations!
Worldly Observations 