Revelation.. the travelling version.

Let me begin by saying, I love travelling. And I mean, love. When the opportunity presents itself, I rarely, if ever pass up the opportunity regardless of how busy I should be and how much money I don't have. In case you're not a fellow traveller, you might be wondering, what is the draw? Well, for one, it generally means that you're experiencing something different, that you're not stuck in the same daily grind. And that's a good thing. A very good thing. On top of that, you're learning more about how the world works. I learn more whilst travelling than I ever have reading any text book, novel, magazine or scientific journal. There is definitely something to be said for experiencing things first hand, particularly at a younger age. I think it helps me gain unparalleled perspective and an appreciation for all things in my life. It also feel it makes me more adept at handling different personalities and situations within my own life... essentially I feel comfortable at most if not at all times. Bust most of all, and I know it already sounds like a lot, I learn the most about myself.

I generally tend to travel by myself. Sometimes out of necessity, but sometimes out of convenience. In fact, given the choice in the past, I would probably have preferred travelling by myself. It is just so much easier; you don't need to plan around someone else's schedule, hoping that they want to see the same things and for the same amount of time you do and you don't risk alienating them by sometimes choosing to do, buy or eat expensive things. But also, you learn to hang out with yourself. And I don't mean in the third person. I think sometimes we are too afraid to be by ourselves and really enjoy the solitariness of our own company. That may sound a bit depressing, but how can we expect others to like us, if we do not like ourselves (a bit introspective and philosophical, but I somewhat believe this). Turns out, I like the person I have become and hope that others do too.

Recently, I've experienced a paradigm shift in my way of thinking with regards to solo travel. While my love for travel has definitely not waned, my enjoyment for solo travel has. Perhaps its my age or maybe I'm starting to dislike myself, but with each subsequent trip that I seem to go on, I come to the same conclusions... I wish I could share this with someone. Not to sound funny, but I go to some pretty amazing places (for example now I am blogging in Cape Town), and not being devoid of sense and emotion, I can't help but feel envious when I see couples enjoying these moments together. Maybe I have become too comfortable with travelling alone that I may not make the transition easily, but I'll definitely give it a shot! Just one slight problem though...

Over-reaction: it's so hot right now.

Unless you've been dead for the past week, your life has been, in some form or another, affected by the ash cloud. Whether it has cancelled yours or a loved ones travel plans, put you out of a job temporarily, or just taken up more of the news than you had hoped, it is clear that this has emerged as one of the biggest stories of 2010 thus far. Never before has airspace been closed for this long. Not even after September 11th. Now we all know that I have some strong feelings about people's perception of flying and the flying process, but this has volcanic ash stuff is ridiculous.

People are calling the handling of the situation an 'over-reaction'. This is not verbatim, but you have people high up in the british conservative party and airline companies saying stuff such as, "the airspace should not have been closed due to a lack of understanding of the affects of ash cloud on airplane engines". That what was done was "unnecessary and costly". Pardon me? Since when was gathering more information about an unknown subject "unnecessary and costly"? Would they rather have blood on their hands or err on the side of caution? When people's lives are at stake, I think the answer is obvious. What is 6 days of our lives to just be a little bit cautious? And i'm speaking as one of the affected ones - I'm meant to fly to Cape Town later today. Sure, I'd love to fly and get to Cape Town; after all, i've heard its one of the best cities in the world. However, I wouldn't want to get there at the expense of my life. I think that sounds reasonable.

This whole aftermath is a prime example of what is going wrong with this world. You have people with no scientific experience (read: airplane CEOs, political leaders) telling the CAA (Airport authority) and british government that they need to be held accountable for their actions. Held accountable for protecting human life? Oh, so we're gonna issue them medals? Cool. Oh, wait. No. You mean hold an investigation and play on the hearts of society. Of course you would have handled things differently if you were in charge. And obviously, you're saying all of this once the matter has been taken care of. Convenient. And this is just my point. Someone is always looking over our shoulders telling us how to do a job that they have no idea about. They just know that every situation has a political angle and they're right there to capitolise. Sad. Now, I would call THAT an over-reaction. Let's look at the bottom line: No lives lost, we're flying again and we were able to update our standards for volcanic ash concentration. All in all, I would say that it was handled successfully, so why all the scrutiny?

Everyone just needs to chill out and stop over-reacting.

Nothing says happy birthday like a cigarette.

This past weekend I travelled up to Liverpool with a few friends. It also doubled as my birthday weekend as you may know and as a 'present', my friend Kath volunteered me to dress up as a cigarette and walk around the pitch before the Everton-West Ham match. While I was extremely nervous (mainly cos I thought people would embarrass myself like they do in the movies... like, someone kicks a ball at me, i fall over, costume comes off and suddenly I'm naked and people throw stuff at me... THAT kind of embarrassment!), I thought I should try new things. After all, I was 29 and it was just another box to tick. In the end, it was an enjoyable experience and none of my fears came to fruition. Well, except that I knocked over one of the skysports cameras behind the goal. But other than that, I'd like to think I made a difference to the thousands of people out there. Some might even say that I was the best cigarette mascot ever and that I should be inducted into the mascot hall. I'll leave the debate up to you.

Birthday Weekend

Twenty-Nine. Another year older, a little bit wiser, but still just as immature.

Watch the Everton-West Ham footy match on Sunday for more info :-)

Details in the following days.

Intermission: I'm the one who...

Pardon the interruption, but I need to take a moment to talk about family. Just consider this a commercial from the regularly scheduled programming and bear with me as this will not be my most light-hearted entry. You know how in every family there is a label that you can comfortably pin on each member? Like Jane is the hopeless romantic, Grant is the computer guy, Diana is the shopaholic, Tom is the impulsive gambler and so forth. Well, I'm the one who wears his heart on his sleeve and can't control his emotions (amongst other things I'm sure).

You see, this past week, I flew home to celebrate the life of my grandmother. She was my last remaining grandparent and one who I had lived with for roughly 11 years of my life. Granted that 'life' was seemingly ages ago, it was hard to discount the impact that it had. When I first heard on the 21st of March (my parents had called), I was overcome with the type of sadness you would expect. I did not shed any tears, but at the same time, it was not a time to be jovial. To me, now this might sound harsh, my grandmother had passed away a long time ago. Not because I was in England and she was still in Toronto, but because it's almost what she wanted. She had faked the inability to walk so that she could get a wheelchair. She faked sickness so that she wouldn't have to eat. Heck, she even faked alzheimer's and pretended she didn't know who I was. This was not the grandmother I had grown up with.

Under these conditions, one would have thought I would have dealt with this a long time ago. Admittedly, I did too. But as she lay there peacefully and each of my relatives paid their respects, I couldn't fight my emotion. I couldn't speak. I could barely stand. I just sat there letting the tears pepper my black cashmere sweater. While I thought I was personally okay wiht it all, I couldn't help but feel their emotion or the emotion that I thought they were going through. It's not that I am close to my family; in fact, we're probably quite far from it. It's just that, without her, there's no me. And if I think of how much my mom (and dad) have done for me, I couldn't help but feel remorse. All she ever really wanted, it seems, was for her children to pay attention to her.

Growing up, my grandma was born into a very rich family in China. To say that she was spoiled was probably an understatement according to my dad. With all the riches and people to take care of her, she married my grandfather who was also part of a rich family. Soon after, they gave birth to my dad and everything was setting itself up for an easy and comfortable lifestyle. That is, until communist China came in. My grandparents and their family's lives were spared in exchange for their riches. Everything they couldn't hide, they had to surrender to the government, regardless of sentimental value. And even what little they could hide, they couldn't wear or use for trading because people would wonder where it came from. Therefore, they had to live common folk lives. As someone who had been pampered well into her early adulthood, this was a shock to my grandmother. The only lifestyle she had ever known was gone.

Now other people in the same position would probably fight and regain their prosperity over time. This, unfortunately, was not her. While my grandfather and dad moved to british ruled HK for better opportunities and a more free lifestyle, they had to literally start over. While she did go to HK for a short while, my grandma returned home to be with her parents as she knew they would provide the type of attention she craved. Rather than send her back into the real world, they held onto her daughter and continued to shelter her. This continued until my grandfather and all of his kids were able to fully support themselves. Since her parents had not moved, she now looked to her kids for the attention she missed. This was fine while they were still young, but as they started their own families, time was sparse. That and her attitude never changed. She alienated people with her grandeur lifestyle. She made people within her own financial and social class feel bad about themselves because they had not experienced what she had. Needless to say, she did not hold onto many friends. As such, she would always run back to the arms of family. It was a vicious circle.

Now, I only heard about all of this stuff this past weekend, but it gave me perspective. And as she still laid there in peace, all I could think is that she was never given much of a chance through no fault of anyone but herself. It does make me very thankful for all my parents have done for me, but I'm not the one that needs this type of thing to gain perspective. Remember, I'm the one who wears his heart on his sleeve.

All the best, grandma - you'll always be a part of me.