To The Far Side of the World

In the movie "The Truman Show" the lead character dreams of going to Fiji because it's as far as you can go before you start coming back. It may not be Fiji, but my upcoming trip to Shenzhen China certainly seems about as far from here as you can get, geographically speaking. It will be my first foray outside of the country, though hopefully not my last. It will be the longest flight I've taken, on the largest plane yet. I'm still a bit shell-shocked, but the excitement is starting to build as well. I've always wanted to travel overseas, and China specifically was on my wishlist but seemed pretty unrealistic given the vast difference in culture and communication. Or so I thought. Now, thanks to a return to a job I know well, it has moved from dream to booked, prepaid reality.

Normally I try to research the destination before I go for business in order to make the most of my time away from whatever obligations take me there. Surf the web, check the travel Channel site, read up on what Tony Bourdain did while there...any kind of local knowledge from like-minded adventurers can be useful. This time I haven't done much of that. Its such a foreign culture that I am trusting in my travelling partner who has been there repeatedly, and in the hospitality of the business associates we'll be visiting. It should be an adventure of the best kind. Or the worst, but I choose to ignore that possibility. I will try to keep updates coming and will try to post picture to my photography site (See link at right.) Since internet access will be free and cell coverage expensive, don't expect those nice picture messages like John H sends out. After all, I barely qualify as a Junior International Man of Mystery. So far.

In a side note, the new (old) job (or is it the old(new) job...) is going well. The strangest thing is that it looks the same...but it tastes different. I left, worked elsewhere, and returned to different circumstances that Mike and I negotiated. Everyone else kept working there, so their view and their experience never changed. To them it's the same old job, but to me it's not. Add in that I know information about future company plans and actions that they aren't cleared for, and it can be a strange experience sometimes, I am happy to be back and I'm enjoying the work and the people. I seem to have found a peaceful center regarding work in general that I couldn't claim in the past. I believe the time spent at the asphalt plant was necessary and good. I put some tools in my toolbox that will serve me well, and gained some perspectives that I needed. The new adventure should be a good one.