Change In Plans

Greetings from Sydney! I have completed the first air leg (Wellington - Sydney) of the long trip that will take me from Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand to the Hotel Eden in Chamonix, France. More Old Testament references than I had realized. p>

This is the first time that I have been away from India and the kids for more than a few hours since July of last year. It is definitely the first time I have traveled alone since then.

Actually, with the exception of my week-long trip to Turkey in July, we have all been together 24/7 pretty much since late May 2008.

It feels very strange to be traveling alone, and with essentially no luggage. I keep looking around for more things to carry. As I read a book on the flight from Wellington, I was half expecting to be interrupted by a question about World War II, or to look at a picture of a hairy-nosed wombat.

It feels strange to go to the bathroom without accompanying a cheerful small person, usually Tallulah.

As we were landing, the flaps were positioned funny, and the whole plane vibrated loudly for 90 seconds. I missed holding India’s hand and telling her, unhelpfully, that it was absolutely normal, and nothing to worry about.

The irony, of course, is that I used to travel like this - in lowered-head, hand-luggage-only, Economist-reading, silent isolation- every week of my working life. The new normal is always only a few repeated experiences away

The flight from Sydney to London, via Bangkok, is boarding in a few minutes. It is a really, really long way. Initially, I had been frustrated by having to backtrack from London to Geneva, but that is a rounding error in the overall scheme of these vast distances.

News flash: traveler discovers that world is big.

I may not feel so chipper on the other end. In the meantime, I am thinking about all of the fun we have had, traveling as a family for the last year. I miss them.