A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step...

For Me... that step was to say the word "Yes".

I'm living in a seaside town called Kovalam on the Arabian Sea. Situated in Southern India in the state of Kerala. For nearly 3 months I will be studying in depth the age old science of Yoga, meaning Unity.

Here is how my journey to India began, in the most practical terms, of travel and observation:

August 30, 2009

3:26am

Up & wide awake in #302 at the Hotel Peacock in Kovalam. This room will be my “home” for the next two and half months. I have already, re-arranged the furniture so it is more “me”. Therefore it isn’t as “functional” but has a feeling of hominess.

I arrived via Dubai last night. Left Vancouver on Thursday morning and missed all of Friday in the process. Vancouver to San Fransisco was uneventful. Mrs. K as I shall endearingly refer to Mum, took the day off and went through check in with me. This was fun and heartwarming. It was also welcome due to the extremely late night before. The Aussie check in clerk at United gave me an upgrade when all I did was ask for a window seat. He never mentioned it but I noticed when I saw my seat number had been re-allocated to 8F.

The United cabin crew were stroppy. They looked to go through their duties begrudgingly and left me wondering why on earth this group of people would want to enter the world of customer service in the air with such an obvious disdain for it.

Landing in San Fransisco I made my way to the International departure lounge. After standing behind a 40-something Middle Eastern man dressed in that very particular strain of “douche-bag” that reads “Ed Hardy” but isn’t Ed Hardy (fitted graphic tee, bad designer jeans with embellished pockets and stealth Puma style trainers to slip n’ slide around the track known as the “Douche Bag Express” in…)

He tried for an upgrade from economy to first class to be told very nicely and with great decorum the set price is $15000.00 USD and informed the payment options. At the shock/horror of this price he downgraded his request and himself with “Can you tell if there is anything available in Business Class, Sweetheart?”

The young girl smiled and said “Yes, many options for a price of $5000.00 USD, how would you like to pay?”

He went on some long protracted story about travelling with his brother so needing two seats and being armed with umpteen million frequent flyer points and went off to conference with nearly identical “douche bag” brother but not before stating “I’ll be right sweetie, hold our place in the line”…

Which is where I stepped up for my turn at the desk. All I had to do was change my United boarding pass to an Emirates one and request a window seat. While looking into my query and re-issuing my boarding pass I asked “does it ever annoy you when men you don’t know speak to you with the references of “sweetheart” & “sweetie”? “ She said it happens a lot and depending on the day it bugs her more or less but seemed to be “part of the job”. I responded with “Don’t worry, I won’t call you Sweetheart or Sweetie but would really like to secure a window seat.” She smiled and asked “Are you travelling alone?” To which of course I responded “Yes, alone.”

Josephina, as her name tag stated then said “I’m going to upgrade you to a window seat in Business Class and put you in a seat where no one is booked beside you, would that work?” I smiled and said “Thank you so much, that will work perfectly.”

I took my place in the departure lounge and tip-tapped out my “Top 5 Top to Toe Must Haves for Back-to-School” for the Girls By Design Newsletter and sent it off to Jenn at GBD charged my BB and Mactop and celebrated by enjoying a bag of flavored jelly beans.

I boarded and laughed out loud when I saw my home for the next 15 hours. Snapped a photo on my BB and posted it to Facebook. Later during the flight I took a stroll the length of the aircraft to stretch my legs and saw the “Brothers Douche Bag” were seated at opposite ends of each other in the middle section of economy. The flight was very empty due to Ramadan.

Lesson #1: Don't objectify people. If you're going to call someone "sweetheart", especially a smart girl who could alter your sky high experience, be sure she IS in fact, your sweetheart.

I arrived in Dubai to 37c at 8:30pm with prayers being projected through speakers in the airport. The best part of being in transit in Dubai was the conversation I had with a young woman, perhaps in her early 20's who was working the security screening. As I handed over my carry on she asks me "Are you a nerd? Because those glasses are NERDY!" Me: "I definitely have some nerd in me." Security Girl: "Really, because you don't dress like a nerd, but those glasses make you look SO nerdy!" Me (smiling): "I for sure have a nerd streak in me." SG: a look of total confusion as to why someone would choose to wear nerdy glasses as my Mrs. K gifted Coco Chanel vintage frames. Me: smiling at her uncensored honesty.

Then I board with the regular folk my Emirates flight to Trivandrum. Am seated next to a man named Suresh who turns out to be a guardian angel of sorts as he stays with me and helps me locate Bijoy, my contact and pick up from the Peacock Hotel. I had no idea that landing at 4:00am would mean THOUSANDS (really!) of family members would be waiting for a loved one outside. It was, overwhelming and heartwarming all at once.

I arrive with feet so swollen my ankles have all but disappeared and I look like a girl with fat feet. Puffy and swollen and curious about my new home...