...The three first words that comes to my mind..

Chaotic, noisy and loud - so finally managed to get connect to the internet here in our hotel, so let me fast try to recap what has happened over the last so-what 12 hours, i landing in Chennai, after a fairly nice flight, not to many problems besides those i already mentioned.. we (a colleague of mine and i) wait for roughly 30 min for our luggage so we can finally leave the airport, and right at that time it strikes me how "sweet" the smell is, i mean incredibly sweet, i mean sooooo sweet that it just goes to your head! Anyways we come out to be greeted with flowers and big smiles, and fast get introduced to two more colleagues (Arnaud and Christian) the rush off to what is a 30 year old caravan that would eventually take us to our hotel. - Now in the meanwhile i must have been looked upon by at least a 100 Indians, as i stand a bit out in the crowd here (blond and blue eyes...) - okay interesting, not a big thing, but what really got me - was the fact that i though i would be killed by rickshaws and cars, WOW they are so close to you - i mean they are really really close to you, i felt the wind-shield touch my arm at least a couple of times.. - how insane is this, they are fast, close, chaotic, noisy, loud yet the funniest thing came to my mind, there are no accidents, that is no stress, there are no frustrations ... HANG ON now so they drive like crazy, honking their horns all the time, in and out of lanes (that barely exists) break, gas, break, gas, honk the horn, break and some more gas... - and there are no accidents - yupp nothing, nula, nada... - and what is worse (or better not sure yet) is that nobody seem to be concerned with time or the noise level ... and for sure nobody i have seen till now has shown the slightest sign of stress or frustrations ---- impressive ...

Okay so i have been here for less than 24 hours, what do i know right, well let me give you another example, so after not being able to fall asleep this morning (thanks to some wild dogs outside - seriously i mean some wild dogs..) i got up fairly early, did a bit of work-out in my room (yes believe it or not - i actually have a work-out program with me here...laugh if you must), then down (i should rather say up) for some breakfast, two slices of toast with jam (hhmm how original), back in my room and a bit of internet, a shower (bare in mind the water boiler is plug and play with electricity..) oh boy was i wrong, all of a sudden - bingo, off goes the electricity in the whole building .. - we foreigners start to wonder when it doesnt come back on after a couple of min. we go to ask at the reception - and the answer is "its normal sir, it will come back on at 11.00".. needless to say i found that answer somewhat interesting - how do you know it comes on at 11.00 ? well experience i guess, at 10.56, guess what - back comes the electricity .. and the receptionist looks at us, smiles and says "i told you so"... yes sir, that you did... :-))

Okay another story that just happened now - was that me and 4 other guys would of course like to have a proper welcome drink so we decided to go and buy some beers (dont start thinking we bought anything but beer - we didnt ... only beers!!) unfortunately for us - you cant just buy beers in any shop on every corner, so we did the only thing you should never do, when you have been less that 24 hours in India, we hopped on a rickshaw and off we went (we didnt even bother to negotiate the price of 150 rupees - is a lot for that trip and back, but oh well) .. But let me tell you one thing - i would gladly give 200 rupees for that experience WOW - that was soo cool, to see Chennai from a rickshaw, to feel that gas - break and gas approach, honking the horn all the time, waiting for the traffic light to change, signalling left or right with your hands, to be so close to cars, and people, other rickshaws, seriously that was such a cool experience, and i cant wait for the next ride - which i hope will be tomorrow :-))

...my friends - till our next time, i am off to try some local beer .. - stay safe..

...Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking...

so right now we are cruising at 10.817 meters, outside it is - 55 degrees and our crusing speed is around 985 kn/h as we are passsing over Bucharest. and best of all....there is only 6019 KM to our destination ... - only right. So looking at a world map i finally realize that i am actually flying almost half around the world, this whole trip is getting more and more real, and as it gets more and more real - the sensation hits me, ups actually that isnt a sensation, that is TURBOLENCE!! did anybody say rollercoaster ride...okay so pass Bucharest, straight forward to the black sea, keep Istanbul to your right, a bit more straight, to Tabrz then Theran, and then a bit further and there you have Chennai :-))

Okay so i have to admit that this whole airbus set up, for a tall guy like me (i measure 188 cm) isnt really that cool - sure if you are flying 1st class you get your cousy little bed (come on folks what would a flight be like if your toes arent hurting, your back is soar, your blood circulation in your feet non-existing, and your bum acking from pain...) however there is one thing i have to admit about this new airbus (i think i am flying A330 - 200 so the big one) size in this case does matter, the size of this aircraft from outside is amazing, not to mention the set-up inside - WOW.. I have to admit my favorit part so far is two things, first the food was terrific (bare in mind that i didnt eat from 3.45 till 12.00, i guess almost anything would have been great) i think i had lamb and cuscus and some vegies - overall beats my normal sandwich lunches flushed down with a coke, and of course the chocolade cake (i am not a big sweets fan, but when hunger hits - i'll eat anything..) and the second thing is that i have this tiny little screen in front of me with movies, music and stuff - here i thought i would have to read and study ... now i can just lean back and watch films and tv series - so big mistake for myself to turn it on..

If i was to rate the flight so far i would say all in all great - not perfect, but great... one thing missing is still that extra room for legs for us tall guys, but i guess i will eventually get use to that.. oh did i mention how polite the crew is, they are really friendly and nice, and extremely eager to serve you .. - and no i didnt complaint at all so far :-)))

Okay so off to catch another movie or maybe a silly tv series, or simply just "kick back" and "relax" - yeah right ... where to put the rest of my legs..

....another 6 hours and 47 min to my destination..

...Up in the air - Vienna - Brussels - Chennai

After roughtly 2 hours of sleep, i left Bratislava at 4.30, the taxi driver was an older gentleman, that was full of energy, and we managed to cover the finanical crisis, the "no" from the Slovak government to the euro funds, what has changed in slovakia over the pass decade.. all in all a wonderful start to what will be a long day..After a fast check in (the beauty of flying that early in the morning is that people are still just waking up) i moved to the gate area, a fast pit-stop at a book store (needed to get my English magazins - as i am not being paid for advertisement, i wont tell you which ones they are .. :-) and i am set to go. Flight from vienna to Brussels seemingly is on time, which is a surprise knowing my luck, so now a 1 hour and 25 min flight (by the way for those of you that have never been to Brussels - i can highly recommend it) and let me jsut share with you what i see, i see our my window, the sun rising, as we wait for take off, and then as we move up, up and furhter up - i see a a slight level of clouds and then clear blue sky - oh what a sight, i wish you could all see this - what a wonderful view, i am almost getting emotional, not traveling for a long time, i almost forgot what it looked like (for those of you that are frequent flyers - you know what i am talking about) it truly is a wonder, below i see lakes curving, small cities, green areas and it makes me realize the obvious our planet is amazing..

Okay so this is what my day will be looking like, i will arrive to Brussels at around 8:10 or so, then a small break and then 10.50 i will get on airbus to India - Chennai, and this flight should take some 9 - 10 hours...great right, well listen to this, a couple of days before leaving - we were wishing each other (i am going to meet 11 other colleagues of mine in Chennai), and it turns out that one of my colleagues will be flying out of Brussels on the same flight as me - so i will meet up with him, and i am sure that we will have a lot of things to discuss and share with each other on this flight, but isnt it funny how things are so connected, how we are so connect, and even more - what a small world this is...So to tell the truth i am excited, as i mentioned already i managed to get only a couple of hours sleep last night, i was like a small child before Christmas - Chennai here i come :-))

sitting in my seat - looking out the window, just now really realizing that i am going off for a 4 week assignment in India, it stricks me, how lucky i have been, and how lucky i am, imagine this "average Joe" moving to Slovakia some 9 years ago - is sitting on a flight to India to do an assignment working with their local communities, not in my wildest fantazy would i have dreamt of this ... i have to admit that i owe this moment to a very special person, for motivating me to apply for the CSC program, so without doing any name dropping - THANK YOU, you know who you are ... - thank you for inspiring me to make one of the best decisions in my professional career and follow a dream of mine to go to India - this moment i share with you - you made me do this ... and for that your remain special to me ...

So friends and colleagues allow me to enjoy this moment - i will lean back, enjoy the view, read a bit... but most of all think of the assignment that is in front of me .. oh i still didnt tell you what i am going to do in Chennai, well read on and you will find out ... till then - up in the air - and off i go ...

..What is the worse thing about going somewhere??

So i am leaving in less than 24 hours - and i am done packing, for sure there are a million things that i forgot, oh well i guess i will have to do without them, it is after all "only" 4 weeks in India.What happens every time i pack to go somewhere, i realize one thing, (actually i realize more things..) i realize how much i hate packing and unpacking (i dont know about you - but it's a thing that i really do not get, i never ever managed  to pack everything i needed..), okay so this time around i am i am challenged with the following issue, what do you pack for India, i guess sandals, light cloth, t-shirts, underwear, socks, camera, reading material for the flight, shoes, and loads of medicine, i mean my doctor has just given me a ton of different tablets for everything, i honestly believe that i could start a small pharmacy in India ... i mean honestly all the medicaments i have with me - is insane, i am use to not pack a lot of stuff like that, but this time around i have been recommended to bring this, so i guess i will do so.... So that is half of my bag - medicaments, the other half, you will never guess it ... - sweets for the kids that i will be working with .. :-)) all of my friends that have been to India - tells me that everybody in India loves sweet things... (everybody likes sweets right, hhmm personally not a big fan of sweets..)

Ok, back to the headline - you know what is the worse thing about going somewhere ?? no it is not the packing, i mean i really dont like that, but for me there is something worse than that... - did you guess it ? it is the waiting time, i am starting to feel tense, excited, stressed, worried, this feeling i get every time i am about to go somewhere, and this time it is even worse, i mean i will fly off to India for 4 weeks of work there.. - i mean it will be an experience, it will be a life-changing experience, but still i am tense, stressed, worried .. uuff - i hate that feeling, and the more i have to wait to fly off and get started the more intensified this feeling is becoming...

So did i tell you what i will be doing in India ? If not i guess you will have to hang around a bit more so i can let you know ...

believe it or not - i am actually off right now to the pharmacy to get some other stuff for the trip ... so hang around, i will for sure be back with the latest of my travel fever ...

...till our next time, stay cool and calm ...

..just a thought

it seems like i am already getting addicted to write down my thought :-)) so as i am slowly starting to get ready for leaving Slovakia (i am leaving this friday, being picked up at 4.30 in the morning, and i am an evening person - that will be brutal for me) i found some interesting reading material that we got from our facilitators, and i made some notes to some of the papers, one was especially interesting, and it was a question i got asked yesterday by a friend of mine, when i was teaching at the university, the question is pretty simple, listen to this (and try and answer it for yourself..)

"who are you?" and "who do you want to become?" - do you have the answers to this, if yes great, but if you like myself struggle to answer that, i am happy to know that i am not alone :-) now i know that who i am now, will not necessarily be the same as when i will come back from India.. i am curious to see what will change and how i will change..

in connection to this question "who are you?" i have also been asked this question "what is your leadership style?" and "how will this change?"

simple questions - but as of now, questions for which i dont have the answers .. - maybe i am looking at this the wrong way, i tend to look to the future, but maybe i should start to reflect over my past to see where i have come from, i dont know .. hhmm nothing to get the brain cells working than a bit of self-reflection...

okay i will leave it for now, but hope in a later post i will be able to add a bit of clarity on this..

Time is ticking ...

Ok, so finally I managed to get my act together to set up my new blog.. - look for a person like me, that is really anti-talented with blogging and tweeting, i think it is going pretty well...

So "a trip versus a journey" what is that all about - well to be honest i have had the idea to set up my blog for some time now, and as life sometimes has a funny way of getting the best of you, it got me .. so here is what happened; sometime ago i got selected to go for a 4 week assignment to India for the company i work for, and needless to say i am very exited about that (even without knowing what i would be doing there..) - so our facilitators and colleagues and friends has been encouraging us to start a blog and share as much as possible with our broader community ... - and i personally think it is a great idea :-))

Now why did i call it "a trip versus a journey"? well once i found out that i would go to India, i have been thinking and reflecting a great deal about what will change once i come back to my "normal" work-day, and although i have lived in and is living in a foreign country this time around i truly believe it will have a great impact on my life going forward.. - so as i starting thinking about how i would and will change, i also considered the simple fact that although this trip i will go on is limited for 4 weeks only - it will most likely force me to start a new lifelong journey into discovering a "new me" - hence the name "a trip versus a journey"..

So if you have read the above so far i take it that you will take those extra 30 sec. to read below, please note that everything written on this blog is reflections of what i think and feel, it is in no aspect or matter a statement of what the company i work for feels or believes. So having said that, i hope you will continue to read on and follow me and join my journey, as i continue to learn new things about myself, see a different community, meet new people and friends...and above all try to make sense out of all the different "dots" in my life ..

...my friends / family and colleagues - till next time, stay yourself