So now within 18 hours of take-off for an 18 hour set of flights to Hyderabad, India.
Lots of stuff running through my head, none more important than the instability in the Middle East and the fact that I'll be half a world away from my loved ones.
Freedom is a wacky thing, innit? To get it, you have to fight like hell and it's never easy, lives are lost and there is a lot of pain. Then when you have it, you fight like hell about what kind of version of freedom is best (see Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, etc. etc. etc.)
So I'm trying to pack lightly and think I won't have a problem with that. Most of my days are in business-type meetings and for the few days I have to my own I can pretty much wear the same pants, just change shirts. Although I'm gone for 8 calendar days, you basically spend 2 in the air, so it's not a difficult pack to do.
I also bought something on the advice of my friend Thomas who is also on this trip with me. It's called a SteriPen and it's a rather small device that uses Ultra-Violet light to sterilize quantities of drinking water. The link is the version I bought (Dick's Sporting Goods only had 2 choices) and it can take care of 0.5L and 1.0L quantities in something like 24 seconds.
I've started downing my malaria pills as well. One a day for two days before being in-country and then one each day there and then one a day for 7 days after returning home. I also have some Ciprofloxacin in case I get a case of Montezuma's revenge. Although since I'll be in India what would it be called? Ghandi's revenge? But he was a pacifist so that doesn't work.
I also had to quickly find some adapters for electronic devices. Because India was long-held a British territory their outlets are UK-like, however, it's not the modern-day UK plug, it's the "old world" kind which most places do not sell. Thank the Lord that we have a decent sized Indian population in Chicago as I was able to find no less than 20 electronic stores, most on Devon Ave. (Little India) but I did find one out near O'Hare airport. They couldn't have been nicer people and frankly at $1.79 a piece, I bought 3!
For my last "dinner", we took a somewhat cranky Aidan to Buffalo Wild Wings and they had a new limited time sauce called Thai Curry. I tried it and it was pretty good. Might as well get my body ready for the curry (yes, I know Thai is not Indian, that's not the point).
Just synchronizing up my laptop so that all my files are backed up on the corporate network and then I'll finish packing. Oh hey, and for all my metal-head friends, I'm downloading the Lemmy documentary which would be something only I would watch in my household so better to enjoy it on a long flight. Here's a 5-minute movie trailer for those who want to enjoy!! (and you know who you are!)
Until later.......Namaste!
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