How Travel Also Teaches

That 'travel teaches' is a given.....the newness of a place, of a culture, of food, of people.....generally a lot of fun, and needless to say, a huge expanding of horizons. 

And then there's also the other side to it. A trip....the thinking, the deciding, the planning, the arranging, the bookings......

                         

And while all that can also be engaging and fun....it can also drive you nuts. Yep, no points for guessing....I had it pretty tough this morning.

I was doing a web checkin......and what started as a simple, straightforward process, went as all over the place as it could. What I had set aside ten minutes for, took a full three hours.

First off, I realize that if you want window seats, you need to pay for them....well, I wanted window, so paid. Then found the payment had gone, but no seats. And what's worse the registered email was from makemytrip, so my messages were going there, and this inspite of my changing email.

Then the onerous task of getting through to customer service ...the IVR....and once there, I realized I had six different PNRs, and what's more...on three different airlines ( no direct flights :)

That sorted, on the next airline I'm stuck because it's says 'booking not recognized', any permutation combination I tried...not recognized. Back to IVR, and madam at the other end says, 'use a different browser'. I was by then on the task for over an hour...and I was in no mood to take being palmed off with a casual 'use a different browser'. Ten minutes more to get the supervisor online, and then he figures it...middle name and last name have no space in between. I needed to have done Dhruva PrasadDevara. Who'd have thought.

And trust me, I had more issues, but will stop with this....anyways by this time nerves were stretched thin enough. And the reason I write all of this happens here.....to share what worked. 

Mindfulness .....actually mindfulness exercises.

Step out of that space...like physically, sit elsewhere.....close your eyes.....listen to the sounds around.....feel the air on your body...... feel your toes..... feel the movements within the body...feel your breath....go on for two minutes (like actually two minutes). It works like magic...... the energy shifts.

That bit of awareness, that bit of effort, and you can change a lot of things around you (and within you)

I was very soon fully back in action ....grounded, present and in joyful anticipation :)