Heading Out

Today I embark on my first international travel in quite some time.  I've been outside of the US only twice in my life.  The first was a trip to Jamaica (of approximately 10 days) for a Circle K convention in August of 1998.  I was 19 at the time.  The second was a trip to Montreal (for approximately 3 days) with some friends for the millennium New Year in December of 1999.  I was 20 at the time.  And does Canada really count as international travel?  I don't think so.

Needless to say, it's been a while.  It can be said that I was young and stupid then, and one wouldn't exactly be subject to a libel charge of one said that I'm older and stupider now.  So one can go ahead and say that.  Get it all out, it's ok.  I can wait.

...

So, why am I going to the Philippines?  It's a business trip, plain and simple.  But it's a five week business trip, which makes it a little less simple and a lot less plain.  Business trips with my employer are more often mid-week trips for a couple of days to a client office.  While on-site, we belong to the client from dawn until dusk.  (Not technically, but it works out that way.)  This one is distinctly different.  The client isn't there, it's an intra-office exchange of sorts.  (In fact, technically, I'm the client for the office in Manila.)  Mornings are mine.  Evenings are mine.  Weekends are mine.  It's a proper holiday, with some important work thrown into the mix.

I don't know if I'll be allowed to leave the country while I'm there, but if I can then I'll make every effort to see some key sights along the South China Sea.  Even if I can't, there's no shortage of things to see and do in the Philippines.  Go out to some secluded island, walk up a volcano, take in the local culture.  Hey, does Manny Pacquiao still fight?  Tickets to see him in the US generally involve dropping a grand on a trip to some big venue in Vegas.  But in the Philippines it should be pretty reasonable, I would think.  That would be awesome.

Granted, five weeks away from my children will be difficult.  I've done more, I can handle it.  But that's part of what makes it a proper holiday.  I'm not running around with the family, dealing with screaming kids and, well, other unpleasant things.  During these next five weeks I could work 50-hour weeks at the office and it would still be a vacation.  The time is mine.  Of course, I won't just relax and slack off during all of the down-time.  No, sir.  I do in fact plan to spend a lot of time alone in my hotel room working on career development.  Reading, writing, coding, crafting and practicing presentations and workshops, etc.  A kind of a mini-sabbatical of sorts.

And so now my trip begins.  I'm currently sitting at a JetBlue gate in Terminal C at Logan International Airport in Boston, MA.  My flight boards in approximately an hour, after which time I'll be off to San Francisco for a layover of a few hours.  That layover time will be important, actually, because JetBlue doesn't have a partnership with Philippine Air, so they can't transfer my bags directly.  I need to pick them up, then go check in for the next leg of my trip.  A little annoying, but not a big deal.

The second leg of the trip will be a big one.  I've never flown across an ocean before.  Luckily, I'm in business class, so I should be moderately comfortable.  Sixteen hours in coach sounds... ill-advised.  A sixteen hour flight at all, however, is very new to me.  The furthest I've ever flown before is California.  This will be quite a bit further than that.  The time will pass differently, since we'll be going through time zone after time zone eventually arriving at a twelve-hour difference.  (The trip back will be interesting, too.  Including the fact that the rotation of the Earth will be actively working against us on that one.)

During the second leg of the trip there will apparently be a stop in Guam.  Cool, I've never been to Guam.  Though I've known two, um, Guamish people.  (Guamerican?  Guamanian?  Guam-drops?  Who the hell knows.)  I fully expect that it's just a re-fueling stop and we won't actually disembark the aircraft, which would be mildly disappointing.  But just to do a Facebook check-in from Guam would be pretty cool.

It's raining outside right now.  I wonder if it rains a lot in Manila this time of year.  It's a tropical country, so I expect a lot of heat.  It's also something like the largest metropolitan area on the planet and a third-world country, so I expect a bit of smog and congestion in general.  But that's just Manila.  There's a lot more of the Philippines, and I want to see those parts.  Additionally, I might be lucky with my location in Manila.  Apparently the area in which I'll be staying is supposed to be really nice, perhaps even the nicest part of the city.  The Beverly Hills of the Philippines, perhaps?  I doubt a direct analogy holds.  Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

The cultural experience alone will be fantastic.  Maybe I'll pick up some Tagalog while I'm there.  (Hence the URL for this blog... Tagalenglish.  I imagine the best I'll be able to do in a five-week stay will be a heavily American English influenced butchering of Tagalog.  I won't so much speak the language as much as I'll chew it up and spit it out again.  Sounds like fun, really.

I'm leaving behind some pretty important people in my life for a pretty significant chunk of time.  Communication will be key.  But I think I need this.  Could this turn into my mid-life crisis?  That certainly sounds like fun.  I guess we'll wait and see.  Hopefully my employer doesn't call me within the next hour (or even the next several hours before I actually leave the country) and cancel the trip.  It can happen, and there's potential cause for it to happen in this case, but it's highly unlikely.

Wish me luck, and I'll be in touch.