A global world

I sit here, some time since I last wrote, with my pilot currently somewhere in Asia, my parents in Europe and having myself recently returned from South America. My Grandmother does not understand our interest in travel. Each time someone in the family announces a new trip she asks 'why do you want to go there?'. She likes to tell people that she has been overseas and doesn't understand the fuss. Her 'overseas' experience was a short flight to a nearby island some 60 years ago. It is an amazing time we live in when we can fly virtually anywhere in the world within a day. My ancestors spent months on a boat to travel a distance I have flown multiple times taking only 20 something hours. My partner's job involves spending a couple of days in various continents each roster. How the concept of travel has changed in just a couple of generations.

My pilot's best mate (N) , also a pilot, has recently split up with his girlfriend (A). I was saddened by this as I have become good friends with them both and really enjoy their company. It seems that one of the main issues behind them spliting was her difficulty in trusting him to be faithful when away. That terrible stereotype of pilots playing around when away from home. Unfortunately it would seem that some of N's friends were enjoying the freedom and 'socialising' on trips and A was aware of these events and had trouble believing that it wasn't all the pilots behaving in this way. I am sure there were other reasons they split and perhaps they were just not meant to be but I hate that the 'unfaithful pilot' issue reared its ugly head in this situation.

The travels I mentioned above in South America were with my pilot. Would you believe it was his first time traveling in international economy. All of his previous international flying has been up the pointy end of the jet or duty travel in business class. Welcome to the real world Pilot P!! We spent an amazing 2 months exploring such contrasting places. From the crazy Rio Carnival to the wilderness of Patagonia and the harshness of the Andes. We saw and did some amazing things. There were challenges though. With P's work schedule, we are not accustomed to spending such a long period of time together and the kind of travelling we were doing was intense. We were within 50 metres of each other virtually the whole time. All those cute little quirks in each other suddenly become rather irritating and the stress of fatigue, lack of sleep, exhausting activites and occasional illness saw us not always being very patient with one another. To add to the challenge we were often camping either in the oppressive humidity of Brazil or the bitter cold of Chile. We got through it though, and have some amazing memories of shared experiences and achievements! We are now back into our usual routine of crazy work schedules and looking forward to our time together.

Today I received my new phone. Yep, I have joined the cult. Having resisted for quite a long time, I finally gave in and got myself an iphone. I love it and wonder how I have been living without one! All the possiblities....... I think I shall have to go and play with my new toy!