Oops, i did it again...

Heathrow Airport, London --- J, remember our ordeal last year before we reached Brazil? You know -- when the airline cancelled our flight 2 hours before the departure and we had to find another flight then find a very nice friend of mine to drive us all the way to JFK airport (about 2 hours away from Neptune without traffic), and then we missed our connecting flight in Miami so we had to stay in a sleazy hotel in very hot Miami then you used your lawyer skills to get as an earlier flight then we had to walk along the very hot Miami highway (while I was carrying a Playstation 3) then we got a cab to the almost deserted airport (it was 1am) then we finally reached Brazil but then they lost our backpacks so we had to go to the cramped hostel with nothing so we took a shower using borrowed stuff and we dried ourselves with toilet paper? Yup, THAT ordeal. Well, it kinda happened again. Ako na nga 'ata ang may balat sa puwet. I have to check...

MY ORDEAL PART II (2009 version)
Okay, just to rationalize a bit, I have been really stressed these past weeks leading to my vacay because I am going through my fellowship interviews. So I had just gotten back from Boston because I had my interview at Massachusetts General. The following day, I had to leave for Spain. I was stressed because I had to pack in a rush and finish all my chief res responsibilities and other fellowship requirements before I leave. Anyway, en route to JFK airport (after 2 hours of weeding through the traffic), I realized that I left my passport. (nightmare!). So I had to call my very nice friend (same friend last year - Anitha) to bring me my passport. She wasn´t too happy about this because 1) I already asked her last year and 2) the drive to JFK was terrible. But because she´s really nice so she did it anyway. I had to change to a later flight because my passport would not make it in time. So I got the last flight available but the stop over is in London. So here I am now in Heathrow Airport. I have to wait for 9 hours (my butt´s hurtin´) because there are no available earlier flights to Spain. I guess everyone wanted to go to the land of the Spanish papas too.

I love lists. So here is my list of things I am going to do while I wait:
1. people-watch
2. watch out for any Beckham sightings
3. listen to my iPod
4. look out for Becks
5. look at the clock 1,000,000 times
6. read my book (House of God)
7. watch out for Becks
8. read my pediatric journals ( yup, I´m a nerd)
9. listen to podcasts about pediatric critical care (yup, i´m a dork)
10. people-watch
11. ogle at European men in skinny jeans
12. watch out for Beckham

how to travel together and stay friends

this made me laugh. i can relate especially since a few years and several countries later, you can’t expect traveling with your best buddies to be perfect. yes, we love each other. but each one of us has a different travel style. minor hassles can get amplified on the road, and proximity 24 hours a day can breed contempt. examples: waking up an hour late and making the rest of the group wait , being cranky while getting lost, and having enough drink to require assistance to get to the nearest tuk-tuk the next day. and we’ve had serious heart-to-hearts/bull sessions while backpacking, too (last one in recent memory: at a rio de janeiro club, while politely explaining to an african guy to mind his own business).

but the little arguments/misunderstandings also make for interesting stories. the good times definitely outweigh the bad. once apologies and time-outs have had their run, we can just laugh at the pettiness while planning the next big trip ü right, girls?

the philanthropist

what do you get when you cross a british rock star with an american billionaire?

sting was at a brazilian bar a few years ago when he met a fellow traveler. the man had a distinctive boston accent and a great story to tell. he wanted danger & excitement in his life. he wasn’t happy just wallowing in wealth and he wanted to give it away. tons of it.

it’s easy to throw around the phrase “life-changing” but it describes the path the man chose when he decided to give his dollars some mileage on a full-time basis. no mere check-signing and photo ops though. he practiced his “eyeball-to-eyeball” philanthropy, making his way to poor countries and getting in the thick of things. he has even lived in a tent in pakistan and has shared a toilet with 40 monks in the himalayas.

sting hit it off with the flamboyant american and they ended up as good friends and travel buddies. the englishman was so inspired by his friend that he worked to have a show based on his adventures. flash forward to this month and sting and his wife’s pitch has become “the philanthropist” on nbc.

of course, the tv version is glamorized. he's a suave briton living the CEO life in the big apple (“englishman in new york" is cheekily played in the background in one scene). a lady’s man who thinks nothing of tipping a pretty bartender with $1,000. he works his charm in africa and seduces the skeptical doctor who needs his help getting vaccines. and unlike the real philanthropist, he doesn’t bring along his entire family on his altruistic expeditions.

more on bobby sager (the real deal) and his traveling foundation and roadshow here.