Quito or Bust!

I HAVE BEEN MENTALLY PREPARING TO GO OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE FOR SOME TIME. I expected to feel a bit anxious at the airport today, but that didn't happen. It’s amazing how old habits kick in sometimes, and that’s exactly what occured this morning. I have done so much business travel over the years that once I walked into the terminal I went on autopilot. (A friend of mine once threatened to buy a row of airplane seats for my living room. She said it might make me feel more at home when I’m not at that airport.)

What really pushed me outside my comfort zone was something I never anticipated: leaving my cell phone at home. This is one of those things, at least in 2006, you don’t think about much. Carrying a phone around is about as automatic as wearing socks. At least it is for me. Riding to the airport I was amazed at how I practically felt naked without it. It’s not that I even needed to call someone. It’s a wonderful example of how modern conveniences become so ingrained in our lifestyle that we are dependent on them. I’m sure the phone will the first of many such realizations over the coming months, and I’m looking forward to discovering what other things have created dependencies in my life.

Thanks to the vagaries of air travel I had the pleasure of visiting both Los Angeles and Houston before turning south across the Gulf of Mexico. Flying out of L.A. I watched the city disappear under the dense blanket of smog that hangs over this great metropolis, relieved to be leaving it behind. In Houston I bought a cup of Starbucks coffee – grande drip, no room – figuring that it might be my last for a while, before heading off to the gate to board my plane.

Now, looking down on the Yucutan Peninsula to my right I can see lights along the Mexican coast twinkling in the twilight. In a few hours my plane will land in Quito and I’ll set foot in the southern hemisphere for the first time. As I watch the tropics of Central America slip past below me I am looking forward to breathing the cool, dry air of the Andes.