Poetry, Travelogue

Life Lessons and Experiences​

57 Comments

Day 1 – 15-Jul-18

An almost aborted trip, a missed connection aborted in the last minute, a 29-year-old Lyft driver who claimed to have semi-retired, a canceled meeting and a ride on a police van. The only thing my recent trip didn’t offer was the dearth of excitement.

If you have read my previous post you must have learned how I had almost canceled the trip to Louisville, but then the good Soul Linda from United Airlines saved my day. If you have not you can read it here

If you are thinking my share of thrill has ended with that nearly missed flight, you are wrong. Still interested, please read on. 😊

I reached Louisville without any more incidence close to midnight. My connection from Chicago was on time and everything worked out just as expected. The rideshare driver I hailed was an interesting person. While speaking to him I learned he was visiting his sister helping her with her newborn baby. He was young lad so the curiosity got the best out of me and I asked him whether he had taken time off to be close to his sis. His response surprised me.

He was 29 and almost retired. He was from Hawaii, the big island and had two Air BnB properties, the reason for his early rertirement. After he left School he worked for 10 years as a bartender and then as a bar manager. He saved enough to buy his first property in Hawaii. Once that worked out, he bought a second one and now he doesn’t have to work anymore. He was driving rideshare to kill time.😊  A job that you don’t work for money is the best job ever. He taught me two important lessons

Lesson 1 – The clarity in what he wanted from life. At a tender age of 18, he had a plan and he made it happen.

Lesson 2-  Define how much is enough. I may be earning much more than him but I am far from retirement 😛

Our conversation then naturally progressed to the volcanic eruptions on the Big Island. As most of you may know, there is an active volcano in Hawaii erupting lava on a continuous basis. I learned two things from him, the Big Island, to begin with, was small, it grew bigger as the lava from volcanos took over the areas from Ocean. Second, his favorite clear water snorkeling in Big Island would be a piece of land after the eruptions stop. It sure was a big hit on his rental income as because of the high concentration of sulfur-dioxide in the air, there is a mandatory evacuation.

Day 2 – 16-Jul-18

My meeting went really well and with a blithe mood, I headed to the airport. This time I was flying to Miami connecting via Atlanta. I am United patronage but since it was not home turf I had to travel Delta Airlines. I do not have any status with Delta and I was a little skeptical about the experience, but it turned out to be ok. The flight boarded on time but was delayed due to weather and we waited on the tarmac for long.  Enough to make me miss my connecting flight 😩

But the pilot did some maneuvering and we deplaned by 7:07 PM. My connecting flight was at 7:33. I hurriedly looked at the display board, it was a D gate. Atlanta is a humungous airport. From where I was, I had to dash for 1/2 mile first to catch the in-terminal transit train and then another 100 meters to reach the gate. I somehow made it to the gate, only to find they changed it to E terminal. That was another quarter mile dash to the train and few hundred meters to the gate. As luck would have it to my deep frustration they changed the gate again to E8 from E28. I dashed for another 200M to finally reach my gate. I was the last person to enter. I was happy with my run, for I ran with two bags without losing breath 💪 Yay!!

The moment I landed in Miami, I was welcomed with a text message – the meeting for which I traveled was canceled. Apparently, the person I was meeting had some emergency,🚨 nothing I could question about.🤐 I did all the running for nothing. I had two option enjoy Miami or take the next flight back home. I did the latter.

Today, 17-Jul-18

It was an early morning flight. Sleep deprived😴 I reached home and found my car tire had no juice. I thought of getting some Air for the tires, finish a phone meeting and sleep early. Only I could wish. As I was filling the air, my car keys 🔑 fell out of my pocket into the nearby water drainage 💦 😱

The drain must be 8 feet deep. I could see my keys but no way I could move the iron grill. I called the local police.👮‍♀️ After 45 minutes of waiting the police officer showed up but couldn’t do much. He tried calling the Fire Dept, the water dept. but everyone refused to help. Then it started raining ☔️ So, he offered me a ride to my home to get my duplicate key. It was really kind of him to offer that, thank you office Sullivan.

Fellas, this is how it ended. I rode in a police car, 🚘 in the back seat, where usually criminal sit. It was an odd feeling, but you got to do what you got to do.

I had my share of excitement for the day. How did your day go?

Copyright © Shantanu Baruah

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57 thoughts on “Life Lessons and Experiences​”

  5. I’m here to read the gud stuff which you always come up with so thanks to you👍🏻

  11. Dear lord, excitement and adventure sure gave a way to find you.For most people all these things happen in a span of time,but for someone like you ..life like to keep things spicey for you.All the best for your next trip and safe travels,my dear

  13. Oh you sure did.I always have this fear of my keys falling in the drain opening or between the elevator doors.I almost gaped while reading your post.You travel so much to carrying copy of your car keys with you.

  23. Wow! What a read — and to imagine you went through it all. Non-stop excitement. Happy you are home safe. I enjoyed being an armchair traveler going up and down the planes, rides and police van with you. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

  24. Shantanu your post made me laugh, what a comedy of mishaps. I am sure riding in that van was an experience you will never forget. Haha. ♥️
    Such is life, crazy and insane at times.

  48. Sent by accident! I leave my house at 7:30 am, get home at 1230 am M-F + blogging in between. Yeah, crazy busy is only the start. Blessings my friend!

  53. Lol…🤣 Life Lessons , through your adventurous experience was definitely a motion picture. Laughter is good for the heart. You certainly demonstrated patience and encounter wonderful people who are interesting. Thanks for sharing,

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