I have been in India a couple of times before, but India is fascinating every time, on so many levels. Why do I think so? Well, the Indian culture is so much different from my own and every time I come back, my horizon moves a bit more. Every time I go there, I come back with lots of thoughts and realizations. India is grounding me in a way.

Why? One aspect is the poverty in India. Many people don’t have homes, sleep on the streets, have not enough to eat. This makes me very sad. Especially when we are driving around in cabs, from the hotel to the office. And at the junctions, women with little children knock at the car window and ask for money because they are starving. Then I’ll try to help, but I can’t help them all. And I feel bad about myself because of that. I simply was lucky to be born into a rich and safe country. And people in India and other countries have to fight every day to survive. And I have a cab driving me into my hotel to have a big dinner. This feels not right at all.
And then I remember how many people in my home country behave. There is so much greediness, distrust, envy, jealousy and materialism, despite all the security, wealth and social safety nets. People are save and rich in average, many own a lot of stuff and still it is not enough. People are grumpy and unhappy. And even worse, people think they have deserved their status, money, safety. They start thinking that they are better than others, becoming arrogant, impolite and disrespectful. But actually they just have been lucky to be born into a safe and rich society. This is really sad, everything is taken for granted without thinking.

But actually it is not the poverty alone, what grounds me. It is rather the contradictions. Every country has rich and poor people, but in India the discrepancy couldn’t be more drastic. There are very poor people, living at the streets, having nothing to eat. And right next to that there is a big building with glass fronts, modern and shiny. On the streets you can find camel carts next to a Mercedes S500. Those drastic mismatches are everywhere. Might it be the modern building of a software company, right next to a hundred years old temple with praying monks. These discrepancies are something I have difficulties to accept.

But India is much more. I love the colors. India is so colorful, it is amazing. Especially if you come from a country like mine, which is rather dull and grey compared to India. You can find the complete spectrum of almost everything in India, not only the color spectrum. This is what makes India so fascinating for me.
Another aspect is the attitude of many people there. Despite the hard living conditions and besides all poverty, people appear happier. People appreciate what they have and are happy with their lives. Isn’t this great? I love that. especially since I am coming from a rich country. Back at home people own a lot of things, but nonetheless they are unhappy. There is so much envy and anger and frustration and isolation and materialism. And now think twice which of the two countries is richer.

Getting up early in the morning is a funny thing. You are always tired, it’s warm and cosy in your bed and your blanket is the best thing on earth in this very moment. You turn left: Cold! You turn right: Wall! Damn, trapped. But hey, so what. You manage to get out of bed and you promise yourself that you need to go to bed earlier tonight. Of course you won’t 😉

The shower needs some time to produce warm water. This is the point in time you wake up completely. At least something. And you are late for the train, as always. Hectic starts and you run out of your house. It’s dark and rainy, congratulations. Another one of those days. Not being grumpy in this moment turns out to be a challenge. But it can be mastered, at least until you reach the train station. The platform is filled with grumpy people. Almost everybody is looking grumpy or empty or is vanished into his or her own smartphone world. Experiencing others in the very same mood you have been a minute ago, this produces a smile at your face. You are tempted to scream a “Good morning world! Good morning people!”, with a huge smile. Just to enjoy the reactions. But you are afraid people will throw you in front of the arriving train. So you better skip that outburst of happiness. Live can be dangerous, especially in the mornings.

Somehow you manage to get into the train and of course there is no free seat left. Why should there be? And anyway, since your sitting in office all day anyway, why not using this opportunity to stand for some time, with a backpack, in a hot and full train, between grumpy people. It’s fun, kind of a social event in the morning. And there is always this one guy, who has the need to let the entire world know what’s going on in his life. The guy who talks loudly, very, annoyingly loudly. There is always one. People start rolling eyes, at least the ones without smartphone. But hey, talkativeness needs to be expressed. So, ignore-mode on. Interestingly it requires some effort to ignore this background noise. Hence the easy way, smartphone distraction. Let’s check the weather and the news, and email, and social networks. Looking up the very next second, the scenery has changed. Different people around, suddenly. How did that happen? And when? Oh, this is the station to get out of the train. Impressive, such a smartphone has the ability to shut down the world around you. Kind of time machine.

Time to jump back into the real life. The main station is crowded and busy, always. So many people heading to work, always in a hurry. Too busy to realize how life passes, silently, inexorably, hour by hour, day by day. Everybody is busy running in his own hamster wheel, faster and faster, but always at the same place. It requires some effort to stop running, to jump out of this hamster wheel, to look around. Life has so much to offer, if you take the time to look around. Life is beautiful, isn’t it?

Are you afraid of changes? I am, kind of. Although many people at work keep telling me that I have a pronounced sympathy for changes. Well, yes, but those office changes have been all within my comfort zone. I was sure about those decisions, about the benefits of them. I was confident that those changes will improve things. And most of the time they did.

But now I am going to do a change which is bigger, at least for me. I quit my job and start in a different company soon. This is a change I consider as big. Well, for many other countries this is rather normal and the way to be, but for my home country this is a big step, since it is not that common. It is rather unusual to quit a job which seems to fit well. People tend to stay their entire life within one company. For some reason there is a high loyalty regarding to this. Even more after so many years within the same company.

So for me it is a big step. But it is the right step and I feel good with my decision. I am looking forward to the new challenges. Yes, I am hell enthusiastic about it. Nonetheless I have respect and hope I can fulfill the expectations in me I raised. So this is a good combination and I am sure things will fall into place.

But I was curious why I feel the way I feel. There are two aspects in that. First I am leaving a job I loved and a company I was proud to work for. I have learned so much within that company and I’ve made so many friends in there. It was not easy to leave, especially the last days have been very emotional for me. So mixed feelings, lot’s of them.

And the second aspect is that I am leaving my comfort zone. I rarely did within the last few years. I was good in my job and I knew how to handle things, how to deal with certain situations. My decisions have been based on knowledge and experience and I was confident about the outcome. This here is different. Leaving the company and starting freshly is different. I do not have the knowledge nor experience how this will turn out. I am stepping out of my comfort zone to try something new. That’s why this is a big change for me. And actually the big change is not to quit nor to go to a new company, the big change is to break the pattern of decision making, to jump out of my comfort zone, far away from it. And it feels damn good 😉

When have you seen a sunset last time? I mean a real one. Theoretically there is one every day, and this shouldn’t be a surprise for you. But when did you actually take the time to sit and to watch it, consciously? Some time ago, right. But why don’t you do that regularly? Because it became normality? Or maybe because you are busy with something else in the evenings? What is your excuse?

Yeah, it became so normal and given that we take it for granted. But actually it is not. There are so many people who are not able to enjoy sunsets for various reason. But you are able to, and still do not value that gift. Yes, we are chasing schedules, plans, responsibilities, money, material things. We are so busy with those that we do not see the little pleasures of life. And even worse, we do not appreciate them anymore. When has been the last time you stopped to behold a blooming flower, to smell it, to appreciate it. You can’t even remember. You have been busy rushing through your life. When has been the last time you stopped at a creek to watch the water jumping over stones and roots, to marvel the reflections of the sun, to appreciate. Probably ages ago, when you have been a child. When have you smiled last time into the face of a stranger? You  might be surprised, the smile might be returned. But I forgot, you are too busy and focused on the little screen of your smartphone. You do not even recognize the people around you anymore, nor the beauty of nature.

But isn’t this what life makes beautiful? Aren’t the small things the ones which make you happy long-term? Isn’t it the beautiful rose in the neighbors garden or the rays of sunlight between the trees? Isn’t it the smell of the wood and the grass after a heavy rain? Isn’t it a sunset after a long day? Oh yes, the sunset, with all it’s colors and atmosphere. When the sun slowly sinks at the horizon, embedded in clouds in various shapes and colors. And the world slows down for a moment. Yes, this is it. This is life. This is happiness.

And now turn off the TV you are gazing at every evening. Move your lazy bum outside and watch the sunset. Watch it with full conscious and gratefulness. Life is beautiful, isn’t it?

What is more difficult to deliver in a plausible way than to say “I love you” to your partner? Right, to say “Mom, I am not hungry!” when you are visiting your parents. This is a sentence moms are not able to parse. It seems like parental ears close automatically then. The acoustic waves wave around the head instead of waving into motherly ears.

I am living about 500km away from my home region and hence I’ll hit my mom’s place every now and then, every two or three months in average. It feels good to be home then and my mom is happy as well. Hence she is trying to provide my a nice time, as mom’s usually do. This is nice and I appreciate it a lot, but mom’s way is primarily food based. It starts in the morning, the breakfast table is full with food. Kind of “Mom, how many people are coming for breakfast today?” full. I stop after one or two bred rolls, which triggers the question: “Why don’t you eat?”, followed by the request: “Please have this and that and you need to try that here too.” It’s yummy, but I am stuffed already. And we are playing the same game for lunch. Mom knows what I like and prepares exactly those things. I like it a lot and hence I eat a lot. So my weakness for some special dishes makes it worse. Damn, this stuff is good.

After some time I am able to move again, to find a table full with cake and cookies. I love cake and cookies and one or too are always possible. That is awesome, but keeps my filling degree on a nice high level. Unfortunately I am allergic against cookies and cake, especially my hips. They swell in such a case. But a “Come on, one more piece, you became so thin” from my mom melts my resistance.

Dinner exactly the same. Why coming up with one meal, if my mom can present two or three in parallel, just in case I would like to have more. Already one of them would fill me up completely, but hey, I might be hungry. I was not. But at least I had the remaining strength to roll from the kitchen to the couch in the living room to blob myself there. My belly tries to imitate a football and my mom stacks chocolate at the table next to me. Did I mention that I like chocolate?

A few days at my moms house require several months of sports to get back to my previous fitness level. I don’t blame my mom, it’s my cake addiction combined with my weakness to resists my most favorite dishes. But I am working on that. Mom, I love you! 😉

Everybody has dreams, goals in life. When we are younger even more. The world is open, so many things to do, to achieve, to see, to learn. So many possibilities. So many ” one day I’ll do this and that”. Everybody has a list of dreams, smaller and bigger ones. Dreams of a fulfilled life, happiness, family, places to visit, things to achieve. Who want’s to look back in age and regret? And know what, most of the time you regret the things you did not do. Yes there might be cases you regret something you did, which turned out as wrong decisions, but then you have learned something out of it, at least. But the things you did not do, those are the ones you will regret most.

So think about your big dreams. What are they? Family? House? Living abroad? Climbing Mount Everest? Whatever it is, how many of your big dreams have you realized so far? How many have you even started or tried? Think about it. This big dreams are the first ones we procrastinate. It’s not the right time to start it, maybe next year. But know what, there will be never the right time to realize a big dream. And there’s always something which can be used as an excuse to procrastinate. You do not have the money, you do not want to leave your current job, you do not meet all the prerequisites, it’s to risky to do this right now and so on. It never fits, so we procrastinate. We’ll always find a reason to tranquilize our conscience. And then suddenly you are old and some of the dreams can not be done anymore. If your dream is to cross the Atlantic ocean with a canoe, you shouldn’t wait until you are 70. So you simply run out of time and as a consequence out of your dreams. Time will decide for you and this is usually not the most optimal decision.

And when you start realizing that some of your dreams can not be achieved anymore you’ll feel bad, of course. Welcome in the midlife crisis. But there is a way out. Simply take your dreams seriously. Be aware of your dreams and be aware of the prerequisites and limits to start them in time. Make a plan how to achieve them. Break them down into smaller tasks. You want to run a marathon at least once in your life? It’s doable. Do the first step right now, create a training schedule for the next 2 years. Start slowly but regularly and increase continuously. Big dreams require proper preparation. To eat an elephant you need to cut him into smaller pieces you are able to chew.  To do that you need to know where to cut and you need a sharp knife. Plan to get a knife, plan to sharpen it, learn how to cut an elephant, make a schedule and stick to it. As simple as that. And the same strategy is applicable for your dream. Well, maybe you do not need the knife in each and every case 😉

Life is too short to procrastinate. Life is to valuable and precious to regret lost dreams. If you are having big dreams, then simply work on them, one after another. Stop dreaming your life, start living your dreams!

“You have exactly one life in which to do everything you’ll ever do. Act Accordingly.” – Colin Wright.

Christmas, the time at the end of the year which should be filled with peace and harmony. The time to reflect the year, the entire life. Time to become aware again of the important things in life, which are usually not material.

One aspect in this reflection game is anger. How many times last year have you been angry about something, about somebody? Honest answer please. More than a couple of times probably, maybe even once a day? More? What do you usually do when you are angry? Do you show it? Do you express it? Do you act on it? There is a huge range of possibilities. I am probably at the lower end of this range. It takes some effort to make me angry and hence I am not angry that often, rarely actually. On top comes that I do not really express anger as others might expect. Most of the time I stay calm and simply swallow. This has the effect that I am seen as calm and positive and a nice contemporary. Is this good? Well, at least for my environment and maybe even for me, short-term. But I am aware that this is not the best long-term strategy. I am working on this. and I know people at the other end of the scale which end up in rage even without reason. But that’s their nature, same as I have mine. This is nothing to judge about. There is no good or bad. The point is what you make out of that, how you act on your nature. You can consciously forgive to reduce the anger or you could attack and answer with revenge.

But what is anger? What triggers it? Does it come out of the blue? Anger if obviously the feeling you experience when something is not the way you want it to be. Why should you be angry if everything is nice and fluffy? Anger follows usually unmet expectations. Something or somebody does not behave as you expect it. But instead of checking our expectations we decide to become angry. Well, it’s much easier to search the problem in others or blame others. Why spending the effort to analyse where the anger really comes from? Yes, it is more effort to question the expectation itself. Why did we expect something to be in a certain way or somebody to act or behave in a certain way? Most of the time we do not even consider to communicate our expectations, but we are fast in complaining when they are not met. 

So one way to reduce anger is to work on your own expectations. But I agree this does not work out in all cases. What to do then? Well, one option is to hunt the bastard down and to kill him in a rage of revenge, or something like that. Does this help? Maybe at times, but most probably not, especially not if your victim has a similar attitude then yours. It’s not to hard to see the high potential of escalation in such a setup. Never give up, never step back, never surrender. The world has to feel my anger and has to burn! Will this make you feel better? There is a small chance it does, short-term, but only until you are hit back or your conscience catches up the activity chain and you will feel bad again. This time not about the origin of the anger, but rather about yourself and your lack of self-control. On the plus side, you have achieved a change and might it even be the exchange of a bad feeling with another bad feeling. Congratulations.

So what would I advice now with an imaginary raised index finger? Actually nothing. You are as you are and why should I claim any right to ask you to change? So I won’t. I simply describe what works for me in such a case and this is forgiveness. Simply forgive and all is good. Easily said and actually this is the option which requires more strength than any other. So many people rather prefer to defend their wrong expectations and to die at the battlefield of honor. Feel free to do so.

When pulled to such a battlefield it is not easy for me to drop all my armor and to hand over my weapons. Some people will attack you nonetheless, this happens. But you will be surprised what the majority of the fighters will do then, well, after looking confused at you. Doing the first step has the potential of being hurt. But do you think fighting will not harm you? Stop dreaming. There is a pretty good chance to get killed in the fight. There are always people who are better than you in something.

Forgiving is hard, but it releases your oppressed mind. Simply let go of the expectation and accept that things or people do not always act as you would wish. Most of the time people are not aware of your expectations and I believe that the majority of those cases never had a bad intention in mind. So why punish them and yourself because of unmet expectations? Simply let go the pressure and forgive.

Why do I write this down here these days? It’s Christmas, the time for forgiving. Why not giving it a try? Why not starting right now and here? The ability to forgive is the key to your own happiness and satisfaction. Give it a try and you might be surprised about the result.

And there is it again, Christmas, the time to step back, to relax, to think, to reflect. The celebration of peace, contentment, happiness, altruism, deceleration. So far the theory. And what do we do actually? This is the most stressful time in year. So many things to do, to prepare, to organize. It’s about to make close ones feel good, it’s about showing love and care. But for some reason we implement this good idea in a different way, we shower material stuff instead, believing to achieve that basic meaning of Christmas with presents. Do we really believe that love and care can be transferred via toys, ties and socks? How can the tenth watch or tea cup make us feel love or care? And then we feel the urge to be creative. Presents have to be better, larger, more expensive, more unique, more everything with every year. So we are spending hours in overcrowded shopping malls or on online shopping pages to find it, the one-of-a-kind Christmas present. Of course we need to outrival all other presents. And then all the social constraints, if we receive a present from somebody we feel the urge to give that person something too. Or why do we have difficulties to tell people that we do not want a present, some time together or a hug would be much more appreciated, but we do not say that. And how do you react if you get a present you do not need or want or like. Oh yeah, a forced smile, how inventive.

Christmas became an event of hypocrisy. We pretend to feel good but actually we don’t. We try to meet the expectations from society, the expectations from other people. We are so busy to buy love, care and appreciation with material gifts. We forgot the real meaning of satisfaction. Sitting with a steaming cup of coffee, watching a candle burning down. This is Christmas for me. We do not do this anymore. Instead we decide enervated after several hours present hunting for the voucher again, same as last year. Very creative and for sure this voucher will transfer our wish to make the targeted person feel good. Christmas became a big lie actually. It’s actually so sad.

But I am sure you’ll do it better. You will not throw unneeded material objects at your loved ones. You will appreciate spending time together and hugs more. I am sure you do.

I wish all of you a merry Christmas. I wish you some peaceful and quiet days. And now go and hug your loved ones with a smile. Merry Christmas!

I have seen people bouncing into other people or against traffic signs or other obstacles, just because they have been distracted. People are walking around, starring at a little screen carried around. Humankind will die out some day, but probably earlier than I expected, because of smartphones. Death by smartphone. Governments of this world try to save their people with laws, e.g. with banning smartphone usage while driving. Good move, but that’s not enough. Well there will be less accidents because the drivers will not be distracted too much then, but think about the millions smartphone distracted pedestrians. They are still walking around uncontrolled. Do you have any idea how hard it is to avoid to hit them? It’s almost unavoidable in crowded areas. Well, some people might call this natural selection now, but have you ever tried to remove the leftovers from the insects splashed against your cars windshield? 😉

But seriously, smartphone users are able to fade out their environment completely. They vanish into their own world and everything around becomes nonexistent and unimportant. An occasionally smile tells us they are still alive in there. But that’s already the upper limit of the external communication when focused on a smartphone screen.

Some years back the landscape at a usual interurban train station was different. Well, the number of people was comparable, but there was some interaction. At least people have seen each other. And it was interesting to simply watch other people, especially in the morning. Some still sleeping, some happy, some angry, some simply there. Many with facial expressions which warned you: “Don’t even think about talking to me!”. Others signaled “Look at me, look at me, I am important!”. There are women of the type “I am dressing as sexy as possible, but how dare you starring at me you pig!”. Or the shy “Don’t look at me, I am not here.” office guy. But there has been some basic interaction, people have been interested in each other, at least to a certain degree. But nowadays, the majority of the human beings vanishes into their smartphone world, completely disconnected from the current environment and the very moment. If somebody would jump naked and with a happy smile over the train platform, they wouldn’t even recognize. And no, I will not prove that!

But think about the long-term consequences for the younger generation. They will have trouble to socialize in the real world. If you are socially active, but restricted to an online world, then you never learn how to interact with real human beings. It’s easy to express a positive attitude with a smiley in a chat window, but how to do that in front of a nice girl in reality? But anyway, maybe this question is not really important because most of the power-smartphone user will die in accidents in young ages anyway. Smartphones will have demography influence.

But know what, have you ever tried to wake up such a human vanished into the smartphone world? Just pass her and scream suddenly and loudly “watch out!” into her ear. Fantastic reactions, the complete range from confusion, over falling smartphones up to anger, hate and at times death by smartphone. But if you try that, be prepared to run! But the advantage is with you, smartphonies are not used to run fast. Live is beautiful, isn’t it?

Flying is fun, definitely, especially long distance flights. The recommendation is to be at the airport three hours in advance. So you do, facing many different challenges. First you need to find the place where you can drop your suitcase. Well, luckily those places are ordered by airlines. But then the fun starts. Some airlines force you to check in by using one of the check-in-machines there. How does this guy work? Try-and-error and after some time you’ve got your tickets printed out of this machine. But you are still having your suitcase. So you need to go to the counter to drop your package anyway. So why did I spend so many minutes talking to a machine then? If I have to go to a counter, the lady there just could have printed my tickets as well. Anyway, finally you got rid of your suitcase and saw it vanishing in the underground of the airport. Good bye suitcase, would be nice to see you again soon.

Next challenge, security check. There are many different approaches here. But in most of the cases you need to get rid of all your adherent belongings. The laptop has to be removed from the bag and scanned separately. You need to empty your pockets and to remove your belt. In some cases even your shoes, which results in a sweet smell in the entire security area. Then you’ll be scanned while walking through a funnily peeping frame. Last time I could keep my shoes on, but the frame decided that I need a closer body check. So the cute security girl stepped away and a big guy pushed me into a corner where he started to search weapons on me. And he searched everywhere. Finally I had to remove my shoes and he even checked the lower sides of my feet. Very funny. And then you need to hurry up to collect all your belongings, which have been scanned separately. Apropos scanning, the new full-body scanners are very interesting. There you need to step into a tube, lift your hands and then the scanner moves around you. This scanner makes you almost naked for the person in front of the monitor. Poor guy actually, I don’t wanna know what he has to watch all day long.

Finally, inside the security area. There are many shops, but mainly alcohol, chocolate or perfume. Some expensive watches and overpriced food. I try to get a coffee and free wireless and throw myself into one of the chairs. Reading becomes boring and after some minutes I do what everybody does here, watching people. That’s very interesting. Everyone is dealing with different issues or problems. Some are searching frantically for the right gate, some try to sleep and half of the crowd is busy staring into a smartphone.

Boarding, that’s the name of the process to get people into the plane. Different airlines have different approaches here, but first class passengers board first. And this is what they do, they swagger proudly towards the plane and make sure everybody can recognizes that they are first class passengers. Second round are the business class passengers, usually business men and usually stressed. But then the battle starts. There is already a long queue. Everybody wants to get in the plane, at the same time. The airlines try to order this approach, e.g. with boarding in groups pointing to the group number printed on your ticket. Others board depending on the seat rows. But whatever they do, nobody really cares and everybody tries to get in first. Especially people with huge hand luggage or two or three pieces of hand luggage. No idea why the airlines allow this, but they do. And it’s clear why those people want to get in first, since they need the space in the overhead lockers to deposit all that huge stuff. And all others? Well they want to get in before the huge-hand-luggage-people to find some empty space on the overhead lockers.

What a fun, the crowd drags you with them into the plane. And of course the overhead lockers are full already when you reach your seat and the owner of all this stuff is looking at you bored. And when he realizes that he has to get up to let you through to your seat, the bored facial expression changes into annoyance. Very nice. And then you realize the tragedy of the late check-in. The plane has for whatever reason a 2-5-2 seat arrangement, and know what, your seat is the one in the middle of the fiver group, jackpot. To make the experience complete there is a little child next to you which hammers at your entertainment screen. Positivity is a choice, so you keep smiling and just turn your head towards the other side. And there he comes, a 200kg boy, sweating like a monsoon rain and he is heading towards you. Of course he has the seat next to yours and of course he almost does not fit into that seat and swells over the armrest into your seat. No idea how he ever will be able to get out of this seat again. Luckily the human nose adapts to smell and after some time you do not smell it anymore, that intensively.

This middle seat is really annoying actually, because then the board service can come from both sides and you always have to watch which steward is currently talking to you, left or right. And due to the distance he does not understand you. There are two seats between you and him, not considering the mountain of guy in between or the permanently talking or crying kid. And yes, steward, male. The stewardess vanished to feed the first class passengers. However, lets focus on the entertainment system. Prehistoric of course, tiny screen, smartphone size, a handful of movies which start every 15 minutes and you have to wait or jump into a running movie. Obviously the kid broke something at your tiny monitor in front of you. The picture is flickering and switches into black and white at times. Anyway, there are 1-2 movies I haven’t seen yet. And what happens then? After one hour some issue with the player and the entertainment system tells me there’s something wrong and switches back to main menu. WTF, now I have to watch this one hour again to see the end. Well, since I don’t have other plans now (except moving the head of the sleeping 200kg guy back to his seat), I start the movie again. And know what, one hour later same problem. It becomes difficult to stay calm. But hey, there’s another movie, lets give this one  try. I ignore that this one doesn’t start at all and switch immediately to the third one. This one works … for approximately one hour!!! Then same issue, abort and back to main menu. Now I am angry enough to wake Mr 200kg to let me out for a walk to the restroom. I knew I should have taken my shoes with me, remembering the turbulence some time back.

I give up the movie business and switch to radio. I didn’t expect much and this was a good strategy, only one channel worked actually, called ‘easy listening’. So I listened easily until I got food. A tray full of plane food and I even had a choice, pasta or chicken. I want MEAT! Okay, chicken is close enough. And meanwhile I think the pilots do this on purpose. Exactly with the meal turbulence start again. The entire plane is shaking while I am trying to hit my mouth with the only tomato I found in the tiny salad. I was lucky that the plastic fork did not break while trying to spear the tomato. The bread has the consistence of a brick and the chicken surrounding vegetables the consistence of baby food. But hey, food. And luckily I can move at least my hands at my middle seat, well as long as the guy next to me doesn’t move. Meanwhile the kids started to throw peas at me. Live is wonderful.

10 hours later the pilot announces that we should please switch off all electronic devices since we need to do a landing with autopilot. There is a lot of fog down there and he can not see anything. Well the autopilot usually ensures a smooth landing. Not as the last time when the pilot threw the plane at the landing runway. But a little bit later we touch ground. The big guy next to me starts applauding and the little kid cries. But I don’t care, it’s over, almost. The usual announcement to stay seated until the plane reaches the gate and as usual some people get up nonetheless, hoping to be able to leave the plane before it docks at the gate. Then the seat belt sign switches off and suddenly everybody jumps off the seats, pulls out the hand luggage and then? Nothing. Stuck at the aisle like everybody else. Humans are a strange species actually. They know de-boarding can only happen one after the other, but well, maybe there’s a chance to be faster than others, who knows. Everybody wants to get out as fast as possible, to wait a little longer in the baggage claim area. And since I know my luggage comes out last there anyway, I am not in a hurry. Easy, I need some time to unfold my legs anyway. Not to speak from the countless approaches from the guy next to me to get out of his seat. And so what, I’ll spend two hours at the immigration anyway.

Travel is such an adventure, even today. Isn’t it?