Sydney to Los Angeles, 7,500 miles, essentially all of it over water. Not much in between, just a lot of air, water and time. In the THPL category it is remarkable that we have planes that can fly this distance and that we can move large groups of people in such short amounts of time connecting the world in all of the ways that we know we should. But as much as 14 hours is really fast to get from airport to airport it is a lot of time to be sitting in a seat with limited room to move and a void of true THPL enablers (movies might count…..). And so I think we need to turn it into a challenge of time management and perspective to get the most of the 14 hours. It can start with thinking about some time for food, some for entertainment, some for work, and reflection and with this minimally it will feel like a “good” use of time.
My reflection took me to think about the “essence” of the trip and my takeaways, on the surface it is clear to me that the mission and purpose for my work was met. There is nothing like being with people around the world, in their “house” to find out if your message resonates. And it did and it made the trip worthwhile for sure. Thinking beyond the work, it had been ten years since my last trip to Asia and I was blown away, again, by the beauty of the world, the spirit of the people and the aspiration and potential that is all around us. I felt embraced, and I felt that I have friends around the world. We are all so alike, even in our differences, and my big takeaway is that this “flat and frictionless” world is just an awesome place that needs to be experienced. To do so, though, requires getting out of our “chairs” and visiting everywhere we can. Really at the end of the day the effort is not all that great and the reward so, so amazing. Go out and feel this world, take that 14 hours of “other” time and use it to visit a far away place. Set a goal of doing it at least once in the next year. Grasp hold of this world and you will like what you find and your version of THPL will just get better.
Loving life travelling the world to far-away places……
Ciao
Joe