Transitions

The transition around travel is always weird for me. One minute, I'm at point A. Then there's this weird time warp thing where I fly or drive and am kind of in this not-here-not-there outside of the world phase. And then I'm at point B, doing point B things like point A didn't exist. It's weird.

On Friday, I got back from a 3-country trip to Latin America. And you would think a 9 hour flight from Santiago to the states and a 3 hour flight from state A to state B would get me back in the US groove, but not so much. (For the record, the 9 hour flight was an overnight flight, so I left from one country and woke up almost in another). I landed and it was super weird to not wear a mask places. Or hear Spanish everywhere and be wracking my brain to understand everything and remember the right words to answer. Or to remember how to buy groceries. (It was almost 2 weeks, guys). Or be on a non-travel schedule. Or get in a car and drive somewhere as the driver (we rode a lot of places in South America). 

Tomorrow I will go back to work and have to adjust to that, too, which I'm not looking forward to. Even though it was a work trip, it was like a vacation in a lot of ways. No meetings, no management (meaning, I didn't have to manage, which honestly was probably a vacation for everyone who reports to me, too). Just sitting down and doing the work. And tomorrow will be paperwork and tying up loose ends and reports and editing and lots of interruptions. And people, which is nice, because I haven't really seen people for a couple of days now (the pros and cons of getting home on a holiday weekend). But also people, who I love but also have a lot of anxiety about. (Yes, that is totally a thing that is possible. Liking people and being stressed by them are not mutually exclusive). 

And, yes, it is weird because it feels like my country tour was so long ago (4 days, folks. Only 4 days!). Because time is weird and doesn't make any sense, and coming home from a trip is a bittersweet transition and time is SUPER WEIRD, did I mention? Anyway. Happy Tuesday to you!