Grateful to be home

Traveling is amazing but it is also sort of like a drug or alcohol, it alters your senses in various ways. One could perceive this change as a form of PTSD or one could say that travel "Broadens one's perspective". Either way it is going to change you in ways you really do not or cannot expect.

When I went to India and Nepal in 1985 and 1986 the changes started when I landed after flying 11 hours to Narito Airport then. I had taekn off around 9 am that day with my family in December 1985 and to Japan. As I was preparing to land up there in 1st class in the JAL 747 up high in that plane in the front I watched the sunset over Tokyo and realized I was 16 hours ahead of my home time so I was watching a sunset the day after when I left. So, say if you fly out 9 am on a Tuesday you will arrive at Narito as the sun sets or around that time Wednesday after flying 11 hours because you cross the international date line.

Another thing is your magnetic bone in your nose that gives you a sense of direction of where magnetic north is (and where West and east and South are) is completely screwed up. If you focus on this when you land it is going to make you nauseous so try to think about something else and pretend you sense of direction is okay(which it cannot be) for about 1 to 3 months (if you stay there that long).

So, this is the first type of orientation where night is not only day or day is night but also not that night but also the next day so you lose a day, (and then when you come back you arrive 6 hours before you left that same day often (depending upon exactly what time you leave Asia).

So, this is where the confusion starts.

Then, you get out of the plane and everyone is Asian and perceives everything culturally differently. But, they might be similar in their relationships to technology, but it is in a different language and cultural context so you aren't even sure for sure about this.

So, when you travel to Asia from the U.S. (if you haven't done this before) just expect to be disoriented and confused unless you have a tour guide explaining all this to you are you go along. Otherwise, you might feel sort of lost when your U.S. non chip card doesn't work, your Iphone or Android doesn't work like Verizon or AT&T or Sprint or other cell phone providers tell you it will. (Because it cannot work unless you have a special chip installed that you pay for with a local cell phone provider there. So, at that point you might just rent a cell phone from a local provider unless you are going to be living there and then buying the chip and renting a service from a local provider might be useful.

However, you might not know any of this when you go there. So, you land there and outside of the airport no one might speak English to  you, you cannot use your non-chip cards for money or payment and you might not even be able to go into a bank there to convert U.S. dollars to the local currency. So, basically, at that point unless you go back to the airport and get someone to talk English with you you are screwed and might  just as well hop on another plane back home.

However, if you are visiting someone there who speaks the local language or have a tour guide you trust there that you have already paid in your home country, thing just might be okay.

These are very important things to think about (BEFORE you board a plane to Asia)!