The Un-comfort Zone

July 22-23, 2015 – In Transit San Francisco to Zurich

The joy (and the challenge) of travel is often what I call the un-comfort zone.  And the in-transit part really proves that concept.  California to Europe is a gruelling 11-12 hour flight.

At first, one anticipates this time as a delightful sort of  suspended animation — so much time to read. But, by hour 5 you have lost all interest in reading, watching movies or being civil to your travel companion.  By hour 6, you are slipping in and out of sleep in a semi-counscious state.  Hour 8 – and you are ready to admit that traveling is the pits and are considering a second mortgage to upgrade to first class.  By the last two hours you are picking at the in-flight breakfast, looking at your watch and secretly wishing you had stayed home watching The Good Wife.  The flight ends and you glare at the annoying guy in front of you who spent the entire flight with his seat fully reclined into your lap.  And with with crusty eyes and swollen ankles you stumble off the plane.

Then you find your way to the train (let’s see train in German — Bahn?) and check into the budget hotel you found right next to the train station.  Your room overlooks a busy street corner and you wonder how you will sleep.  After quick showers (and figuring out said same shower system) you feel almost human and together you strike out to walk around, get some fresh air, daylight and try to adapt to the new time zone. A light meal is in order so you choose a cute cafe with outdoor seating and order the inevitable room-tempature drinks and an overpriced salad to share. You start to relax – watching the locals come home from work and you sigh with happiness.  The blatt blatt of the European police car in the distance, the striking of the church bells and the surly waiter all secure the fact  — you have arrived.

This is the joy and pain of what I call the un-comfort zone.  One has to embrace the discomfort — because this is what kicks your butt out of your safe, easy and predictable world.  A familiar world where the plumbing is understood, a world with cold drinks and ice, a place where you don’t have to think about every choice — and all in a language you fully comprehend.   You are far away from home —  you have shaken off your soft and cushy comfort zone – but this is why you travel – why you are here.