Off to San Francisco!

Wow, looks like June's becoming a special month of sorts. Last year, in June, i flew to the east coast in the US and visited both New York and Miami. It was an amazing experience, to be finally able to see the "fabled" land of the US, given the couple of years of slogging I went through in India.

Looks like I'm being rewarded again, Tonight I fly to the west coast, to San Francisco for four days on a business trip to the Hadoop Summit in Santa Clara. This time, it's business class all the way. I mean I can't believe my luck. Damn!

Then again, there's a part of me who's loathing the trip a bit. For the most part of the last decade, I've been traveling alone. I think the last time I've traveled with my family is back in 2001, for my brother's wedding. I've now associated travel with a bit of loneliness, a time for reflection. And on this particular flight, (one of Emirates' longest non-stop flights), it's going to be 16+ hours of traveling all alone. Yup, that's a long time to be left alone with your thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, I've become perfectly accustomed to traveling alone. There's always this excitement of seeing a new place, and a word in the English language describes it perfectly: Wanderlust. But there's always this feeling, a longing for someone to share the experience with.

I remember remember going to NYC / Manhattan alone. It was exciting at first, roaming the streets by foot, stopping to catch my breath, opening up this cumbersome pocket map and navigating my way through from Grand Central Station to Central Park to The Met, 30 Rock and Times Square! But at the end of the day, It was a bit depressing. It would have been nice to have at least another person that I can turn to, talk to, enjoy exploring the city with.

And it's going to happen all over again. I didn't want to spend too much time in San Francisco, but I'm not dumb. I've earmarked a day for sightseeing, I just might sign up for some sort of city tour or something. But It's going to be one day, all alone, at a place I've seen so many times in movies and TV shows. But I won't have anyone to share it with. Bummer.

Am I going soft? Maybe I should man up, there's so much that I need to finish in my life before I "settle down". But will it be too late? Will I turn into Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) from Up in the Air? Am I doomed to see the world and all it's glory alone?

Hope my Mom does not see this post :)