When travelling expect the unexpected

Yesterday night the board of Atma Mumbai had a meeting with our supervisory board. While sitting at "societeit Hermes" (headquarters of a local student association) I realized that many people at the table had interesting stories to tell.

Alexa, responsible for external relations, has just returned from a 2-month research trip in Bangladesh. She decided, after reading the Lonely Planet, to visit a museum. They opened the museum just for her, after clearing the dust and rags of spiders. The organization she worked for was afraid something would happen to her and to be on the safe side she was always accompanied by a group of locals. These locals did not speak english and made a habit of staring at her for hours while she worked. People, in general, were very friendly and warm to her though. It is just weird to work on your thesis while people are staring at you, only inches from your face.

Adrienne, founder of Atma has travelled a lot. Her passport is filled with stamps of countries like Romania, Russia, Cuba, India, Mexico etc. Just think for a second which country would not appreciate this very much???
Can you guess??
The same country that always asks whether you have ever committed a terroristic act, that makes you go trough customs for hours, even when you are only on a transfer, the country were you can never joke at customs: the US of A.
Flying to Mexico is cheaper trough the USA, but customs did not appreciate Adrienne's stamps very much. She was interrogated by two gorillas for an hour in a claustrofobic room. Much travelling has its disadvantages....

Hans, from our supervisory board worked in Africa for 2 years. The thing with travelling is that you always encounter the unexpected. Riksha drivers all of a sudden decide it is time for their break. Since power cuts are normal, laptops are easily disheveled or blown up for that matter. Government agencies are a story in itself.

The only solution is to take it as it comes. Let go of your game plan, relax and wait for things to happen. This was the lesson I learnt from visiting India. Expect the unexpected when travelling. The lesson came in handy when my plane got cancelled in Madrid and everyone was freaking out. A Spanish dude asked me where I was from and acknowledged I was the only Dutch person in line that was still calm and making jokes.
My response was simple:"I went to India and Mexico, that's life, shit happens. "
He smiled as I walked slowly to the end of the line, took out my book and started reading. That night I was on German soil, in the end it turned out fine, as it always does.