A sign....

Another milestone day. A somewhat stressful day. I'm trying to use my Aeroplan points to buy tickets to South Africa and back from Kenya. For some reason, South African airlines is out of contact with the rest of the world. Could it be because the World Cup starts in two days? I wonder.

Yesterday it was all set up and ready to go and just waiting for SA to come back online. Just before bed last night, I thought I'd call in and see if I could sew it up. Mistake. The abrupt agent had other plans - 30 minutes on hold, insistence that I book my European legs and cancel my SA legs, deciding that I had too many legs, more time on hold. In the end I decided to take my chances and leave everything as is until morning. A fitful night of sleep.

So here I am, standing at the window of my office, listening to yet another agent typing, muttering, audibly reading. I'm on the edge. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see see a movement amongst the pine boughs outside my window. Not the usual sparrow and starlings - but a dragonfly. A big, elegant, iridescent dragonfly. My spirit guide. I've never seen one in this space before.

I smile. I can't resist. This is the sign that all will be well. And sure enough, a few minutes later, the lovely agent tells me that everything appears to have been accepted and Fran and I have our tickets to Africa.

The countdown....

The months are counting down to the start of my next great adventure. My benevolent employer has allowed me a self-funded sabbatical - and I'm off shortly to follow a dream.

And my dream? To find my way to the far corners of this earth - to places I couldn't visit on a 3-week vacation - and to take the time to get to know what life is like there. My goal is to observe, to learn and to try to understand. I hope to come home a little wiser, a little more certain of what I can do to make this a better place, and of course with a packet of really good cocktail party stories.

It seemed like a good idea when I first signed up 5 years ago ... and in the intervening years, I've second guessed my decision a dozen times. Will I be able to live without the comfortable nearness of family, colleagues and friends? How will I get through long evenings alone, in strange rooms, with stark, uncomplimentary lighting? Will there be dangers awaiting me?

Plans have evolved - from volunteering with VSO to lining up travel companions for every leg of the journey. In the end, I have decided to leave things fairly flexible. I will meet companions along the way. I will use this blog to download my excitement and keep me company.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Check in from time to time to see what I'm up to, and please send me messages (jlevitin@hotmail.com). What's going on in your life is as interesting to me as my travels may be to you.