The Two Week Itch

Wednesday after work I head back to Chicago for my second of two home leaves during this assignment. It's my last planned trip before the end of the year. The build up to the trip feels different; something is missing. Two weeks before every time I've left India, whether it be to go home or just for a vacation out of country, I get the itch. For whatever reason, two weeks before I leave I typically have the distinct desire, which quickly escalates into a "need", to get out of the country as soon as possible.

Wednesday's plane should be a little bigger, but you get the idea....

Typically, every little thing about the country bothers me. The traffic becomes unbearably chaotic, elevators skipping past my floor annoy me, the strategically placed speed bumps come more frequently, beggars are more attracted to my car than usual, all the beer starts to taste like Miller Lite (not a good thing), and the locals' English becomes more difficult to understand (not that I've tried to improve my Hindi).

This trip? No itch. None of those things are bothering me; well, except maybe the beer.

While I'm happy that I get to go home to reconnect with friends and family, for the first time I don't feel like I "have" to go back. Maybe I finally see India as home. Maybe it's the fact my parents were here in March and Lindsay's Mom was here in February. Maybe it's the visitors and travels planned through the rest of the year.  Maybe work is just busy and there's a lot to get done. Maybe I'm running out of time in India, and it signals the start of "the end."

So it's a short week of work, a week of family and friends in Chicago and Moline, a weekend with my buddies in Memphis, and three days in the office in the U.S. (you know, it's never a bad thing to show your face in your home office every few months). It's going to be a fun trip home, but I've got to admit, I think I'll be ready to board that flight back home to India on May 19.

Chicago is Overrated Anyway

Around a week or two ago I learned of the potential for a week-long meeting that would have brought me home to Chicago for a completely unexpected trip. This morning I learned that that meeting was no longer taking place.

Even though I had no intention of returning to the U.S. until some point in October for a planned home leave trip, I was looking forward to an "extra" trip that would have enabled me to see family and friends and now find myself somewhat homesick for the first time. The stars seemed to be truly aligning; my little sister was going to be at home for the July 4th holiday weekend and a great friend that had moved from Chicago was actually going to be in town the weekend I would have arrived.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of tricking my mind into thinking I was two weeks from returning to the states. The "new" reality is that I'm still four plus months from visiting home, which was always the plan. Regardless, I still feel like I've lost something even though it never technically existed.

On the bright side, things could be a lot worse. There are a lot of familiar people, both professionally and personally, that will be making appearances in the greater Delhi area over the next three months. Plus, this frees up a holiday weekend in India (we basically follow U.S. holidays in the office so the 4th of July is a holiday here as well) to travel. Lindsay will actually be back in the states for one of her best friend's (or maybe it's her best friend, I'm not sure and would hate to offend anyone) wedding over the holiday weekend (quick note, we do actually like one another, she just has considerably more vacation than I do this year) so I'll be traveling alone for the first time in some time.

Ideally, I'd like to keep it to four nights at most, don't feel the need to just "see" a city, don't mind exerting physical effort, do fairly well at elevation, and am open to leaving India. Any suggestions or ideas on places that fit this criteria? And yes, I realize that criteria don't get much more general. As long as it's a reasonable flight (and yes, "reasonable" has a flexible definition depending on how interesting the destination), I'm game.

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