Departures and Arrivals. Every trip has these components. It doesn’t matter whether I’m going to the grocery store, driving to Stone Mountain to climb the mountain, or flying to India. Departures and arrivals are part of the journey.

Our departure from Atlanta to New York is not smooth. Because of stormy weather, we miss our flight from New York to Frankfurt. Obviously, we aren’t arriving in New Delhi as originally planned.

To make matters worse, I become a victim of one of these intercontinental travels. Sleeping in front of an air conditioner in a New York hotel, I develop a chest cold. More than the simple sniffles and running nose. By the time I arrive at the Claridge Hotel in New Delhi, I have to arrange for a house doctor to make a visit. Medicines prescribed! How embarrassing to suffer from a chest cold with the outdoor temperature at 110 degrees.

I’m not the only victim of intercontinental travel. After filing onto the Pam Am 747 for our flight, we store our carry-ons in the luggage bins, and we buckle-up ready for the take-off. However, right before taxing, a too-full bin springs open with a heavy carryon falling and landing on Anne’s head, one of our group members. Ouch! Fortunately, except for a headache, she is not seriously injured.

“Inauspicious” beginnings! Who else will get sick? What else will happen? In various ways, all of us joke about the “bad experiences” waiting for each of us! Rough departures can encourage us to fantasize about our vulnerable futures. In facing the unknown, we can easily imagine many, possible “dangers.” And, those dangers we exaggerate! For our group, we allow, I allow these two minor, random events to temporarily color our entire feelings and mood about the trip. Interesting!

Would there be some better, more “auspicious” experiences, to use a word which became part of our everyday vocabulary? We sure hoped so!