inkedbuddhist

the gamble paid off.. i left toronto for cape town without a definite place on the tour (i asked to be reinstated after making a faster and fuller recovery than expected) and got an email when i landed in abu dhabi confirming my place was still available for me.. he who dares wins...


had to book another flight from toronto to cape town as i couldn't get back to the uk to catch the london to cape town flight.. couldn't get my money back on the uk flight but got a pretty good deal on the flight from toronto with etihad (the national carrier of the united arab emirates).. and wow.. what an airline.. by far the best airline i have traveled with.. great food, new planes, great in-flight entertainment.. absolutely brilliant.. you know what comes next.. top 5 airlines...

1. etihad
2. air canada (in no small part a result of the in flight entertainment and the rewards program)
3. british airways
4. continental (only cause i got a flight to louisville one day and the air stewardess gave us free beer!)
5. air mauritius

i think the key thing going for etihad is the contrasting approach to united airlines.. etihad - good price, amazing experience.. united - ok price, shit experience (no seatback tv's for a flight from los anegles to sydney.. wtf!!).. anyways 3 paragraphs is enough on this i feel.. for now...

on another subject have to get back in practice with sitting (meditating) each day while i am away.. i missed a few days while i was sick, a few more while travelling and i now haven't sat for over a week.. not good practice and i intend to make sure i sit for at 5 minutes every morning (ideally i'd like to aim to do 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening).. have been reading about dogan zenji recently and his message is very clear.. you have to practice buddhism.. how?.. by daily zazen (ie sitting, meditating..).. it does make a huge difference.. for no other reason than just clearing your mind and grounding yourself for the day ahead/passed...

right now i am sat in a coffee shop in cape town airport eating pancakes, drinking coffee.. can't believe i am here.. so excited.. though i will miss people while i am away.. have decided to go back to canada after africa.. am going to make a real go of things with aidan so once again sydney is on hold.. for now...

finally.. have been told by my mum not to swear anymore on this blog.. and not to get anymore tattoo's.. as if i'm fucking stupid enough to get a tattoo in africa mum (love you, miss you x)...