QA: Passion (1)

Passion.. Everybody must have at least one thing in his/her life that he/she loves to do. I have few and the top three are
- Traveling
- C [will blog about it later…]
- D [will blog about it later…]

Probably different from others, I do not like to make my passions as day to day affairs, i.e., get paid for doing so. My current job as a consultant is not something I really enjoyed. But at least it gives me some funds to live in this brutal world and a means to enjoy doing things that I love. The only reason I do not make my passions as my job is to avoid getting bored with it. Yes, I am a person who can get bored easily – and I am trying very hard to change this. I try to make my life more interesting in this not so exciting city. Thanks to couple of friends who surfaced after one and a half year of loneliness in the city.

Traveling has been a passion since I was a kid. I credited this to my obessesion with airplane and my interest in geography subject at school. I can still remember vividly drawing an airplane with my best friend at primary school. Every time a teacher did not come for the class, we drew a M A S airplane and compare to each other (yes, it was a M A S airplane since at this stage, I was not expose to any other airlines yet)… Remembering this makes me smile to myself. I wonder how my friend is doing now. Last I heard he was with M I T I and settled down at Buki+ Jelut0ng….

My traveling passion has brought me to many countries in the world. My first flying experience was in 1989, when I was a [early] teenager. It was a gift from my dad for doing well in the exam. It was just a short flight from my hometown to A O R. The only thing I can remember from my first flight was that I got panic for not knowing how to buckle the seat belt. The seat belt was different from the one I was used to, the car seat belt. And I was scared to ask the stewardess :-P Well, that was nearly twenty years ago….

I still want to conquer the other continents, i.e., South America, Africa, A N Z and probably trans-Siberian and Silk Route. InsyaAllah..one day… my passion will bring me there… And I will keep on dreaming. American humorist, Erma Bombeck once said, “It takes a lot of courage to show your dream to someone else”. I show and share with you my dream. Hope it will come true one day…

My passion in traveling is not only visiting places. It includes the journey getting me there. From planning (yeah…very tiring), taking and enjoying the journey until the end of it. Thanks to the advent of world wide web, information is easy to get. But I still prefer spending my time at Kin0kuniya or B0rders travel section browsing the travel books for free… :-) [wonder whether I will ever bump into another blogger at these two bookstores…]

When it comes to the journey itself, it is important for me to choose which airlines that will take me there. I am not fond of taking other means of transport. But if there are good reasons to enjoy beautiful scenary from land or sea, why not?. Apart from the airlines, the aircraft (type, registration), seating, and on-board services are the things I am looking for. I have my own log book for the aircraft details and flying information. So far, I have flown with 16 airlines of the world and will keep on continuing flying other airlines – I hope :-)

Groups traveling? Well, I don’t like traveling in groups, I mean big groups. Maximum would be four pax, if I really have to. I have backpacked with two other friends before for one month and it was not easy. I have also traveled domestically in Eur0pe via land transportation (driving and rail) with four people and it was not easy as well. I believe traveling reveals the true you. You will understand your partner or friends a lot better when you travel with them. So, those of couples/friends out there, take a journey together somewhere, and you will see what I mean.

Any readers out there share the same passion of traveling? Maybe we can share stories and travel together one day. As of today, I have two invitations to go to Egyp+ this February – one from blogger in Nigeri4 and another from Dvbai. The only constraints I face now are timing and affordable fare…. Let see how it goes…..

Till then….

~ M T @ Q 4 t 4 r
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~