Heathrow

After two days of airports, delays, and uncertainty, I've arrived in London, and I couldn't be more excited!

This isn't going to be quite the inaugural post I had hoped for, because my time is running out on this internet terminal, and the airport doesn't have wifi. 

I spent the night in D.C. after missing my connector at Dulles thanks to maintenance delays in Charlotte.  My 9:35 flight this morning didn't leave the ground until noon, and since Heathrow doesn't allow flights in after 11:00 p.m., there was some doubt that we'd be able to fly then.  Luckily, they granted my flight an exception, and we landed here around 12:30.  Since trains don't run this late, I'm crashing in the reception area of the airport until the first train tomorrow.

The uncertain start to my trip has only reinforced to me how enthralled I am to be traveling on my own.  Negotiating my way through foreign countries is going to afford me a degree of profound personal responsibility that I don't always appreciate in my day-to-day life.  While I'm always accountable for my actions' consequences, being in a situation in which they impact me alone, and in which I can't necessarily rely on others for help is both frightening and liberating. 

Significant, personal responsibility is an intrinsic component of consciousness.  As conscious actors, we make decisions.  We choose, for better or for worse, and part of being an adult is understanding the impact and import of those choices. 

Recently, someone asked me what component of my trip excited me the most and I responded, frivolously, the sushi.  This is my more considered response.  I'm most excited for the opportunity to experience and catalyze the primal responsibility of being human.  I probably didn't have to go halfway around the world to do it, but so far I'm glad I have.