Europe, Round 3, began as a non-start.
I arrived at Logan on Saturday night nervous about the next leg of my trip. Terminal E is laid out in a long corridor, and I began distractedly searching for Primera Air to check in. I walked down the length of the counters, back and forth. No signs. Nothing.
This seemed normal because when I flew with Primera in September, they had set up a temporary desk for check in. I watched the process in action and figured this might be the case again.
Impatience got the best of me and I decided to confirm (or discredit) my hunch. I approached a Virgin Air attendant and inquired, “I know this isn’t any of your (bloody*) concern, but where do I find Primera Air?”
He said, “They don’t operate here anymore.”
I says to the guy, I says, “Oh, you mean I’m in the wrong terminal?” My thoughts immediately concentrated on the logistics of a transfer and the remaining time until boarding.
“No,” he emphasized the word, “they are no longer in business. Didn’t you read the news?”
“Ummm.”
“You can talk to British Airways or Norwegian, they are offering discount tickets…” He failed to mention that Virgin was offering a similar deal.
Turns out, Primera Air had declared bankruptcy on October 2 (two weeks before my departure). Apparently, they decided it was unimportant to alert paid passengers that their tickets were now good for kindling.
Thus my attempt to leave the country crashed with a thud.
This scene was fitting for how I was feeling: The trip isn’t as easily navigable; I am ambivalent.
My main jam for the next few months is to focus on climbing.
Continuing the theme of 2017 and 2018, I’m pursuing activities that have long been of interest (but which remained neglected). Specifically, farming and traveling.
I believe you need to pursue interesting — the notions that you get truly excited by — because this teaches you about yourself.
Yet, there has been an associated compunction with these endeavors, that self-interest is a thin distance from selfishness.
I am grappling with two concepts that focus one’s energy in opposing directions:
1) To understand myself better while 2) broadening my concern for others.
One lens is angled inward, while the other enlarges your circle of care. My hunch is that expanding this circle from misguided principles leads to disdain and burnout. Or, you need to know yourself in order to truly care for and help others.
In advance of boarding the plane (eventually, on Sunday night), I kept deliberating:
What does a life focused around pursuit of self-interest and connection to community look like for me?
That is now the central question of this trip.
*Because British
Aaron Gerry 