Wildest Dreams: The Experience - Day 0 - A Day Remembered

“Wildest Dreams: The Experience”

9/11/15, “A Day Remembered”

John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)

For the rest of our lives, it will always be impossible to write that date without remembering the tragic events of 14 years ago, impossible.  It was a day that changed each of our lives forever.  It is the reason I have to take my shoes off when I go through airport security, and I why I cannot bring liquids with me, either, but that is so unimportant.  For all the anti-TSA articles we have ready, one thing is left out.  In the past 14 years, there has not been a single airborne terrorist attack or hijacking in the homeland.  Our leaders have done what they need to do keep us safe, and that is what matters most, not that I have to refill my water bottle or take my shoes off and on.  No, what matters is that I feel safe flying an airplane.

Today, I am going off to live out my “Wildest Dreams,” but it would be remiss to begin talking about them without first mentioning those whose dreams died in the instant the first plane hit the tower.  Three thousand lives were lost that day, countless more lives changed forever, family and friends, people whose jobs were destroyed with the very tower that contained their offices, soliders who died avenging the attacks and fighting to keep us safe.  Maybe when my father was my age, Baghdad was seen as a popular tourist destination, somewhere someone might go to live out their wildest dreams, but the Americans who went there under President Bush’s tenure went there to risk their lives to defend our freedom, and many died for that honor.  They did not get live out their wildest dreams, nor did their families.

Me, here I am sitting in an airport, about to get on a plane to Africa, for no other reason than to see the biggest waterfall in the world, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World (just Rio, Everest, and the Barrier Reef will be left after this).  Okay, why do I keep mentioning my “Wildest Dreams?”  Well, it turned out that Taylor’s Swift “Wildest Dreams” music video was set in Zimbabwe.  I did not plan this trip around the video, but the name wrote itself.  It’s my second favorite track on the album, and the one that makes me swoon the most.  Just a couple of weeks ago, she released the music video.  I had been planning to go to Victoria Falls for my 28^th Birthday for over 2 years now, so that was quite a shocker to see scenes from Zimbabwe in Taylor’s new music video only two weeks before I was leaving.  Hence the name.

When I set out to see the world, it was initially a very simple list: all US States and World Heritage Sites.  All Canadian Provinces and WHS soon joined the list.  I did not expect to be going to Zimbabwe.  These things feel unreal.  Mexico, fine, that’s kind of familiar, even Cuba was somewhat normal.  However, Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls?  That’s something special.  It’s one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World for a reason, and now, it’s becoming a reality.

I have no schedule for my 48 hours in Zimbabwe, though I do have a few activities in mind, some of them normal (a side trip to Hwange National Park to see the animals, etc.), others extraordinary (bungee jumping 300 feet off a bridge over the falls, swimming at the little pond at the top of falls, etc.).  However, all of them fall within the category of living out my “wildest dreams.”  I see airplanes here that would take me to Hawaii, the Middle East, India, Central America, and Europe.  However, the one that I am about to board will take me to Africa.  Once I set foot on solid ground in Africa tomorrow, I will only have one continent left: Australia.

Day 0 has really only consisted of getting to airport.  I went to a movie last night, for no other reason than to keep my streak alive (it’s been 9 weeks of checking in at the same theatre now, I’ve set a record).  I chose “A Walk in the Woods,” which was really fun, even if slow at times, but the good far outweighed the bad.  I had to wake up early, since I said I would do some remote work this morning before my flight.  I set my alarm to 6:20 AM but woke up naturally before 6 AM, absolutely freezing for some reason.

I did some work on my laptop in bed before I got ready.  I then went to McDonald’s for breakfast and caught a cab to the airport, doing more work in the cab.  I did pretty much everything I needed to do by the time we got to the airport.  Then it happened, at exactly 8:46 AM, everything fell silent, as the airport observed a moment of silence.  It was a very moving experience seeing everything come to a stop like that.  A minute later, everything was underway again, and it happened again at 9:03 AM, though it was less moving the second time around.  I went through security and then headed to my gate, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close.