Escapade: Ten Days in New York & Five Nights in Selayar Island

This book is dedicated to many apart from the publishers. I would have preferred it to be a real story but by making it fiction allowed me to reach a wider audience. It also let my imagination run rout. Any travel if it is not on holiday is boring to say the least. Having to be crammed into a seat without leg space whether it is in a luxury bus or an airplane is no fun. Then when you do not know with whom you sit next with, and you do not have any choice in that is annoying by itself. One has to be either self critical or boisterously critical of your stranger companion sitting next to you. Let me give an example. I was sitting in an almost empty bus leaving late in the evening. I usually fiddle with my android or read a book or newspaper if the journey is more than half an hour. I did not have anything in my hand and involuntarily observed any activity around me, especially for pickpockets and the undesirables if the bus is jam-packed. On this occasion the bus was almost empty and a guy got in half way and sat in front of my seat. He could have occupied a seat well away from me but he did not. He wore a baseball type of hat. His upper, the T-shirt was dark in colour. Both of which were no concern to me. But the shirt had an inscription "Centre for professionals". He is sitting right in front of me. He did not look a professional. Certainly not in sports. It was an indirect insult to any professional, if I leave myself from that category for that moment distorted sanity brought into my mind by unhindered casual inspection of a guy right in front of me. My thought process did go haywire. This guy does not understand English. This guy has stolen it from a guy who was a professional. The professional guy has given the T-shirt to this casual guy for laundering but he has not put that to laundry yet but wearing it for few days before laundering. It looked dirty. I could not stop this thought process till I came home and told my wife. Now, I am penning it down here for posterity. There are many similar mental reactions that one may go through as a vagrant. So in your day to day travel one should become a zombie or an alien. If you do not, your travel itinerary would be full of irritations, especially so if it is an expensive holiday not a budget holiday. Mind you there are lot of budget holiday guys/girls around you. Similarly the guided tour you paid heavily would be an expensive imprisonment of your choice. So one has to be in different gear, not your normal self when you travel, especially with your family. A tiny incident can ruin your vacation. So take this book and read it to devise your own strategy when traveling abroad. The people are different in different part of the world. Do not try to change others but change yourself. Be like a Roman when you are in Rome. One has to tune in with them and enjoy life. Take humour out of travesty. Why not write a book yourselves to help others?

Author: S. B. Asoks Dissanayake

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: Sep 30, 2015

Number of Pages: 384 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: 1511530987

ISBN-13: 9781511530989