Over a cup of coffee!

by Ankita Mandal (India)

A leap into the unknown Thailand

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It was an usual day in office - whilst working I took a break and headed towards the cafeteria to get myself a cup of coffee. Alas! my long-lost school friend calls out of nowhere. I asked him his whereabouts and he explain me every bit of life in barely 10-minutes - how he moved to the country of Thailand from a small place in India and how he is running his empirical business there. It was surprisingly good! I was totally amazed to say the least. From knowing him since teenage days to speaking about his palacial living style - I was inflated with immense pride. Even before we realised, we started cooking up a travel plan. Everything was going smooth over the call, and his new country seemed to appear eclectic from his eyes! I was quite impressed by his words, and that sudden urge kicked-off. As a matter of big coincidence, my roommate cum friend has was out of town to attend a wedding ceremony and I was living all my by myself. When he proposed to me the idea of ditching the office for a few days and traveling to his country - it did shook me up! I confirmed and re-confirmed about the whole idea of making an impromptu plan and traveling abroad alone. But he was a total support - it seemed like I woke up that morning only to make this plan happen and how! I asked him to call me back in sometime as I had meeting to attend- I was absolutely unfocused at the discussing happening in the board meeting. My mind started weaving up a million of thoughts. People did notice my changed and unfamiliar behaviour and started enquiring if i was doing okay? Little did they know what was in my mind. As soon the meeting got over I ran across the hall in haste and reached my desk space, only to gather my belongings. The very next moment I was at local shop nearby doing my preps for the travel. Yes, I did make my mind. I got my tickets done withing an hour, got all my documents ready and ran back the the office to finish up my pending work. Nobody knew what was I upto - until my roommate called and invaded my errands between the local shops. As soon as I told the idea of me traveling alone to abroad with a one day notice - she was in complete denial and asked to back off. I wasn’t really convinced by her behaviour and had a small heated argument. I made sure I told her all the better aspects of me taking up this random and impromptu travel plan. But, she wasn’t really happy or even comfortable. I decided to be quiet until I get my preps done for the next day morning flight to Thailand. From getting the passport ready to backing my bags in 30 mins to exchanging the currency from a nearby bank - everything seemed to fall in its place one at a time. I remember I barely slept for an hour that night, and headed to the airport at morning 4 am. I did make the city airport and in 4 hours I was in Thailand living my independent dream and breathing the sense kf freedom!