Stranger than Fiction

Day 19,  Prague airport.

I suspect some things may just never come easy. Saying goodbye to Z and Lora has to be pretty close to the top of that list. The 2 days I've had to reset back in Prague after the States has done wonders to break up this assignment, but is also serves as a painful reminder of all that I'm missing on the road. It's pretty intense that, as someone who has usually had a pretty easy time bidding farewell, I can't help but feel like a sobbing mess inside when it comes to my own flesh and blood. Such, I have learned, is the bond of parenthood.

To compound the emotions, the timing of my arrival in Bangkok couldn't have come at a more precarious time. As of two days ago, the Thai military has declared Martial Law in a coup designed to overthrow the government, which appears to have been successful. What exactly will be waiting for me, along with the Thai people, remains to be seen. Curfews have been imposed on all citizens, and all schools have been declared closed at the time of this entry. The nervous curiosity tingles through my body as I begin to wonder how this will all play out.

And in a true stroke of truth-is-stranger-than-fiction, my subsequent destinations do little more to soothe a wary soul. Qatar, located smack dab in the middle of an area in the Middle East that continues to be affected by some deadly respiratory disease, MERS, will be my next, and longest stop. Then assuming I get through Bangkok and Doha OK, I just hope Guangzhou will be far enough removed from the terrorist attacks in China that claimed the lives of almost 40 people less than a week ago. The carrots at the end of the stick are a day in Singapore and a weekend in Madrid before I see myself finally return home.

26 more days, and an infinite kaleidoscope of the unknown between this airport and home.