New travel plans

Would you believe that I already have plans for my next trip overseas? The exhaustion from my last treck is forgotten, and, yes, I just finished booking my transatlantic flight to Italy for next month. After a few days in Milan, where I am supposed to have a couple of meetings, I shall proceed to Tirana. In Albania I have many ongoing projects and will remain for a month, returning to the States just in time for Thanksgiving.

No sooner I had my electronic ticket in hand that my favorite airline (Delta) has declared bankruptcy! Worried about what I should or should not do, I perused their web site and, low and behold, I find that they have already posted reassuring reports for anyone to read. By the end of day I even got a personal email from the airline toward this end! They wanted me to know that my travel plans are secure.

Where else in the world would one get such attentive and effective service?

Just a thought

As the catastrophe continues to unfold in the southern states I am at home in New York, which, instead is blessed with a gorgeous day. It's very hard to think of the devastation left by Katrina, and even more difficult to imagine how the thousand of people affected are feeling and how they are coping with this immense disaster.

As I am making my contribution, a thought crosses my mind: how would I feel and what would I do if I was in this kind of situation? The only answer I can come up with is that none of us are ready to deal with similar calamity, but we should think about it and should learn a few things from it. In some countries around the world there are people that, although for different reasons, live today their lives with a small survival kit at hand. We should realize that even in the most modern, richest, and powerful nation, every one of us should learn to become more responsible for our own well being and try to plan in advance what we would do if faced with similar misfortune.