“What seats are we in?” Jenna asked. 
“Row 72, seats J and k.” I replied. 
“Oh my gosh, we’re only at seat 20. This plane is massive!” 
“Move on down, move on down the road…” Jenna started dancing in the aisle pumping her backpack over her head. 
She kept on pumping her bag all the way to our seats. 
“Row 72 here we are.” I said bothered by the fact that we had the last seats at the back of the plane. 
“I guess that’s what we get when we pay $821 off a discount website.”  
“Meh, it could be worse.” 
We put our bags in the overhead compartment and sat down. I took out my ipod, book and a few of my letters from friends and family. Mason’s was the first to read in the pile. I wanted to wait until I got in the air to read it so I started fiddling with every button I could find to distract myself. 
“Holy shit!” 
“What?” Jenna asked 
“Our seats don’t recline!” 
“No way dude.” 
“Way!!” Jenna was always calm as a cucumber. Nothing ever fazed her. She works at her own pace which is 10 times slower than me. She is a typical hippie who loves to laugh and can always look on the bright side of things. Me on the other hand, I can be an optimist, I love to laugh and dance my ass off, but this shit? No thank you! 
“Jenna, we’re on this flight for 16 hours. I can barely get comfortable now and we haven’t even taken off yet.” 
“Chillllll dude. It will be fine. We can get cozy and snuggle.” 
I gave her a look that would stun a moose.   
I put my headphones in and turned on my flying song, “Sunshine Day” by the Brady Bunch, which always sets me up for a good time. 
“Mmm.” My head started bobbing around and a smile came to my face. 
The plane started to back out of the terminal. My anxiety began to increase. I could hear the sound of my heart beating.  I tried to distract myself by looking out the window. The sky was bright with fluorescent lights from all the high-rise buildings. It was dark, but due to the light pollution very few stars were out.  Sirens in the distance made a dull woofing sound. The wings of the plane prepared for take-off and wind rushed over the plane sounding as if we were in some sort of storm. I put my head against the headrest and closed my eyes. My stomach went up into my throat as we rose higher. It was a surreal moment and I felt like I was floating, floating to another land. Another place where I don’t know who or what is awaiting me. I took a chance and jumped feet first – I bought a one-way ticket, and now I’m sitting in the plane – I’m at the point of no return, I thought. 
The pilot turned off the seatbelt sign and I reluctantly reached into my bag to take out Mason’s letter. He slipped it into my bag last night. It seems like a lifetime ago that I left him at the gate with tears streaming down his face. I started to open the envelope. The paper tore easily between my fingers just like my heart was torn apart by my decision to leave him behind. I could smell his cologne that he always wore because he knew how much I liked it on him. His letter smelled intoxicating, just like his smile. I read through the letter in silence. 
‘My Amazing Courageous Love, 
I am so proud of you for taking this leap of faith into the unknown. I want you to know that I will be ok here. I have all of our friends and family here to support me. I want you to enjoy every step along your journey. Every smile, every new found friend who gives you their time, every hug, and if it leads to it, love. Over the past year you have taught me so much about myself. You embraced me for who I am and made me a better man. It’s now your turn to get exactly what you need. I want you to know that I’m here for you, whatever you may need, day or night. I am always here. When you get back, whenever that is, I will be here waiting with a hug and a coffee. Hopefully we will still be compatible, but if not, at least I will always have our memories. I love you more than my words can ever express. –Adam’ 
Jenna reached over and held me. The tears turned into sobbing and eventually into silent ugly crying. I sighed out of my mouth. I exhaled so long that I actually felt my body release so much energy that I started to feel freer. My heart rate finally started to slow down and then I got a whiff of myself. I’ve made my own deodorant for years and only in stressful situations do I ever stink. 
“Do I stink?” Jenna smelled my armpit. 
“Dude.” Was all she said. 
I dug around in my big backpack looking for my homemade goop that I called deodorant. My hand went past the likely unnecessary huge bag of tampons, past my 2 sweaters, 2 shirts and finally to my toiletry bag. As I tried to do my best to pull it out I made a mental note to repack my bag later – I couldn’t find anything! Since I wasn’t able to get to my toiletry bag I decided to cover my stinky pits with the calming essential oil that a friend gave me before my trip. I put it on my wrists and looked at my watch. We only took off 45 minutes ago.  I had to take a nap or I wouldn’t make it through the flight. I closed my eyes, laid my head back and started to listen to all the sounds that I could hear outside of myself. I heard a baby giggling a few rows in front of me. The washroom flushing behind me. The flights attendants making coffee and preparing the cart for drink service. Movies were being watched around me, people were having conversations. Some were heated about what they were going to do when they landed, others were loving. The smell of the lavender that I put on to cover up my stench started to swirl around in my nostrils. The sounds no longer were recognizable, they fused into one another creating a soothing lullaby. I could feel myself travel deeper into relaxation. I was starting to move through the layers of consciousness. I let go of the control of what was happening around me. 
I awoke hours later hoping that we were on the tail end of the flight. It was dark and most people were asleep. I could hear the gentle mummer of people snoring throughout the plane. I needed to move my body. The un-reclining chair really got to my body while I slept. I could feel knots in my back and shoulders that weren’t there before. I unbuckled my seatbelt and did my best to sneak away from Jenna. It turns out she’s a light sleeper. 
“Where are you going?” Jenna asked. 
“Just for a little adventure. I need to go for a walk.” I replied. 
“Cool beans.” 
I lifted the arm rest for her. 
“Here, lay down on my seat too.” 
“Thanks.” Jenna stretched out and I smiled at her as her eyes closed. Since I was at the back of the plane I might as well go for a stroll to the front of the plane to see what’s happening up there. I ended doing several laps around the plane. People looked at me like I was a lunatic, but I don’t understand how they can remain in their seats for so long. Lap after lap it seemed like the plane just kept getting dirtier and smellier. I decided to go back to my seat, I had been walking for about 45 minutes or around 150 laps from my guess. When I returned Jenna was sprawled out over both seats the best that she could. She was passed out and drooling on her travel pillow. I couldn’t wake her. She looked semi comfortable and I didn’t want to disturb her. 
“There’s no luggage on the floor.” I thought to myself. So, I curled up into the smallest fetal position that an adult could do, and scootched under the seat in front of me. Just as I started to dream about my bed back at home and Mason holding me tight, 
“Excuse me? Miss?” A flight attendant spoke in soft words. “Hello? Miss? MISS?” She started to speak louder. 
“Yes?” I replied, barely able to lift my head. 
“I’m sorry Miss, but you’ll have to move. You can’t sleep on the floor.” 
Reluctantly I got up and attempted to stretch while she stood over me. I woke Jenna up by saying her name repeatedly. She was snoring so I didn’t have any qualms about waking her up. I am NOT a fan of snoring. 
“Hey dude, I need to sit down.” 
Jenna sat up and wiped her eyes. 
“How long was I out for?” She asked 
“I’m not quite sure, maybe just over an hour?” 
“Bahhh.” 
“Move over and let me sit down.” 
I sat down in my seat and we did our best to pretzel ourselves into a position that we could both sleep in. It took several tries but we finally found one. We called it ‘Snoozlasana/Paschinidrasana’, which gave us a little chuckle despite our uncomfortable seating situation. 
The flight seemed to go on forever. I was one big knot from head to toe and needed to hit my mat. Thankfully the uncomfortable airplane served mediocre coffee and breakfast prior to landing. I sipped my coffee as thoughts of what would come ran wild in my head.  

Hi, I’m Frances Rose. All my friends call me Frankie cuz, I’m as free as a bird, and honestly Frankie just fits me better. I’m a yoga teacher in one of the most stunning towns in Canada – Nelson, in Beautiful British Columbia. If I’m not in Nelson with my Om’ies I’m either at my parent’s house in Ontario or traveling the world. I’m 5’6, a little stockier than your average yoga teacher, and a hell of a lot more outright. I speak my mind and do what my heart wants, when I’m listening to it that is. I used to be the girl that no one messed with. Studded belt, lip rings, black nail polish, and an intimidating look that scared even the harshest criminals away. Thank goodness I’ve swapped out my skate shoes for bare feet, and my pack of smokes for a yoga mat. I still have the face jewelry as I’ve grown accustomed to it, or maybe, I’m attached to the badass chick that I used to be. I’m pretty sure the old Frankie would have beat the living daylights out of the new and current Frankie.
Like most yoga teachers, I had the inkling to jump on a plane and rush to India. I had just quit an office job that tore my soul out each day. I had nothing to do, nowhere in particular to be. I was just out of my teacher training program, so I figured, “Meh, why not”.

                         “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” –Lao Tzu
 
The day came quicker than I expected. I woke up from a nightmare that I was falling off the edge of a cliff, and my partner, Adam Mason, couldn’t catch me. I had tears streaming down my face, and I was scared that I had lost him forever. Under the warm comforter that we had shared for almost a year, I rolled over, and he was there. I cuddled my love tightly as it was our last time until . . . who knows when, maybe never again? He was snoring like he always did, but I could tell that his energy was off, likely because of what lied ahead in our day. Our alarm went off, and my Mason got-up to shut it off.  He is 6’4, eyes as bright as a clear blue sky, and a smile that makes me melt.  Prior to my big adventure on my own I seriously did my best to break-up with the guy. I love him so much, but this was something I had to do for me. No matter how I said it, he still wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had a one-way ticket away from his heart, and nevertheless he planned to wait for me. He wanted to see if we were still compatible when I got back to Nelson – if I ever went back to Nelson.

     I did my best to prep for this. I was excited to start my journey, but something in my stomach just ached. It could have been my heart breaking, or my insides dancing around with excitement. In silence, I brushed my teeth next to him, got dressed in what would become my outfit for months on end, and before I knew it we were walking down the sidewalk to his car. He grabbed my hand and we both looked at each other. That’s all it took to have us both crying, savoring the last few moments we had together. I felt stupid, walking away from this kind of soul love that was only depicted in Disney movies. Stupid Disney, made me second guess myself all the way to the airport. Am I making the right decision? What happens if I hate India? What if I fall in love with someone?? What if I get Delhi Belly?? AHHHH MIND SHUT UP!!
I kissed Mason at the gate.
“I love you”, I whispered in his ear one last time. He looked at me in the eyes and tried to speak.
“I will always love you”.
I kissed him gently, and without looking back, I walked away. I walked away from potentially ‘The One’. I didn’t want to hurt him, I really didn’t, but nothing was going to hold me back from this Adventure. I knew in my heart that I had to do this.  If it meant leaving possibly the one true love that I would ever have in my lifetime, then so be it.

     I climbed aboard my plane to Vancouver BC. I did my best to belly breathe over the one hour and fifteen minute flight. I tried the ‘So Hum’ meditation, alternate nasal breathing, and a Nidra to ground me, but nothing worked. So, I ordered an ice cold Canadian beer. Nothing can really soothe me like a beer.  I had a sixteen hour flight ahead of me, so I did my best to ignore the stack of notes my friends wrote for me to read on the plane. It’s like the notes had a heartbeat, the more I thought of them, the stronger the heartbeat got. I was about to dive into my secret stash when the pilot came on the speaker to announce that we would be landing soon. I resisted the urge to read them, and instead, I sat back and looked out the window as we flew over lush green mountains, forests so dense you couldn’t see beyond the top of the trees, and eventually tall sky scrapers, highways, and finally – ocean.
I sighed a loud “Ahhhhhhh”, like I do after a challenging standing sequence. I startled the people behind me, and I’m assuming to them it sounded like I was having an orgasm. After thoroughly enjoying my sigh, and playing it up a little with all the looks that I got, I stood up, grabbed my shell, aka my house, aka my trusty backpack, and walked off the plane.

     My travel companion, Jenna, was doing the running man at the gate waiting for me. I dropped my bag and joined her. Making a scene was our thing. Jenna and I have been besties for as long as I can remember. We both grew up in southern Ontario, and were bored there so we decided to move to Calgary, AB.  Shortly after our move, life took Jenna to the busy streets of Van city, while I went to chill in Nelson. It was much more my pace there.  Once out of breath from dancing like it was 1995, I hugged her so tight she thought her head was going to pop off like an empty Pringles container.
“Chill out yo. It hasn’t been that long” Jenna squawked.
It had been a few years since we saw each other, but she still looked the same. Jenna is taller than me at 5’8, she’s thin as a board, and has long beach blonde hair. Jenna took her yoga teacher training too. Since she was a gymnast all her life, her asana practice was well more advanced than mine.  I was lucky if I could hold chatarunga for 2 seconds.
We made our way to gate D73. Our flight didn’t leave for another hour and a half.
“Let’s grab a beer before our flight” Jenna suggested.
“How about we do a wee bit of a practice, then grab a beer?”
“Sounds good to me.”

     We dug out our Manduka Travel Mats that weighed less than 2 lbs and flipped them into the air to unroll them. All around my backpack was the few clothes that I packed, enough underwear for 2 weeks, and a massive bag of Tampax Tampons.
“What the heck is that?” Jenna asked while repacking her bag.
“This?” I held up the enormous blue bag that normally holds a newspaper.
“Yes! That?”
“It’s my tampons for Shark Week. I brought a 6 month supply.”
“Holy crap!! You know they have tampons in India.”
“Haha. I know, but I like these, and honestly, I have no idea what kind of supplies they will have there, they might be like pine cones, or something.”
“Oh my god. Really Frankie? It takes up half your bag.”
“Totally worth it dude. Don’t come crying to me when we’re in the middle of the jungle and you need a tamp!!”

     The airport was pretty quiet. Everyone was in their chairs reading or taking naps. We put ourselves in a small corner so we wouldn’t be out in the open. Even though I like attention, when I practice it’s a bit different. I didn’t want any creep-a-zoids checking us out. As I looked around the bright terminal I could smell the Starbucks coffee and I started to second guess the decision I made to take this trip. This was the first time that I had ever done a big trip to the other side of the world.
“Jenna?” I asked
“Yeah?”
“Are you scared?”
“Of what?”
“India? Our trip?”
“Heck no! I’m stoked!! This is going to be awesome!!”

     Jenna has traveled Southeast Asia several times. I, on the other hand, had been as far as Mexico. I took a deep breath, and placed my hands down on my mat. It was the first time that I used it. It's a sexy forest green and it’s so sticky I just wanted to fly up into a handstand. Unfortunately, inversions are currently my nemesis. I stopped flipping upside down after I fell headfirst off the monkey bars in grade 2.
“Let’s plan our sequence. What cha thinkin’, a peak pose?” I asked.
“Fucks yeah”. A high five came flying my way and nearly smacked me in the face.
“Let’s do some heart opening and some juicy twists.”
By the third Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskara A) I noticed more people were sitting down at our gate. It was weird, people kept looking at us, but then looked immediately away. It’s like they thought I couldn’t see them. I started freaking-out, alarm bells going off. I closed my eyes and got back to my Ugyaii breath.  It didn’t work. I tried child’s pose, getting back into Sun Salutes, and I even tried shaking the willies off, like in my kids yoga training. Nothing seemed to work.
I asked Jenna, “Are we really doing this? Is this happening, or is this just a dream? I don’t think I can practice right now. My head feels like it’s going to explode.”
I barely gave her a chance to speak “Slow down man. It will be fine. What’s the worst thing that can happen, huh? If shit hits the fan, just come home. It’s no big ‘D’.”
“True. I can always go home!!” I started to get excited again.

     Several more outbursts, and a whole lot of sweat later, it was time to board the plane. I grabbed my big green backpack that housed my million tampons, and headed for the gate. With Jenna in front of me in line, I turned around and gave the airport one more glance. I saw a man picking his nose and staring at his booger as if it was a lost treasure. Airport staff were driving around in golf carts shuttling people around, and an angry customer was flipping out at customer service because the flight attendants were late and she was going to miss her connection.

I handed my passport and plane ticket to the overly perfumed attendant.
“Safe travels Ms. Rose.” She handed me back my ticket.
With a smile, I moved on. My journey had begun.