First leg: from CLT (Charlotte) to ATL (Atlanta) — about 1 hour flight time (in the evening — took a picture of the sunset from 35,000 feet)!
The layover at ATL was about 5 hours. By the way, the 5-hour layover, surprisingly, was exactly right; ATL is a huge and busy airport with lots of people to process.
Second leg: from ATL to ICN (Incheon, South Korea) — about 13 hours flight time. Took off from ATL at just past 1 AM! There were no open stores at the ATL airport at this time… just vending machines. Bottled water from the vending machine was just fine for us… knowing that the airline (Delta) that will take us to ICN will serve us “dinner” soonest when ready.
Departure to ICN from ATL
Arrival at ICN
The ATL to ICN was a pleasant 13-hour straight flight! Huge plane.
The layover at ICN was about 2.5 hours. Not that much of a time but long enough to get some souvenirs.
Third leg: from Incheon to MNL (Manila) — about 5 hours of flight time.
26.5 hours. An exceptionally long time from CLT to MNL; and my medicines were not with me!
What to do with all this “free” time on all legs of the journey?!
Especially the 13 hours flight to Incheon… stuck in an airplane for 13 hours… and nothing else to do except eat, drink, go to the restroom, brush teeth, watch movies, listen to music, talk, take pictures, think, read, sleep, and walk around the isles of the plane for exercise…repeat.
Cannot complain! I love flying! To me, the longer the flight, the better. Besides, I get a lot of ideas — without trying, these just come to me — when I’m in planes, trains, and automobiles.
And I love eating those airline foods… what can I say, I love food! I cook them, I eat them, I order them, I take pictures of them, I study them, etc. I am looking forward to tasting various foods in the Philippines and Australia.
I am no glutton though, I practice “Hara Hachi Bu”… a Japanese term meaning “eat until you’re 80% full”… walk away from the table hungry (80% full). This is similar to Lean’s not running your factory over 80% for efficiency. Well, our body is the same… keep it Lean… stay hungry… walk away at 80%… take in no more.
Key Ideas:
- Enjoy the journey. The same is true with your initiatives; you can focus on the achievement of your objectives/goals… but you must also enjoy the journey… do not just go through it… get from it.
- Stay hungry and stay Lean at 80% capacity.
My succeeding posts are about my family’s travel to the Philippines and Australia… and we are taking SAFe and the Lean Agile Way of Working/Living with us… and see how others outside of the USA are doing with the Lean Agile Way of Working/Living. Each post will have a Key Idea for you to ponder upon if you wish.
There are many other ideas like this — short but sweet ideas — in my new book, ‘SAFe (6.0) Is like …’ . It is available on Amazon… and it has reached ‘# 1 New Release’ several times! Check it out.
