Full Circle

London-Dubai-Frankfurt-Stockholm-London. Grey and cold to desert and sheiks. Design and style vs bling and exageration. Bier, Vodka, Shisha and £5 pints. It's not as glamorous as it sounds, not by far, trust me. I left a not empty bed on Sunday morning and for the first time in a long time, I really would have rather stayed.

One of the things I always try to notice when I travel is subtle cultural differences. Some are less subtle then others, in the Middle East people are rarely on time for meetings and think nothing of starting an hour behind schedule. Where as in Scandanavia everything is dependent on precision and efficiency. Often these observations lead me to look at the different cultural habits I have adopted as well. A Cali girl at heart, with a generous dose of Pacific Northwest thrown in and large quantities of British and European influences to round out. When I was growing up being different was a good thing to me and as I moved and travelled I became more eager to blend and not stick out. I think as travel has also taught me, most things end where they began. In some ways I have come full circle in my desire to be different. When I first moved to London the worst name anyone could call me was American (shock,horror)! Nothing has changed politically and in fact its gotten worse from a global point on view, but I now am proud of who I am. One of the people I work with who was in Sweden as well teased me frequently about being SO West Coast and another who was with me in Dubai insisted I was the epitome of a California girl. 4 years ago I would defended myself, this week I beamed and said to both, "Don't I know it!"