It has been a long journey. Five hours from Atlanta to the West Coast. Overnight stay. Then nearly twelve hours to Fiji. That was followed by an eight-hour wait at the airport before a much smaller plane carried me and a handful of fellow travelers to this remote Melanesian island nation.

As the plane finally descended through the clouds, I caught my first glimpse of Vanuatu.

I first learned about this country during my Covid project of memorizing every country and its capital. Vanuatu caught my attention for a rather odd reason. While neighboring capitals had wonderfully local names like Funafuti, Nuku’alofa, and Honiara, this one stood out. Why was it called Port Vila? It sounded as though the British had wandered by, run out of imagination, and simply named it after… well… a port.

That was the extent of my knowledge for quite some time.

Then I stumbled upon another fact. Vanuatu was one of the last places on Earth where cannibalism was practiced. They had incidents of cannibalism even after I was born!!

My immediate reaction?

“I have got to visit this place.”

To be clear, they do not practice cannibalism anymore. At least, that is what the local tourism brochure told me. I have decided to take them at their word.

I have also learned that Vanuatu is considered the birthplace of modern bungee jumping. Except their version is considerably less reassuring. Every year, men climb a tall wooden tower, tie vines around their ankles, and leap headfirst toward solid ground to usher in a great harvest (of yams). No elastic cords. No river below. Just vines, gravity, and what I assume is an extraordinary amount of confidence.

That particular cultural experience, I am perfectly happy to admire from a safe distance.

I cannot wait to discover what else this fascinating little country has in store. Somehow, I have a feeling that this is not going to be an ordinary trip.

What a great way to wake up after a very long flight – cappuccino and “kathi goja”!!

This is in the Fiji Airways lounge in Nadi airport. The effect of Indian culture is all over the country.

I see some very remote islands in my near future!

Meeting my nephew in his college town, Riverside, California, is something I always look forward to.

I have watched this gentleman grow from a toddler crawling around the living room, to the ever-reliable face waiting for me at Kolkata airport during my quarterly visits to my parents, to now a full-fledged young man navigating college with a remarkably good head on his young shoulders. It is one of those privileges of getting older that almost makes getting older worth it.

Over lunch, we had one more of those conversations that make you forget there is food on the table. We talked about some of the lessons and revelations he is going through in life. Many of them felt familiar. I had wandered through the same territory in my early twenties, although I probably stumbled into more rocks along the way.

Then I caught a faint hint of shared family DNA.

He told me that this summer, while staying on campus for a job, he woke up one morning with the uncomfortable realization that he was wasting too much of his day. Instead of immediately downloading three productivity apps and buying a new notebook, he spent a couple of days just… thinking.

“Me and my thoughts,” is how he described it.

A perfectly respectable activity for a philosopher. Mildly concerning behavior for someone in college.

Those conversations with himself led to a decision. He wanted to build better habits. So now, whenever he gets the chance, he heads to the library and devours books. Non-fiction only, he added.

I tried not to look too smug. This uncle approved.

As I drove back to the hotel, I caught myself wishing I could go back to his age. Imagine having all that time ahead of me to learn new things.

Then, somewhere between Riverside and the hotel, I had my own little “me and my thoughts” moment.

“Hang on… I’m not dead yet.”

I may not have the same energy I had at twenty. My knees have opinions now. My memory occasionally files things under “good luck finding that later.” Learning may take me longer than it once did.

So what?

Perhaps that is exactly what makes it worthwhile. Learning, perhaps, has never been about having no obstacles. It is precisely about overcoming them.

So I think it is time to start learning something new again. Now I just need to make a list.

But first…

Another adventure beckons.