Decision Process - Franco's Perspective

see all photos »

How does a quiet, pleasant dinner among friends one cold, Saturday evening in Old Montreal, turn into a crazy, life-changing around-the-world travel adventure? Perhaps it was the desire to escape from the snowy, cold weather Montreal loves to bring each winter; perhaps it was the need to challenge the comfortable status quo and throw some mayhem to their everyday routine; perhaps it was that spark of adventure buried deep within each of them that was yearning to come out; perhaps it was the 5 bottles of wine they drank during dinner. I think the latter is probably the true reason, but let’s pretend that it was that spark of adventure deep within their souls, ready to ignite.

The evening started off pretty normal. 4 friends were getting together at a cozy Thai restaurant in Old Montreal: Joy, Eric, Mylene, and Franco. The restaurant was packed with people. Actually there was only two other people in the restaurant, but once they made it half way through the bottle, Franco was seeing triple, and his usual obnoxious loud voice and laughing more than compensated for the lack of noise in the restaurant. Since it was a Thai restaurant, they knew they we were going to order a number of plates and share among themselves. Franco did his usual blank flipping through the menu, pretending to actually be picking a plate or two, waiting for Joy to resume her role as group speaker. She reluctantly gave in, and ordered a number of plates. Franco is not going to pretend to know what he ate because he never really paid any attention past the bottle of wine. As long as whatever they were eating was drenched in peanut sauce, it could have been sheep testicles for all he cared. Since this was a BYOW establishment, there was the usual sufficient supply of wine, which is one of the two most important ingredients of the evening; the other important ingredient is the company of good friends.

How does a quiet, pleasant dinner among friends one cold, Saturday evening in Old Montreal, turn into a crazy, life-changing around-the-world travel adventure?

They started off with a glass of wine, and a toast to the new year. "Love, health, happiness, and excitement for 2006". None of them realized that the toast was bewitched and had a particularly special meaning for this year. So, they continued with their usual banter, refilling glasses, eating, laughing, reminiscing... then, the dreaded question that should have been taboo by now was asked. Even before it was asked, Franco was thinking, "Don’t talk about work; don’t talk about career.... you will bore them to tears with your tormented soul". But, there it was... "How’s work, Franco?" He tried to give a brief answer. An answer that was not too loaded. He didn’t want to say, "Great!" because that wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to start up about how the last few months have been particularly trying for him. That lasted all of 2 seconds. Before he knew it, his seemingly short and calm response grew into a passionate bitching session. He was egged on by the increasing wine consumption. Mylene had warned him many times to pace himself, but Franco always felt that pacing oneself is not a good way to speed the buzz; otherwise, what’s the point? To enjoy the wine?! That’s just crazy talk!

So, as Franco was responding, he found himself having a separate conversation in his mind, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK ABOUT WORK! WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING! SHUT UP, MAN... SHUT UP"! About five minutes later, he did. That’s usually the length of time it took for his thought process to travel to the other part of the brain that enabled his jaw to remain shut. However, what was surprising to Franco was Joy’s response. "You know, we should all just travel the world. Now is the time to do it. Why not take the time to enjoy life, cash in some retirement savings. It can totally be done. None of us have babies, we are pretty free to get up and leave. We should do it. The 4 of us". That was enough to get Franco to start running his mouth again. "That would be awesome! Think of how fun that would be". Franco thought it was a great idea. He suspected they were humouring him and trying to shut him up, but that didn’t matter to him. It didn’t take much to convince Eric of this plan. He had already done something very similar to this, and was ready to do it again. He piped in, "Yeah, when I did it, I met so many people. It was a great experience. To this day, I always remember the fun I had". Could Franco actually be hearing what was being said at the dinner table? Or did he fall into some warped twilight zone where everyone was embracing this crazy travel-the-world notion? Were they being serious to travel as a group? It sure beats the hell of travelling alone and talking to yourself. Franco knew that he wasn’t daydreaming when Mylene broke their stream of thought with her "sensibility and logic" (please read this in a very sarcastic tone, and bring your two hands up in the air while gesturing quotation signs)... what does logic and sensibility have to do with a half-assed plan to drop everything and travel the world for a year?! Perhaps Mylene wasn't understanding the adventure and excitement such a trip would entail; perhaps Mylene lacked focus on the bigger picture; perhaps Mylene was the only one not drunk. For this story, let’s say that the real reason centers around her lack of focus. The conversation lingered on for a while, and Mylene continued her quest to be "reasonable". They decided to move their party to a lounge club nearby, called Java U.

Franco couldn’t get the conversation out of his head. All the way to the club, he thought, "Are they really considering this? Would they do this?" The only one he believed was Eric because, let’s face it: you can only really rely on men to truly commit to cool, albeit asinine, plans while drinking. And it’s that asinine drinking bond that makes men reliable.

In Java U, the conversation continued over Martinis. Mylene remained skeptical. As they all tried to convince her, Franco started to not believe this was going to happen. Was he even ready to commit to this? In his drunken stupor, he was ready to pack his bags right there and leave. At some point in the evening, Franco got up to go to the bathroom. He headed for the bathroom. About 10 seconds into it, he realized that he was walking too fast , almost sprinting, but luckily, he caught himself before this cute blonde made her way up the stairs. His right hand reached for the stair railing in one smooth, swift movement, fooling the blonde bombshell into thinking he was suave and in control. Or did she realize that he grabbed onto the hand rail when he tripped over his own feet, and was actually yelling out 3 Hail Mary’s, fearing that he was going to plunge down the long stairway head first... nah, she thought he was suave. He smiled, she snarled... oh, those silly dating rituals... Anyway, Franco’s first real epiphany that made him realize how important this around-the-world journey was for him came in the bathroom.

He was doing his business. His mind wandered as it usually did when he was drunk. There he was, in front of the urinal, when suddenly this music comes on. It startled him (actually, it scared the hell out of him ... poor janitor cleaning up that mess... sorry...). The music was coming from a small billboard advertisement. It was a beer ad, Molson Dry or something.... "Call me unpredictable.... call me undeniable... call me unreliable..." "Wow", he thought. The song kind of spoke to him. He didn’t know the rest of the words, nor did he care. It was those few lines that he wanted to hear. That's when he knew this idea to travel the world was a once in a lifetime experience that he couldn't let up. For once in his life, he wanted to be "unpredictable" and throw all caution to the wind.

Franco returned to the bar. They continued to talk about the trip. Mylene remained the skeptic. Finally, someone, I think it was Joy, recommended they all write an essay of why they should or shouldn't go on this trip. They ended the night on that note.

The next morning, Franco, Joy and Eric all woke up refreshed forgetting about the crazy around the world trip idea... it was a fun night, and it was fun to dream, even if it wasn't going to happen. Mylene, on the other hand, spent a sleepless night thinking and rethinking whether this around the world adventure was doable or just insane. She called Franco and asked, "So, now that you are sober, are you still considering this seriously?" Franco, confused that this was still an option, replied, "Umm... yeah... sure... you bet"! Later, she had breakfast with Joy and Eric. Mylene was surprised that they gave the idea no added thought, and just slept like babies. A few days passed, and after exchanging a few e-mails, they decided to actually write their essays on why they should or shouldn't do the trip. They also gave each other a month grace period to commit (with no turning back) or back out. Eric was always in, no doubt. Mylene very quickly decided to go forward with it. Joy was next, with a little convincing from Eric and Mylene. As for Franco, the one who was willing to seal the deal in blood just a couple of nights ago, decided to take the full month to think it through, and finally, also committed to this trip.

So the decision to do it was firm, now what? Man, this was tougher than work. For the next months leading up to the departure date, there were weekly meetings to discuss all that needed to be done: vaccinations, giving up apartments, ending car leases, budget plans, maps and itineraries, endless research on the internet, price shopping for flights and hotels/hostels... it's not everyday you plan to travel the world, but this was their new reality... how exciting (and nerve-wrecking)!

To be Continued...