Saturday 11 October 2008: Sarah forget to mention who she was sitting next to on the plane from Brussels to Berlin - the founder of Seychelles!

Sarah says:

You never know who you might end up sitting next to on a plane! On my way to Berlin from Brussels, I sat next to a really interesting and friendly man who I only realized after we got off the plane and he gave me a book and his card was Sir James Mancham, the founder of the Republic of Seychelles! On the plane, before I knew who he was, we were talking politics and about the past, present and future of America. He seemed very well versed and politically-minded. He did mention Seychelles - but I didn't realize he had said he was the first president there and had his power taken away in a coup d'état. Every time we tried to talk, the pilot or stewardess started making an announcement so I didn't catch everything that was being said. He just seemed like a very kind, smart political, peace-wanting and loving person. Now that I have read a lot about him, I know a lot more of course. He gave me one of the books he wrote, which I plan to read soon. I'll stay in touch with him! It's rare when you get to meet someone who wakes you up to some topic and gets you learning about a place you hadn't known much about before. In looking up more info about him, I discovered that he knows a guy I interviewed once via my fascination with and absolute love of the artist Gottfried Helnwein. When I worked as a journalist in Pine Plains, New York, I came across the Pine Plains house that had all these posters of paintings by Helnwein. I was such a fan that it just blew my mind to be in this old house with all these paintings I loved - so I had to know why the paintings were there! After some journalistic searches and another strange connection that came up - I found the guy who owned those posters. He had a house in Pine Plains and one in NYC and he knew someone I knew at the United Nations. Anyway - I wanted to know more about this Helnwein lover so I arranged an interview with him and met him both in Pine Plains and in NYC. He was so friendly and informative and it turned out he came from Austria and knew Helnwein well apparently. To make a long story short - in searching for more info about my plane companion - Sir Mancham, I found that he knows the Helnwein connection guy with the posters in the Pine Plains house too and that together with him, he went to Helnwein's castle in Ireland and stayed there!! It's such a strange small world. I have to write to my new contact from Seychelles and find out more. Life can be so freaking interesting and it just goes to show you that you should never be shy and should always talk to the person you are sitting next to on the train or the plane!

And last but not least, this morning with my crazy friends Steven and Tilly, we made a visual map of all of our big life plans, which now also include a boat trip to Seychelles, so that we can eventually turn some of our far-out shared dreams into realities. We have a lot of complex plans to try to follow-through on and our plan map will change daily - but it's a start at least and all we know for sure is that it has to start with seven sunny days in June and end with a lot of men overboard and a final definition of what makes something interesting! All I can hear in my head right now is my grandma May's constant phrase: "nothing is boring!" -- I'm afraid she is right! Life is full of good stuff to get your head around and bite your teeth into!