72 hours of travel is a long time!

I'm writing these lines on my last bus before arriving in Cordoba. The sign just showed 97km (I think it's kms here)

Arriving in New York, the plane can't park properly, as there's another plane blocking it. Except that my flight to Argentina is in 2 hours, and I have to go through customs and security again, as well as walking to the next gate. Except that JFK airport (New York's largest airport) is very big, and even though at the time I imagine the connection is good and I don't have to change terminals. But you never know.

There's a little voice in my head telling me not to worry and that I'll get my plane with no problem.

But then, this stalled plane bothers me a lot.

In alchemy, or in the hermetic sciences, there's a saying that everything inside is outside. And it's a principle I try to apply on a daily basis.

As soon as I see the plane can't park, it's blocked. I say to myself, isn't there something at home that's blocked somewhere? I take a look at my emotions and feel that there is indeed a place where the energy isn't flowing.

I decide to self-trame and remove what we call in "trame", 2 knots on me. And once these 2 knots are removed, within a second the plane starts moving again. Brilliant!

Except that after 5 minutes, the plane stopped again.

I'm thinking shit, what's going on? I've still got something? Oh no... I hadn't finished my plot. I start again, and in the same instant the plane starts moving again.

What's inside is outside.

Once in New York, the next plane to take me to Buenos Aires was delayed. We were due to take off at 8pm, and the plane was delayed until 11pm. I can feel the emotion of the people around me.

When I travel, especially alone, I like to be in a moment of contemplation, watching people work and occupy themselves as best they can. It also allows me to keep an emotional distance. I've hardly slept for 48 hours, I don't feel like being talked to at the moment, and I don't feel like interacting with others at the moment.

I'm very happy to love them from afar, a bit like the angels in the film, Wings of Desire (available on YouTube and which I recommend for a better understanding of what I've just explained).

At 10pm, we were told that the flight had been postponed again, but to 10am the next day. So we're good to go to the airport for the night. I'm still in this meditative state, and I like to think that things happen for a reason. So I let it flow.

Inevitably, a lot of other people get upset and start a revolution. I even think that at some point, a grandmother was going to take the keys to the plane and start it herself.

I still don't know whether I would have chosen to follow her or not.

It's off to sleep at the airport, while everyone's getting on my nerves, I feel like I'm Tom Hanks in the Terminal and I think it's so cool.

The downside is that it's very cold with the air-conditioning (it was 30C in the Canaries) and I've got a good sweater, but I'm wearing shorts. Phew, I also have my toothbrush with me.

I go around to get inspiration from people's techniques, to see if there's some genius out there who's found a comfortable bed technique I hadn't thought of. I was ready to learn levitation from a monk if I had to.

Unfortunately, young and old alike have the same problem.

Well, some are better equipped than others, with mini pillows and blankets. Me... Bah... I ran out of room in my suitcase!

In short, I find a "nice" place to sleep.

I have two bags, stuffed with electronics, and a T shirt. So not a very comfortable pillow.

And after a mixture of sleeping (I love made-up words) on the snake-like benches to avoid the armrests and on the floor because the air-conditioning is slightly lower. I managed to squeeze in a few hours of sleep.

The next morning, I wake up at 6 a.m. because I'm too cold, and go back to sitting by the gate, thinking that we'll be leaving soon. Except that at 8am, for no particular reason, the plane is delayed again until 3pm.

I spend the morning walking to warm up, then sleep for a few minutes. Many conversations are in Spanish. I sit down not far from an old gentleman who looks American, and a couple of young people from Edinburgh sit next to him.

They start to explain what happened, why it happened, but we're still delayed. No crew seems to be available.

It's 2pm, another delay, flight postponed to 4pm, then 4:30pm.

The couple went to ask around, and it seems there are still no crews. So they go off on their own, and I go and have a chat with the elderly American. And we wonder whether we'll go, or whether they'll cancel the plane.

He's off to Buenos Aires and then back on a plane to Santiago de Chile. He's going hunting with a friend. We talk about all sorts of things, and then he tells me about something his buddy asked him to buy, which I knew absolutely nothing about.

In the project in Argentina, this thing could be a "game changer" (or mini revolution) in my idea. And I say to myself, "Incredible!

Everything inside and out.

Maybe I needed this information to succeed in my challenge in Argentina.

And all this delay was just because I had to have this information.

(There's another reason - I'll come to it)

3:30 p.m. rings and the screen displays "Boarding in 59:59".

Unbelievable, we're about to embark. 1 hour before, when the couple left, we really thought we were all staying here.

And off we go for an 11-hour flight.

In the meantime, I chatted to the couple from Edinburgh; he works in finance, she in banking. They took a 4-month sabbatical to travel around South America. He's very tidy, he's scrutinized every little thing to be done, she's a little carried away and likes the unexpected. We discuss it, and I share my opinion. And I think there needs to be a little balance between the two. After that, you can't do 13 countries in 4 months without organization.

On the plane, I'm seated next to an Argentine woman, and the girl on my right changes seats to sit 4 rows in front. Merciii a bit of legroom. I get the feeling that my neighbor doesn't feel much like chatting, but that's okay, there are some cool movies on, but I'd have liked to chat anyway, just to learn more about Argentina.

Arriving in Buenos Aires, I go through customs.

And I'd thought to myself in New York that there were a lot of pretty girls, and in the "Argentinians around here" line. I feel like I'm living a Victoria Secret fashion show, but in Walking Dead mode, because everyone slept on the floor the night before.

Customs Argentina :

"Passport & plane ticket", a small thumbprint (not the 10 fingers of the hand like in the United States), a small photo.

"Where will you sleep tonight?

"Welcome to Argentina Julien

2 minutes, like a letter in the post. I feel very welcome.

Once out of the airport, I take the bus straight to the bus station in the center of Buenos Aires to catch the travel bus to Cordoba, my final destination.

I buy a bus card and put money on it.

In the 300m between the airport and the bus stop. I managed to lose my bus pass. I'm very careful with my things, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me.

I think I'm tired.

A lady at the bus stop says she'll pay for me. I beg your pardon? Pardon? Thank you very much!

I don't know where I've just arrived, but what a welcome!

On the bus, a gentleman sees that I'm looking for something, and asks me what I'm looking for, where I'm going and so on. I follow the GPS on my phone, and it tells me to get off at a certain place, except that when the guy sees me press the stop button, he says "Don't worry, keep going".

And indeed, I stayed on the bus until I was 2km from the station. So I finish on foot, just to walk around Buenos Aires a bit. It's 7 a.m. and the neighborhood's population seems to be awake and drinking.

There are quite a few homeless people on the streets, but few of them are awake, and none of them ask me for money.

Arriving at the bus station, I take my ticket, the bus leaves at 10am. It's finally here!

The bus station, on the other hand, is the multiple passages of the quest. Like an idiot, I gave it to one person. The others had to see, and it was a parade.

In fact, one of them got really angry with me. And it's always a strange and funny feeling to see someone getting angry, and he's talking very fast, but I'm not taking anything. From the way he was talking, I think my family and friends (you guys) must have had their ears ringing.

The bus arrives, I pause my suitcase, tip the guy for helping me. (The girl in front had just done the same thing).

In the queue, I noticed a journalist with her colleague carrying a bag of all the microphone hats from all the TV channels in Argentina (the equivalent of the microphone hats for TF1, France 2 etc...), and of course I thought of my sister at that moment.

I get on the bus, I'm in front on the floor, I'm so happy, I'm so comfortable. And then, who do I see coming! The journalist with the bag full of microphone hats. She's going to a town halfway down the road from me. And we spend practically the whole journey chatting in Spanish-English, for a total of 3 or 4 hours.

She said she'd be happy to show me around Buenos Aires (she lives there). And so this is also my first Argentine phone number.

12 years, 1 month, 1 day ago, I met the first Argentine of my life in San Francisco, and she was a truly incredible person. Who, by the way, is also a journalist for an Argentine TV channel.

In the end, I think that's also why my flight was delayed, I had to meet this journalist with interesting stories, who by the way has been doing Reiki for 10 years.

It won't be long before I reach the end of my 72-hour journey.

From Las Palmas in the Canaries, to Madrid, then New York, Buenos Aires and finally Cordoba!