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THE SLOW GUY & HIS FAMILY
Got a kick out of this and wanted to share:
I was at the airport the on Saturday as the arriving throngs started to come out of the luggage pick up area, past the red bags with free coupons and turned to look for their transport to Nirvana.
"Get a cab honey and don't let it go until the kids are all organized" said one. "Sir - where is the bus to the airport?" asked the other. "Hey honey - where is the car rental office for XYZ?" asked one lady. Different modes of transportation and one goal in mind - get out of the airport and on to the beach. (Makes sense to me.)
Way after everyone had left, along comes this guy - taking all the time in the world - and walks silently by with family in tow. Looks over at me and nods and, without loosing a step, just keeps on going at his slow pace towards the taxi dispatcher. Wife and kids seem to have same attitude and speed restrictions.
He ambles over to the many waiting taxis and hops into a van and the family follows. he sparse bags are tossed in and they are off. Elapse time for this was about 3 minutes max! REASON: No one there to get in his way.
As I later found out, he arrived at the hotel and his gang went into the courtesy room bathrooms, changed into the bathing suits and were on the beach ahead of everyone. After a nice swim, the Mrs. went back to the resort lobby and checked in. Dad and the gang continued their swim until she showed up with the keys and waved them to the room where they showered and prepared for the managers cocktail and dinner.
Today - in town - I saw the family walking by some stores and nodded back to the 'slow walking guy' and he nodded back. Met them again at Rumbas while they ate lunch and the best got a hold of me and I went over to their table and introduced myself. We chatted about nothing in particular and then I finally asked: How is it that you always seem to be moving at such a slow pace and yet it seems like you get everything done? "SIMPLE" he said. "It has to do with mind-set". I asked him to elaborate and he said again "SIMPLE".
"Our vacation starts the last night we are back home. We slow down to a crawl way before leaving home and never speed up until the plane lands when we return. We get everything we want to do done - and enjoy it more"
I walked away from that lunch a bit wiser and certainly with a plan in mind on how I would be behaving on my next trip. On the other hand, I can just see myself slowing down like that. SURE!!! Like 99.9% of us, I speed along trying to get the first cab and head for registration ahead of everyone.
You know, this is a tiny island. YOu can see the whole darn thing in one shot when landing. So actually maybe the slow guy and his family had it right - What is the rush all about? The beaches will be there tomorrow and the single little hill we call a mountain will be there for centuries to come. The North coast just aint going South and the ocean will remain blue. Front desks will bear great news on check in and gloomy reality when you are handed the bill at check out. None of it - not one little bit - will change if you go faster.
The slow guy and his family have the answer - EXCEPT - if everyone slows down we would have to hurry to have the same benefits he enjoys now since the crowds would be at the end.
I think?
charles
arubafastphones.com
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