I can sleep on any plane. Pillow, eye mask, no pill, fifteen hours, wake up for the meal. Ask me to fly somewhere and I'll go by little propeller plane if I have to.
So people assume I'm easy. I'm not. I just keep my non-negotiables short, and I hold them like law.
Somewhere safe and clean to sleep. And food worth the trip. Everything else is up for discussion.
The deal-breaker
Bad food is my absolute veto. You can offer me the private jet, the massage, the car with the driver — if the eating is going to be miserable, I'm not coming. I would rather not take the trip than take it and eat badly the whole way.
I know how that sounds. But a non-negotiable is only real if you'd actually walk away for it. This is the one I'd walk away for.
Why I take the metro
People think I ride public transport and walk everywhere to save money. Wrong reason. I do it because it's the closest thing to reading a city from the inside — the faces, the alleys, the rhythm, the strange beautiful alphabets on the receipts. In a quiet car with tinted windows you could be anywhere. On foot, you're finally somewhere.