I’m sitting on a flight from SFO to Chicago as I take the first of two flights back to New York. Today I will finish my circumnavigation of the globe! I’m going to be arriving back in New York with mixed emotions. I’m excited to get home, see friends, look for new opportunities for employment and finish some home improvement projects. I’m sad to see this trip end. What an amazing adventure it has all been. As I sit here on the plane I’m listening to sappy music and being nostalgic about what I’ve been able to see and do over the last three and a half months.
Since I arrived back from the desert I’ve been able to visit more family and friends. Monday December 29th I drove up to Truckee (Lake Tahoe area) to see my brother Mark and his family, my sister-in-law Stacy, nephews Justin and Collin and my niece Zoe. The drive up is about 3 hours and I was amazed to see how much snow had fallen over the course of the last several weeks. It was pretty to drive through the mountains with all of the snow covering the vistas. Arriving at lunchtime Justin and Collin were waiting for me so they could show off some of their Christmas loot! I quickly joined in by driving one of the new remote control cars around the house banging into walls and feet. Zoe was a bit trepidatious at first upon seeing me. I haven’t seen her much in her first year and a half and she’d grown considerably since July when I last saw her. I was thrilled that she warmed up quickly and planted herself on my lap to give me a hug.
We had some lunch at the house and took a quick walk around the neighborhood. We ended our walk with some sledding in their front yard. There is enough snow that they could form a hill out of it on an otherwise flat yard. Justin and Collin started out but I had to jump on the sled to show them that their uncle isn’t too old to have some fun. Zoe even got a ride on the slide with Mark and she was thrilled with the ride. After going back in and warming up a bit Justin and Collin remembered that when I’d spoken to them on the phone I’d promised to help put together one of their Christmas gifts. Secretly I’d hoped that Mark would have already put it together but alas it was a project we’d all get to participate in. They’d gotten a three-in-one fooze ball, ping-pong and air hockey table. Mark and I got to work and started to identify what seemed like three hundred little pieces that would all have to be fit together. After only a short time with the help of Justin and Collin as our apprentices we finished the table construction. It was time for an air hockey tournament! Justin and Collin beat their Uncle Dan and played for the championship. Unfortunately, too much excitement got the best of us all and meltdowns ensued so we didn’t finish the last game of the tournament.
Zoe had begun taking her first steps the week of Christmas so I was anxious to see her walk. Mark and Stacy were able to coax her into walking a bit. Seems she is ready to start conquering the world. She has some favorite toys, including a car that she can ride in, but her real favorites seem to be her brothers and parents. She didn’t ever want to be out of the action. After all of the afternoon’s activities it was time to get some dinner. We brought some pizza back to the house and ate around the table. I left after dinner to drive back to Orinda. It had been a fun day and certainly reaffirms my love of being an uncle!
I got to spend some great time with other friends this week. Ingrid and I got to eat Nation’s Hamburgers (a local favorite), and Togos sandwiches and spend time driving around having fun and being immature. I had a great dinner with my friends Annemarie, Jim, Colleen and Brad. Annemarie, Colleen, Brad and I all worked at NASDAQ in California together. Annemarie and her husband Jim invited us to their house for cocktails and then we all went to dinner. I didn’t find myself home until the wee hours of the morning after a great night of catching up with all four of them. I saw Sarah, Joe and Lily for some lunch and a walk. Sarah and I had the chance to talk about past, present and future knowing we’d always be excited to hear about each other’s lives. My parents came home from the desert and I spent time catching up with them. My mom and I went to see Marley and Me at the movies (by the way to our surprise it is senior day on Monday in Walnut Creek for the movies). A fun movie that ends as a tearjerker.
This morning I woke up at 4 AM all packed up and ready to head for the airport. Scout and Willa were looking nervous as I loaded my luggage in the car. Scout in particular hasn’t left my side since they got back from the desert. I said goodbye to my mom and to the dogs and my dad and I drove into San Francisco. Thankfully at that time of day there is no traffic and we made it there pretty quickly and now here I am on the plane getting ready to land in Chicago to connect to my flight to JFK.
I’m supposed to be ready to go get a job having had all of this time to think about exactly what it is I want to do with the rest of my life. Well I can honestly say I’m ready to get a job again, I didn’t think as much about it as I thought I would preferring to live in the moment, and I don’t know what the rest of my life will bring. Me the one who always has a plan doesn’t know exactly what he is going to do with the rest of his life. I guess the good news is I’m not scared about not having a grand plan. I’m learning to live with ambiguity, something Marcia tried to instill in me before she passed away. Sure I thought about some of the obvious things I do and do not want to do but I realized I can have a plan but it doesn’t have to map out all facets of my life today or for the next thirty years.
Before I left on this adventure some of my friends referred to me as a points whore. Many laugh at me because I’m always scheming ways to maximize the points I get from hotels, airlines, credit cards rental cars and everywhere else. This is a practice I long ago learned from my colleague and friend Andy Reuter. I guess he is the original points whore. Well for those naysayer and for those that really just like to tease me, here is what I got to do in 2008 because of accumlated points. In September I had 115K Hilton Honors Points, 70K American Express Points, 145K Citi Thank You Rewards Points, 70K Delta Skymiles and 220K American Airlines Miles. From all of these sources I got:
• One round trip business class ticket to London
• One business class around the world ticket (NY to Dubai, Dubai to Bangkok, Bangkok to Singapore (though I didn’t get to fly this leg), Singapore to Cairns Australia (via Tokyo Stopover), Cairns to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne to San Francisco, San Francisco to NY)
• Thirteen nights of free hotel stays (and many free meals included)
So now I’m left with few points and that means I will not be traveling much for a while…unless I have a job that sends me somewhere.
2008 has brought me to many places. While working at NASDAQ I was able to see Denmark, Sweden and Finland with several en route trips to London. I traveled to the South of France, Monaco and just inside the Italian border. I traveled to Jamaica on vacation. And then with these last two trips I saw England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Australia. In total I saw sixteen new countries this year (not including a stopover in Jordan and a stopover in India). I ate schnitzel, fish and chips, pate, crepes, Swiss chocolate, goulash, chicken shawarma, pad Thai, chicken satay and sushi. I spent a cumulative three months of the year out of the country.
Amazing doesn’t do justice to the experience I’ve had these last several months. It is an incredible opportunity to travel to so many places while experiencing so many cultures and so much history. I look forward to my future travels. If anything these two trips have only further wet my appetite for greater exploration…if only after a bit of time at home in New York.
