Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, January 25, 2009.
This week my brother went snowboarding in Utah. He left on Tuesday and was to return on Saturday but missed his plane back. Because the popular and well-known Sundance Film Festival was wrapping up that weekend, the next available flight was not until Monday. My parents missed my brother’s return as they left on Sunday for a one-month trip to the Philippines. While my family racks up frequent flier miles, I needed several minutes just to remember the last time I was on an airplane.
I think my most recent flight was in August 2003 for a cousin’s wedding in Northern California. My last true vacation was in 2001 when I flew to Florida and took a Caribbean cruise on the week immediately following the 9/11 attacks. Since then most of my traveling beyond Los Angeles & Orange Counties has been for out-of-town weddings. This is any observation, not a complaint. I will take what I can get right now.
Much to my frustration, my employment history has been heavily sporadic in the past decade. In fact I recently endured 14 months between fulltime jobs and my savings were completely drained. Consequently I live the paradox of “having the time but not the money or having the money but not the time”. In the foreseeable future my travels will be limited to road trips. Thankfully gasoline prices have nose-dived. Otherwise a daytrip would be going to the community pool and a wild weekend would involve walking down to the beach.
I will be surprised if I fly anywhere this year and stunned if I travel outside the United States via any means – plane, train, car or foot. In fact if I attempt a national border crossing, I would be detained as my passport expired several years ago. Nevertheless I will set foot on all seven continents one day with three down already (Asia, Australia & North America) and four more to go. For now I can focus on setting foot on all 50 states of the USA. I have been to 17 or so thus far but will spare you a list of those.
Meanwhile home offers inspiration. Christmas was over a month ago and the fake tree is boxed but yet to be stored in the garage. Most of the ornaments have been put away too. But some are in the living room’s built-in bookcase as shown in this week’s photo. They are mixed with glasses, each from a different location of the Hard Rock Café (HRC) restaurant chain. The shorter 30th anniversary pint glasses are from my near-complete set (I have 36 of 39). The taller pilsners represent the restaurant & city that I have actually visited (a modest 14 of 80+ worldwide). The ornaments, wire sculptures and HRC barware have a unifying theme “Travel”, a sure sign that I continue to dream.
Angelo
Photo taken on Sunday, January 25, 2009.
This week my brother went snowboarding in Utah. He left on Tuesday and was to return on Saturday but missed his plane back. Because the popular and well-known Sundance Film Festival was wrapping up that weekend, the next available flight was not until Monday. My parents missed my brother’s return as they left on Sunday for a one-month trip to the Philippines. While my family racks up frequent flier miles, I needed several minutes just to remember the last time I was on an airplane.
I think my most recent flight was in August 2003 for a cousin’s wedding in Northern California. My last true vacation was in 2001 when I flew to Florida and took a Caribbean cruise on the week immediately following the 9/11 attacks. Since then most of my traveling beyond Los Angeles & Orange Counties has been for out-of-town weddings. This is any observation, not a complaint. I will take what I can get right now.
Much to my frustration, my employment history has been heavily sporadic in the past decade. In fact I recently endured 14 months between fulltime jobs and my savings were completely drained. Consequently I live the paradox of “having the time but not the money or having the money but not the time”. In the foreseeable future my travels will be limited to road trips. Thankfully gasoline prices have nose-dived. Otherwise a daytrip would be going to the community pool and a wild weekend would involve walking down to the beach.
I will be surprised if I fly anywhere this year and stunned if I travel outside the United States via any means – plane, train, car or foot. In fact if I attempt a national border crossing, I would be detained as my passport expired several years ago. Nevertheless I will set foot on all seven continents one day with three down already (Asia, Australia & North America) and four more to go. For now I can focus on setting foot on all 50 states of the USA. I have been to 17 or so thus far but will spare you a list of those.
Meanwhile home offers inspiration. Christmas was over a month ago and the fake tree is boxed but yet to be stored in the garage. Most of the ornaments have been put away too. But some are in the living room’s built-in bookcase as shown in this week’s photo. They are mixed with glasses, each from a different location of the Hard Rock Café (HRC) restaurant chain. The shorter 30th anniversary pint glasses are from my near-complete set (I have 36 of 39). The taller pilsners represent the restaurant & city that I have actually visited (a modest 14 of 80+ worldwide). The ornaments, wire sculptures and HRC barware have a unifying theme “Travel”, a sure sign that I continue to dream.
Angelo
