Category Travel
China!
Guess where I’m going tomorrow morning! Amanda landed in Seattle tonight, and we leave first thing in the morning for China. We start with a short jump up to Vancouver, then the long haul to Beijing, where we’ll land around 2:30pm on Thursday. We will have spent roughly one million hours in the plane. I […]
Amsterdam
After finishing meetings in Berlin on Wednesday, my colleague and I flew to Amsterdam for another series of meetings there. These meetings could not have been more different! The Berlin meetings were formal (in a conference room), highly contentious and underscored by deep distrust between the two parties, but the Amsterdam meetings were casual (in […]
Meetings in Berlin (Day 2)
The downside of being in Berlin for business meetings is that I have to spend all day sitting in those meetings instead of running around experiencing the city. But the upside is that after those meetings, the counterparty takes us out for dinner at a fancy rooftop restaurant with terrific views . . . . […]
Meetings in Berlin (Day 1)
I’m in Berlin for work this week. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it! I got in yesterday and discovered that my hotel (which was booked by my colleague) is located right in the heart of the old historical center. That meant I could go on an evening walk after dinner and […]
Amsterdam does airports right
For example, they’ve got lovely outdoor seating areas that are perfect on a warm spring day after you’ve sat on a plane for nine hours and your connecting flight has been delayed. Also, not only do they sell Spa water (a delicious Belgian spring water), they sell Spa Marie-Henriette, which is only “lightly bubbly” and, […]
Gritti in PDX
One of my best friends from my days studying in France is a German girl named Grit. She lives in Berlin, works as a freelance journalist for the Deutsche Welle, and is one of those special souls who, if I didn’t already have a twin sister, I might have suspected of being my twin separated at birth. About […]
Puerto Vallarta (Day 5) – Coming home
Oh, the last day of vacation! You wake up in the morning and even though you know your flight isn’t until 4pm, you know that basically everything is over — which of course means that every little decision takes on cosmic importance. Do I go running, or do I have a leisurely breakfast on the […]
Puerto Vallarta (Day 4) – Botanical Gardens and Ocean Grill
Saturday morning dawned bright and gloriously sunny. I went for a nice long run along the waterfront — the first half with Justin, then by myself to tackle some hills. When I got back, I discovered a condo full of people and terrific spread of delicious breakfast! It’s hard to beat fresh fruit and an […]
Puerto Vallarta (Day 3) – Marietas Islands
A couple weeks before this trip, Justin and I had the following conversation: JDK: How are you when you travel? JJD: Awesome. I’m awesome when I travel. JDK: Okay, so what does that mean? JJD: [gleefully] Well, for one thing, it means that I’m going to be okay with sitting on the beach for approximately one […]
Puerto Vallarta (Day 2) – Playa de los Muertos
First full day in Puerto Vallarta, and beach is the order of business. We could have stayed sand-free on our private roof deck, but then we would have missed out on the people watching and wave-surfing. So we walked down to the famous Blue Chairs section of the beach and staked out a spot near a […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 