Two Years Later- Tundra Roadtrip in the American Midwest

Naturally, I would love to be updating this blog with yet more trips across Australia, but that is not yet in the cards. Meanwhile, I have been doing some travel that may be blogworthy: 16 university campuses in 6 states in 9 working days. Funny that I was in the South this time last year. So this time around I traded the grits and soul food of Charleston, South Carolina and Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a more (ahem) "acquired taste" - howling winds and blowing snow. Picture the Deep North in Queensland and aim for the exact opposite. How did you celebrate Australia Day?

I celebrated January 26 by boarding a redeye flight to Chicago, landing at 5:10am, and driving to Notre Dame, Purdue, IUPUI, and Indiana University. Mind you, I am not complaining. It was time well spent and an agenda that I drew up.

You not might think that a sheer lust for tourism placed me in a rental car, careening across the great icy flat spot that I grew up in and around. In fact, I did. Let me say this, I had a great time visiting more glamorous spots like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and London for work trip last summer. The photo below would imply as much (note, I have wifely approval to post this, so don't infer more than I implied!):

The thing is, I really do like everywhere I go and just about everyone I meet. It is admittedly easier to like strolling down the Esplanade in Cairns as the warm humid embrace of an evening breeze joins the up-tempo beat of live music than it is to like hurrying not even

two blocks from your parked car to the Illini Union as the biting wind causes you to lose feeling in your fingers while encouraging altogether too much feeling in other exposed surfaces like your ears, nose, and neck. The thing is, I have heard good things about these places. I fully expected that I would like visiting schools like Indiana, Penn State, and Wisconsin for the first time - and I did.

So what was the agenda? I flew into Chicago and visited Notre Dame, Purdue, IUPUI, Indiana, Washington University in St Louis, Illinois, Penn State, Washington & Jefferson College, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Ohio State, Marquette, Wisconsin, U of Chicago, and Northwestern. The map below of the Big Ten (an athletic conference of major midwestern universities and yes, they have had 11 members for about 16-17 years now) gives a nice outline - I skipped the two Michigan schools and the two farthest to the West (Iowa and Minnesota), but spent time at all the others. Specifically, I went to fairs at Indiana, Ohio State, and Wisconsin (the three red ones if you're looking at the map), did an info session at Illinois, and met with administrators at all the schools.

The best part of most travel involves things that go wrong, so let me start with the rental car: the "Check Oil" light was blinking the whole time, so I never saw the odometer except when the key was in but the engine off. Shortly into my trip a fuse went out, so I am not sure what other indications I was supposed to get on the dash. The window takes about 15 seconds to go down and when it goes up it does not close properly, so at highway speed it was as if I had my window down by the smallest possible amount. The folks checking me in were a

little surprised to see I'd put 2687 miles on the car and despite these many but minor flaws, I certainly got good value for the firm (less than 10 cents/mile).

My confidence in the Dodge Avenger was never terribly high, so it did not surprise me when the Dodge's perception of my speed did not equate to that of the Illinois Highway patrol. It's not as if I don't ever speed, I just can't abide by getting caught for speeding when I am not. Fortunately, much like in Western Australia, I was pulled over for speeding and I was given a warning instead of a ticket. In Oz, the oncoming policeman did not see where the speed limit had been raised leaving a construction zone (nor did he notice the car tailgating me, the driver of which was apparently frustrated that I was doing the speed limit). In Illinois, I believe the radar granted me the credit for the speed of a larger vehicle passing me. To complete my vehicular lawlessness, I was given a parking ticket for parking

where I thought the Illinois Business School people told me to go - "we've reserved some spots with the hoods on the meters - park there (pointing)." I did, but I apparently picked the wrong hooded meter, reserved by some other department, so I got a ticket that was subsequently waived.

Before I start singling anyone out for being exceptional, please know that they are all lovely schools and if/when I am back in the area I will surely visit all again (except Duquesne).

Indiana is known as being a nicer campus in a classic college town, Bloomington. It had a broad selection of restaurants in town, a quaint town square, and an all-limestone campus that was somewhat reminiscent of my alma mater, Virginia Tech. Looked like a pleasant place that would be really attractive if I had visited when the trees were green. Nice folks and a ton of students studying foreign languages. It is unusual to find college students who speak foreign languages in bulk. Even those elite, foreign-affairs skewing schools tend to be small. This was a huge school with lots of foreign-language-speaking US students (good for business).

Several folks who graduated from Illinois are friends of mine - a neighbor who played on their '83 Rose Bowl team, a childhood friend who went there and now lives out here in the Bay Area - so it was good to go there. We did an info session and I was impressed how many students attended. Thursday nights are notoriously heavy drinking nights on college campuses, yet despite limited advertising, quite a few students fought the cold and eschewed (or at least delayed) the social temptations to listen to me talk about how they could pay to go abroad. I dropped in an Irish place to get something warm and I realized that after having Irish food about once every other year for most of my life, I had just been to Irish restaurants three nights in a row: Bloomington, St Louis, and Urbana/Champaign (OK, that last one was more of a tavern but the first two were definitely restaurants, not just bars).

That reminds me, in the first one, some guy wanted to strike up a conversation. Now I am a social guy, traveling solo, so I am normally game to talk to passing strangers. Hit it off with a guy at the airport when I flew back, but this is not one of those stories. The first night, I had gotten into Bloomington with almost no sleep the night before, I'd had a long day and driven to four schools, and I just wanted to eat and go. Additionally, even fully rested, this was not the kind of person I would want to talk with too much. He starts in with some weak, pointless poem. 30 seconds? 2 minutes? I couldn't say.

I was kind of tuned out and did not want to encourage him. It was delivered as if it was a pearl of wisdom and I thought "just don't look at him, he'll get the point." Having received no feedback and presumably thinking he should elevate his game, he paused about 2 minutes then said another one notable only for having a few rather unambiguous lines on politics - I had concentrated on not listening closely, but even for those who sympathize with his views it would be a best practice to not make what he said the second thing you say to a total stranger. The better you know me the less you can probably picture me saying this - but I turned and asked, "Are you going to do this all night or are you about done?" Within about 2 minutes he picked up his stew and his beer and moved to a different seat. Solid.

Some older buildings on these campuses are just really strangely laid out. One at Penn State had these odd, sort of House of Escher drawing half floors, but the most unusual was at University of Pittsburgh (known as Pitt). Try to follow these directions: "Go to the third floor, head down the hall that way (motioning East), at the end of the hall, go up a few stairs to room 209". So you go up from the 3rd floor to room 2-something? Yeah.

Now that I've made fun of it, let me note that - surprisingly - one of my favorite campuses was Pitt's. It's surprising because I grew up in Pittsburgh and even took a Spanish class one summer at Pitt, but I was not a fan of the campus at the time. Partly because I live in a city I'm a bit more amenable to city campuses and partly because I've been to 63 campuses in the past year and a half for work, Pitt measures up much better.

There are several architecturally interesting buildings, but the signature building is the Cathedral of Learning. The outside looks like something from perhaps one of the Batman movies, some envision a dreary Eastern European monstrosity from the communist era, I've always felt that it looked a little like it was melting. Some people describe the inside of the Cathedral of Learning as something from Harry Potter - I can't really say, but it is unique (here is my poorly filmed 16 seconds of the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt).

Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin, is another classic college town with a great reputation. It's this cool college town set between two (frozen) lakes and it is also the state capital. Turns out the reputation was well deserved. All the schools were I met students had very good ones: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. I did not exactly hang out at the frat parties, so I saw the business game face for most. The quirk here was that the fair ran until 8pm. Mind you I have no "bar stories" from the Australia portion of the blog because I was touring with my son (pictures of whom make the blog readable, I know). I got back to the hotel, dropped off my things, and headed out around 9pm expecting to be crushed by thousands of drunken Badgers. Nothing of the sort - I'm grabbing a quick bite and a brew in this mildly crowded place near my hotel called the Nitty Gritty. Then a few minutes before 10pm students start queuing 5 deep on either side of me but not ordering. There's a quick announcement that 10pm is the Power Hour, everything is $1, and it was on - mass mayhem as everyone orders something on the order of 4 rum & cokes and gets change for their $5 bill. Even in the best of places, acquiring and consuming large volumes of mixed drinks is a recipe for, shall we say, people becoming inconsiderate. That just was not the case here: people could not help but bump you (and I did move to the side behind a pillar for faster drink processing for the others), but they all apologized as if it was their fault and a few struck up conversations (vastly superior to the aforementioned Bloomington bar bard). I left within 20 minutes, so I can't say what an hour of high volume, low cost distilled beverage did for their collective considerateness (is that an adjective?) at the end of the hour, but their reputation was certainly in tact.

Wrapped things up in Chicago visiting two premier universities and our language school. I've left out the more personal meetings because travel is usually about discovery - I am not sure I can make meeting up with an old friend in Chicago, another one in Pittsburgh, my mom in Pittsburgh, or alumni of our program in Indianapolis, Bloomington, and St Louis all that interesting. They were interesting to me, but I am not sure that they are to you. Good times and I'll wrap it up with a photo of the cute kid and the very cute wife that I saw when I got home.

A year later - Road Trip Southeastern US

Well, here we are a full year later and I still love thinking back on my 2 months in Oz. About this time last year, a charming young lady in Perth walked up to me and Alex and offered to buy him an apple juice. Next thing you know, we are in the middle of the Friday evening starter bar experience with about 7 folks just escaped from their place of work. Since then I have had a fantastic year - still happily married, still happily fathering, and happily employed.  So the last couple of weeks for work, I went on an epic tour of universities in the Southeast. First off, I took a 3-day trip to Colorado in December. Love that place. Here's some Colorado State imagery to keep you warm. I need to go to a different continent to get any snow on this blog. On the plus side, I have pretty good access to this continent, so I've got some more snow for ya. If you look at our spring tour, you'll see I'm hitting several college campuses (is the plural of campus campi? maybe Campari?) well, here's the list (not all me, thank goodness) http://www.intraxinternabroad.com/locations - I did some work in case it looks like I just hung out and ate food. First thing I did on this trip (like Colorado in December) I found more snow in North Carolina. Here's snowy NC State University. 

 

Then for the first time since I graduated (1992, for any keeping track), I saw my alma mater Virginia Tech play basketball and it happened to be the #1 team in the country, Wake Forest. Nice timing - for the 3rd time in history Virginia Tech beat a #1 team in basketball and I was

 there.  Sometimes you're just on a roll. Next thing you know my home town Pittsburgh Steelers won yet another Super Bowl. 

Then I went down to my grad school alma mater South Carolina. It was a wonderful homecoming. I must confess to being a bigger fan of Virginia Tech sports and I go back there more, but my 2 years at Carolina were maybe more fun than my 4 years at Tech (OK, all 6 were good, but it was more concentrated at Carolina).  The graduate business school at South Carolina treats me very well and they even highlighted this blog in the alumni magazine. So going back to South Carolina was wonderful. Good for work, good in general. 

I was going to meet up with a guy I've known of since high school but only recently got around to liking - he's a prof at Carolina. Unfortunately he was sick this trip, but I'll be back. So the tour was good and I realized - just as I would find vegemite within a day or two of arriving in Australia - that I really wanted some grits when I was in South Carolina. I had grits every day thereafter. If you live in the South, you take Waffle House for granted. If you don't, you realize that easy access to grits and hash browns that are splattered, smattered, smothered, covered and diced is a luxury to enjoy. Anyhow, 15 years after graduating from the place, I still enjoy going back to the University of South Carolina.  

Moving on, I drove down to Charleston - arguably one of the most beautiful cities in America - and continued on to Savannah. Wow. I just love this section of the South. It is hard not to love the place. Charleston and Savannah both have so much history and beautiful architecture. Not a bad couple of places to wander around, either. 

Next in line I saw Florida, Florida State, Auburn, and Alabama. No complaints about Florida and FSU, but I must say I liked the Alabama schools better. Tough to say exactly why - good folks at all the schools - but the Alabama schools were almost universally helpful. 

Here are some images of Toomers Corner (popular spot in Auburn- decorated with toilet paper) and the Delta Zeta house at Alabama. Why are you taking a picture of a sorority house, amigo? 

Good reason: my Mom was a DZ at Alabama many, many, many years ago so I took a photo of the current version of the place. Toomers Corner is where Auburn fans celebrate big wins. They saved their toilet paper by not winning many football games, so they are using their stored up celebratory rolls on other sports wins. Folks around here love every sport, but none as much as football. The dollar goes a little farther here: I put a quarter in the parking meter and it gave me an hour. In San Francisco, a quarter buys you enough time to legally put in the next quarter. 

Virginia Tech was wonderful as ever and the University of Virginia - our mortal enemy - was pretty darn good too. I might start liking those guys if I'm not careful. I got Alex a Tyrod Taylor (VT) jersey.  At least nobody else at the Steelers Super Bowl party was wearing a Virginia Tech jersey. The students at Tech - who had no idea I was an alum or in any way worthy of extra effort - were simply the most polite, thoughtful people I met on the trip. Much like Carolina, the people at Tech certainly make alums feel welcome. Great to go home again. 

Good times in the South. I think I'd still rather be in Queensland or Western Australia (or Darwin or the Barossa or Southbank or Darling Harbour), but it was great to go back to the South and see all the highlights. 

Helping Folks get their own Australia experience...

You may be wondering what I have been writing lately. As promised in an earlier post, I am now doing marketing on a global scale. Gotta love actually achieving a dream - I work at a great place with multilingual people who promote cultural exchanges. I am the Director of Global Marketing for Intrax Cultural Exchange. That means I am promoting Study Abroad among American & Canadian high schoolers and Intern Abroad among North American university students. Pretty fun, all in all.  Net net, if you like my writing style, you can get the homogenized version at intraxinternabroad.com and to a lesser extent at intraxstudyabroad.com.  While the nature of the job is to promote cultural exchange rather than explain my travels, I am still talking about the same sorts of things: few things can change your life for the better like immersing yourself in another culture.  I've been to 30-some countries and you can be sure that I am helping people get to experience their own, personal version of Australia (along with about 20 other countries).  With any luck I'll get back to Australia for work next year.  A year ago I told my old employer that I was leaving in January '08...man, I am so glad I went.  

Oh, one thing I re-wrote in our overview of Australia was that the national sport is cricket - I wrote that the national sports are cricket, Aussie-rules football, and (in deference to NSW) rugby.  Half of my visitors are Australian, so if you believe that cricket is alone atop Australian sports, let me know.  If cricket, AFL, and rugby are the main sports (in your mind) let me know. Rarely does one have the option of directly influencing how foreigners write about you, but you have it here. 

Also, this post would be incomplete if I did not thank the many folks who have visited over the past year.  Along with visitors from Iran and North Korea, I've had visitors from most of the US,  Europe, Canada, NZ, and Australia. To those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, I jealously wish you a lovely summer. As for me, not only do I have enough vegemite in the office to keep me going, there are co-workers who also eat it. 

Last point, I just just got back from my 20th high school reunion in Pittsburgh. If any of you are thinking about going to your high school reunion but are not sure, go. It was a great time.  The people you liked are still friendly and the people you did not like have evidently forgotten why they disliked you. I am not sure if all the annoying people changed or if I changed or if the only people who went were the ones looking to enjoy themselves, but everyone there was all set to have a good time. 

Yet another "news of the odd" update: Mt Isa

Mt. Isa is on the western edge of Queensland, a mining town where I have heard stories of people earning $90-100k for above ground mining jobs.  In short, it is a boom town in an area that visually resembles Barstow, California.  Sort of a high desert spot - nothing special. The highlight of the skyline is a smoke stack, although the city did not look "polluted" as I drove through it. My Mt. Isa experience was limited to getting fuel, changing a diaper, and getting a sandwich. Of course, I did not see fit to take a picture either (the photo is from a few km north of Cloncurry, about 150km to the East of Mt. Isa).  Cloncurry's fame is being the site of the hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia - something like 125 degrees F. 

Anyhow, this mining town has quite a few more men than women, like most mining towns and this story could have come from Karratha, Port Hedland, or several other places I drove through. But the story comes from Mt. Isa. (What story?) This story:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.phpid=080818074532.7wyoh5kf&show_article=1

Apparently the mayor was getting grief that there were not enough ladies to go around, so he said that Mt. Isa was a town where "ugly ducklings could flourish into beautiful swans". Now, everyone is afraid that their city will be known for ugly women and that anyone who would have moved there would think "I'm not ugly, so I'm not moving to the Isa." Oh well, the mayor makes a reasonable point that ladies who find Bondi Beach or the Sydney bar scene rather competitive could find that they are in high demand among the well-paid, fully employed men of the Isa (they call Mt. Isa "the Isa" so I am going with it).  On the other hand, generalizing about the appearance of women can be very dangerous and making an overt appeal to "ugly ducklings" is rarely a vote-getter. Let's just hope everyone finds happiness and the air conditioning holds up. 

Memories of Aussie Starbucks

Now I rarely report news on this blog, let alone financial news, but this one fits. Apparently Starbucks will be closing down most of its stores in Australia, concentrating on Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.  Admittedly, those are good markets to concentrate on and they are already packed with Starbucks locations (especially Swanston Street in Melbourne, with about 4 in a three-block stretch), but that's going to mean that the good folks running the Starbucks in Adelaide and Port Macquarie - each of whom I got to know on several occasions - will be looking for work. 

The first image above was the Starbucks in Adelaide that I had joyfully anticipated for about 10,000km.  It was the site of Alex's first "baby-cino" (milk foam, a little chocolate), which is now a staple purchase whenever Alex joins me in a coffee shop and a gateway drug towards his future coffee addiction.  That baby-cino is pictured in that second image from a tram ride to Glenelg Beach.  By the time I got to Port Macquarie, I was sufficiently caffeinated to stop photographing the Starbucks locations, but it was right by the water on the main street.  From the first photo below, it was about 50 meters behind me (on the left) on that same walkway.  Anyhow, both Starbucks were staffed with bright, friendly, capable individuals who helped make our trip as wonderful as it was.  I wish them well. 

Thoughts on the Logistics

Recently I received a comment on the logistics of the trip and figured it might make a good topic. 

By the way, if any commenter wants to e-mail me on more specific questions, just post a comment starting with the line "Do not post" and you can build in your e-mail to the message. Comments are moderated, so I can read, reply to, and delete your comment, thus keeping your e-mail private. 

So, as far as planning, the first thing is you plan the date range.  Depending on how big your window is, you can shop for fares accordingly.  Summers are hot, humid, and wet, so do not plan for the summer in the North if you are not up for that (I was and the little guy was fine with it).  A quick search on Qantas and United will tell you what the fare range is for your target date, but know that Qantas and Australia Tourism sometimes have deals.   If it is close, Qantas has higher service levels. My son got more "kid stuff" on a domestic Economy flight on Qantas than upgraded to Business on United International. 

Then you've got to figure out where you're going to go.  At first, I was going to do Adelaide to Cairns.  Then it was Perth -Cairns.  Then it was Darwin - Cairns (skipping the area with the greatest perceived combined risk of flooding and remoteness - western Queensland).  Then I figured I'd do the whole thing.  Had I missed the remote parts of Australia between Cairns and Perth (Via Darwin & Broome), I would have missed a big part of the soul of the country.  However, I understand that few people have the time or the tolerance for long days and empty roads.  

Prices are high and it is not just the weak dollar.  Australia's booming economy has had some inflation and Australians complain a little about it as well. One benchmark item that I like to use is a cup of your favorite espresso drink at Starbucks.  I like a Grande Americano (Long Black).  In '01 and '03, the US price was US$2.10 and the Australian price was A$2.10.  With a US$.55 = A$1 exchange rate, that was a deal! This summer ... er, winter... this January it was US$2.25 in the States and A$4 in Oz.  With US$.90 = A$1, that was pricey.  Food and beverages were accordingly expensive - maybe 50% more than California.  Whether eating fast food (in cities), diners, pre-packaged food, or restaurants, assume a premium of 30% to 100% over US prices at current exchange rates. Living on groceries in the car or at a property with a kitchenette, you can get by on $20 per day per adult.  Eating out it is more like $50-75 per day per adult. 

The next bit of pre-planning is to book the rental car.  There is a maximum charge for child seats, so whether you're there for a week or two months, the car seat is $50.  Don't worry about driving on the left, you'll adjust fast (the drive from the airport to the hotel is harrowing, then you are fine).  If you start in a more remote city, you can get started with fewer ...ummm... traffic opportunities.  I am glad I started in Cairns and not Sydney on that count.  Note, the car seats do not necessarily have the clip at chest level, so you may want to bring your own clip.  Hertz was the least expensive option for me in Cairns, oddly enough, but price shopping here is important and attention to the fine print on unlimited mileage is essential.  Gas (say "fuel" when you're there) was between A$1.22 and A$1.71 per liter (3.8 liters per gallon) with a weighted average of about A$1.35-1.40 when the world price was about US$90-100/ barrel. It is now US$135 and their taxes go up with price increases (US taxes are per gallon, not a percentage of price), so their increase should be greater.  

I booked the starting hotel in advance, but booked others as I went along (as I had a better sense of when I would arrive in various cities) and left the rest to chance.  In most towns, I drove in and figured it out. The Information Centers in most towns have all the prices and someone to speak with.  On only one occasion did I get "shut out" - Karratha had no rooms and I had to get on down the road to a roadhouse.  If you are traveling in a high season, you may want to plan a little further ahead either online or at the Info Centers (they are generally very helpful even if they don't know the places 500-1000km down the road).  Roadhouses, pubs, and cheap motels were no less than A$75.  Roadhouses are fairly basic - a bed, a light, a cheap TV, and a functioning AC.  Some have toilets in the room, some have a common bathroom.  You can stay a couple nights in those places, but you want to shake things up with a nicer place here and there or the travel will become tiresome.  Chain motels are generally a big step up in cleanliness & insulation from nature (Best Western is everywhere) and you can do that for the longer term typically for A$90-120. I stayed at three roadhouses and a pub - I recommend that you stay there for the experience a few times, but the chain motels were more comfortable. The resorts (when available) are sometimes not that much more than the chains (A$150+).  Places that I would definitely stay at again if back in the neighborhood (and recommend) include the Cairns Hilton (location and staff are tops), Darwin Esplanade Holiday Inn, the Mangrove Resort Hotel in Broome, the Fortescue River Roadhouse south of Karratha (only if you talk with the guy who owns it, it truly is a Spartan property), Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort (memorable, but one day is enough if you're driving through), the Albany Best Western (good staff, nothing special about the property), the Conrad Jupiters on the Gold Coast, and the Brisbane Hilton.  Those last two can be pricey.  I used points for most of the Hiltons.  I added extra days as I went a couple times - after one hour at the Darwin Holiday Inn I knew I wanted to stay two nights. In most of the bigger cities I scheduled 4-7 nights and I scheduled it a week or two out.  There is something to be said for having a home base and taking day trips or taking it easy.  I did this in Cairns, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Port Macquarie.

 

The View for $75 (Fortescue River Roadhouse)

The View for $130 (Darwin Esplanade Holiday Inn)

The View for $220 (Cairns Hilton)

As far as thinking about where you want to go, Google Earth and all the photos that exist of all the places you are considering is a great tool.  

Internet in the hotel room is simply outrageous for an American used to $10/day whether you're at Starbucks, the Best Western, or the Westin.  It is A$30/night in most places.  Plan accordingly. 

As for things to do with the kids, every town with three people or more has a playground.  It was good to stop and play for 10-30 minutes and let him run around. They were interesting, well-maintained, and for public use (that is they are generally not school playgrounds).  As for things to do in the car, Alex had several intricate toys that he liked to play with in the car seat (a card with holes and a string was his favorite).  We also spoke quite a lot and we listened to his music every day. I had mommy's voice talking on a CD and he liked that sometimes as well. If you are traveling with mommy, that may not be necessary. Outside of Melbourne, we were not. 

Getting back to the commenter, I hope his wife goes for it.  Australia is a developed first world country, so things should be fine as long as you take precautions. As far as persuading his wife, I wish him luck.  Be aware of the risks and prepare accordingly - phone service, food, and water for remote areas, awareness of funnel web spiders in yards around Sydney, and of course caution for the more exotic wildlife in the jungles up north, etc.  Be aware but don't overdo the description for your wife if she is like mine. You don't get many chances to do something big and memorable like this, so I strongly recommend it. 

Key Takeaways (What I got from it) - Part II

Summary: scoping the post, small changes, shameless plug for an experienced executive, activating the old Lewis & Clark DNA, carpe diem with reptile visuals. 

So what did I get out of this? I mean most vacations give you a chance to slow down and reflect.  The difference is that you usually get back within a week or two instead of taking a couple months to internalize the slower pace.  There is a huge danger of being too introspective in a chapter like this, so I will keep it concise and tangible.  I've ignored the blog for a couple weeks to allow the lessons of Oz to sink in, but it is time to get on with it and post something before you all forget the site.  Quick aside, I have also turned some of this into a powerpoint, but it does not seem to want to load onto the site.  When I can figure it out, look for a summary photo post. 

Naturally, I find myself thinking about the trip.  Australia really is a fantastic country with a pair of world class cities and a few more wonderful cities worthy of visiting.  The trip really did go smoothly. While I'd love to credit my planning, the reality is that Australia is simply an easy place to visit (once you get there).  Still, there was something cool about selecting an objective, planning it, getting it done, and returning with everyone in tact.  Alex has quickly returned to the swing of things as well, but he is talking much more in all three of his languages.  Naturally, as the sunny days get longer, we are enjoying the fact that we are about to go right back into summer. 

 

Well, I have made a few changes personally.  People tell me I look younger - maybe I am smiling more or maybe I need to keep losing weight, but I am not one to question compliments. For one thing, I am certainly driving slower.  This is not to say I am an angel or that I was previously a freeway combatant, but I've been back for nearly a month and I am driving within 5 mph of the speed limit - that is just the most obvious symptom of me embracing a more relaxed approach.  I've made a few other changes on the margins - going from a Treo to a Blackberry, going from a PC to a Mac, going from really short hair to longish hair (not rock star long, just an extra inch or two).  In keeping with the "life is too short" theme, I am making some changes on the professional side too.  I've spent 15 years developing marketing programs and helping companies make marketing decisions, but mostly from a role one step removed on the sales side.  Now, I want to get in the arena and be the one doing the marketing. Additionally, as you can tell from this trip, I've always had a passion for knowing and doing all things international (my Master's is in International Business), but since the bulk of my work has been domestic this knowledge and my foreign languages have been mostly a hobby.  That's going to change now.  Although it would be easier to get another role involving sales to the marketing/advertising industry, I'll be doing something more purely marketing with an international angle.  Potentially, I could do sales with an international skew and go from there to international marketing or I could do domestic marketing and go from there to international marketing.  I am taking two different Spanish classes right now and looking for a way to do what I should be doing.  By the way, if you know anyone trying to develop markets in Europe, Latin America, or Australia (or people from those places trying to develop the US), let me know. 

Many of you have asked - in polite terms - "what kind of freakish genetic defect would cause you to want to wander across an empty continent with a toddler?"  This question was asked before, during, and after the trip.  Usually the word "brave" is used (thank you, my diplomatic friends), with the word "crazy" following shortly thereafter with a smile.  You know who you are and you may have a point.  One of the things that I have learned since returning from Australia is that my genes would be in favor of the trip.  I have an ancestor famous for actions a couple centuries ago, but it is not the ancestor I thought it was.  Since childhood, I had heard that I was a fairly direct descendant of Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner - but in fact I am not.  In a twist of fate that entirely makes sense right now, I have learned that I am a pretty direct descendant (8 generations back, 1st cousin) of Meriwether Lewis - as in Lewis & Clark.  That's not a bad trade.  Good to know that I am not the first person in the family to wander off into the lightly populated wilderness with a wingman. We both met some nice locals en route, but my wife did not grant permission to pick up any squaws en route (as in Sacajawea).  Then again, I did not know to ask.  On the other hand, Lewis & Clark did not get to sleep in road houses, drive on smooth well-marked roads, or experience their travels in an air conditioned Camry.  Regardless, we probably saw about the same amount of oncoming traffic for much of our trip - I went whole days without passing  or being passed by cars going in the same direction.  

Some people experience life-threatening events and respond with something of a carpe diem attitude.  Well, I had a trip that was essentially flawless for two months, but I have emerged with a similar attitude adjustment.  Steve Irwin had that attitude and made his impression on this world (thus the first photo, above).  No doubt the person who captured the croc depicted above ("Krys" - the 8.6m reptile from Normanton, Qld that might eat a person without needing to chew) was also "seizing the day" when this massive crocodile showed up. Without a doubt I am on the same page, as mentioned above in the professional sense.  Alex and I had the trip of a lifetime and our lives have been impacted accordingly.  

Thanks for joining us for the trip.  Future posts will come, but in irregular intervals.