Around the World in 69 Days

The current audit to which I’m assigned is US based, so it has been necessary to be in both Dallas and Austin often during the 3 month period that began in early June. Throw in a work conference in China and another work meeting back in Austin and in 69 days I’ll travel roughly forty-five thousand miles visiting 5 countries and three continents

The thought of all the work that has to be done and the travel necessary to do it is exhausting, but I’ve gotten used to it. Jet lag doesn’t affect me much anymore and if I were to crunch the numbers, I would guess I spend just as many nights away from my bed as I do in it. I accumulate miles, hotel points, a few extra pounds here and there, and lots of new experiences. It’s not a life I ever expected to be leading, but how many people end up doing exactly what they thought they’d do? It’s easy to complain about, but I wonder if I would miss the constant movement and stimulation if I were in a different job where no travel was required and the work was narrower in focus.

I currently am sitting on an airplane, squatting in the bulkhead seat because the guy in front has the back of his chair all the way back. It’s unpleasant sitting there to begin with, but I certainly can’t type on a computer. Here’s my question, does anyone like it when the person in front of them leans their chair back on an airplane? Of course they don’t. So, why does anyone lean their chair back at all? What happened to treat others as you would want to be treated. Maybe one day, I’ll be brave enough to share my thoughts with the recliner in front of me, but this is not that day. Anyway, I’ve completed what I would call the first leg of the trip. I spent time in Plano and in between work was able to spend a little bit of time with family. I did have time to eat at Breadwinner’s and eat a slice of banana jazz pie, one of my favorite desserts.

I fit in a weekend trip to New Orleans and enjoyed seeing the whole group there and swimming with my nephews. I made a return visited to Beaucoup snowballs. The strawberry lemonade was still delicious. We tried a new place (to us) called Charlie’s Seafood in Harahan. It’s a casual and homey feeling seafood joint that’s been around for 50 years, but was recently purchased and revamped by Frank Brigtsen of Brigtsen’s Restaurant. I don’t know how it was previously, but we had a great meal there. Everything they brought out from the boiled shrimp to the meat pies to my shrimp etouffee was excellent. It’s impressive by just having the name Frank Brigtsen associated with the restaurant that people are now willing to make the hike out there to eat. I’d like for my name to carry some clout like Ron Swanson (of Parks and Rec) who stated confidently while selling Snake Juice at the Snake Whole, “my endorsement is virtually a guarantee.” I voice my opinion a lot when it comes to food, travel, and movies (on this blog especially), but honestly, I don’t stress much about what others think of my opinion. It’s their loss (and their choice) if they don’t want to listen.

After two more work days in Plano, I headed to California. I used my upgrade credits to fly first class, which was nice. The dinner wasn’t anything special. As usual, I went the safe route with the pasta option. I need to take more risks. The brownie sundae wasn’t really good per se, but I ate it as the novelty of eating a brownie sundae on an airplane pleased me immensely. I spent two days in Orange County, in Lake Forest, for work. The highlight was the incredible nature trail that picked up right at the back of the hotel’s parking lot. Once I headed down for my run, I was enveloped by my surroundings. I felt very isolated as there was no view of streets or anything and there were very few people besides a few other mountain bikers. It was starting to get dark and all I could think about is that someone could kill me down there and no one would hear me scream and it would take a long time for someone to find my body. It made me run faster. I ran in one direction towards the mountains until I saw a black spider (that literally was as big as my hand) crawling across the path. I let out an audible gasp, not a high pitched squeal or anything (I swear), just a “woah”. I promptly turned around and ran very fast back in the other direction. I passed rabbits and deer as I headed back to the hotel. The trails were windy, so I started to get nervous that I was lost, but things started to look familiar again.

Usually, I would provide airplane reviews for my flight, but there is literally not one movie I want to see on the menu of available offerings. I started the Arthur remake, but recognized within two minutes that I would regret watching it, so turned it off. Fantasy football season is coming soon, so I downloaded some information to look at, so I’ll probably spend time on that. I’ll also play plenty of Scrabble on my Kindle, which is unfortunately the only thing for which I use my Kindle.

I arrive back at home in the afternoon and will get one night at home with Jenn before I head out again on Monday morning to Frankfurt. This is my life.