In February of 2011, a close friend asked me: What would you want to do if you didn’t have a job? My response: Travel around the world using only my intuition as a guide.
At that time, I was a Product Marketing Manager of Cloud Services, at Apple. That summer our team was reorganized so I took a severance package rather than another position within the company.
At 1:30 am, July 4th, I set out on a trip of a lifetime. There was no set itinerary or plan just thoughts of places and people I wanted to see.
This is a chronicle of my trip around the world (which reads in reverse order). Where I was able to visit 16 countries and 35 locations, in 80 days. A trip I will never forget.
Day 80, made it! What an amazing learning experience. Thank you to all those I had a chance to visit, stay with, and meet on this trip. Also, thank you to everyone who followed me online. I could not have done this without everyone’s encouragement and support. I’m so grateful for all of you! San Francisco, California!
Stateside. Glad to see my friends and family here. Not home yet, though! New York, New York.
Not Paris. Inside one spire of the High Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Mary. It’s the world’s tallest Catholic church, at 157 meters. Cologne, Germany.
Oktoberfest 2011. Colorful and hip, the tent to be in for the world’s biggest fair attracting over 5 million people annually. Munich, Germany.
Fred and Ginger. One of the nicknames for this “dancing” building designed by Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić, completed in 1996. Prague, Czech Republic.
Charles bridge. A view from it. Prague, Czech Republic.
Still working. At 5 p.m., a trumpeter marks the time with music, the Astronomical Clock. After 601 years, it never looked better. Prague, Czech Republic.
Almost 100. This German coffee institution has about 57 years on Starbucks. Frankfurt, Germany.
King stone. This 12th century castle sits above an idyllic residential town near Frankfurt. Königstein im Taunus, Germany.