itinerary

london (august 1, 2008) → amsterdam → cork → lisbon → prague → freiburg → duesseldorf → zurich → einsiedeln → munich (oktoberfest) → berlin → shanghai → bangkok → phuket → tokyo → san francisco → las vegas → missoula → polson (flathead lake) → boston → new york city → london (once around) → paris → freiburg → shanghai → manila → angeles city (manny's new house) → hunchun (jilin province) → harbin (heilongjian province) → russian border (crossed from china) → north korean border (couldn't cross) → singapore → shenzhen → hong kong → macau → shanghai → taipei → shanghai → bali → gili trawangan → singapore → bangkok → hong kong → boston → bangkok → boston → new york city → buenos aires, argentina → colonia del sacramento, uruguay → boston → san francisco → las vegas → hong kong → san francisco → boston → new york city → washington, dc → san francisco → boston → austin, texas → san francisco → bangkok → pattaya (andrew's wedding) → boston (started new job july 11, 2011, which took me to ...) → new york city

highlights

studied mandarin for 1.5 years in shanghai ⋅ traveled completely around the world twice ⋅ finally visited all 50 US states ⋅ saw the southern cross ⋅ spent a month in bali learning to surf ⋅ attended oktoberfest in munich ⋅ made a pilgrimage to borges' home, studied spanish, and danced at a tango milonga in buenos aires ⋅ visited family in california, montana, boston, and london ⋅ had pastéis de nata in both lisbon and macau ⋅ piloted a sailboat under the golden gate and bay bridges ⋅ saw the hong kong sevens rugby tournament twice ⋅ prepared for the world expo in shanghai ⋅ attended the barrett-jackson auction in las vegas ⋅ improved my cooking skills ⋅ revisited my student days in freiburg (thanks, imme!) ⋅ celebrated one birthday in five cities on three continents and two islands in the space of a week ⋅ took a sleeper train across china ⋅ was best man at andrew and liliyan's wedding in pattaya ⋅ celebrated the first three of our shared birthdays with my nephew ⋅ returned to the US after 14 years abroad

Der Fliegende Robert

Eskapismus, ruft ihr mir zu,
vorwurfsvoll.
Was denn sonst, antworte ich,
bei diesem Sauwetter! —,
spanne den Regenschirm auf
und erhebe mich in die Lüfte.
Von euch aus gesehen,
werde ich immer kleiner und kleiner,
bis ich verschwunden bin.
Ich hinterlasse nichts weiter
als eine Legende,
mit der ihr Neidhammel,
wenn es draußen stürmt,
euern Kindern in den Ohren liegt,
damit sie euch nicht davonfliegen.

— Hans Magnus Enzensberger