Around the World

Tonight I’m in Phoenix, AZ at the Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains. My dad is here for a business convention and I am quite happy to be his golf partner for the weekend. (Apparently the UCLA Bruins football team is staying at this hotel as well, which is odd because we’re not very close to ASU.)

I would never really have considered myself a frequent flyer until about 2000. I was born in Rhode Island and went to elementary school and high school in Daytona Beach, Florida. In the summer I would usually fly — with my little sister — to see my dad in New England. Then I went to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Aside from one major adventure to London (and Dublin) during my junior year, and frequent travel in the Southeast for crew (rowing) competitions, I wasn’t much of a traveler. I’d been to New Orleans and Colorado. I had been just about everywhere in the state of Florida, and once I got to college I started driving to New England instead of flying, so I got to see most of the East coast of the U.S. But then in late 2000 I moved to Los Angeles …

Almost as soon as I arrived on the West coast I started racking up time in the air. Leading up to last year I’d been to Maui (five or six times!), Las Vegas, Mexico, Big Sur (and most of California south of San Francisco). Suddenly in ’05, though, it started to seem like I was never home for more than two months in a row!

Since June of 2005 I’ve been to:

• Anaheim, California (twice)
• Arezzo, Italy
• Austin, Texas
• Cancun, Mexico
• Chula Vista, California (twice)
• Florence, Italy
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Maui, Hawaii
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
• Paris, France
• Perugia, Italy
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Pisa, Italy
• Portofino, Italy
• Portsmouth, Rhode Island (three times)
• Rancho Santa Margarita, California
• Rome, Italy
• San Diego, California (three times)
• Siena, Italy

In the next two or three months I will most likely be visiting:

• Anaheim, California
• Daytona Beach, Port Orange, and Gainesville, Florida
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Portsmouth, Rhode Island

I am an idiot for not registering for more frequent flyer programs a few years ago!