In 2019, we went to the Outer Banks for Meera’s birthday. We visited from Corolla all the way down to Okracoke, taking in beaches and lighthouses and sand and sun.

Meera and I are not good at relaxing vacations. We’re always skiing or hiking or visiting museums or monuments. But on this trip, we spent an entire day at the beach, and I was able to be still long enough to take some great photos, including this one of a pelican above a crashing wave.

We should go back. If only RDU weren’t so far from the beach…

In September 2021, we spent a couple of days in Barcelona on our way back from Minorca and Mallorca. We had read that a favorite local breakfast spot was Granja M. Viader. Usually, that means there’s a line of tourists out the door, and Meera and I are almost always unwilling to wait in a line like that.

However, this day, the line was practically nonexistent (probably because tourists hadn’t yet come back after COVID), and we slipped in for a breakfast of hot chocolate and churros.

Two things stood out from this visit:

1. The hot chocolate was in fact thick warmed chocolate to dip the churros in. Those familiar with Spanish or Mexican culture are rolling their eyes, but this treat was new to me.
2. This restaurant has been serving this food for 150 years. Incredible longevity for a breakfast spot.

When we travel, I’m always torn between visiting the famous spots and being too much of a tourist. In this case, we threaded the needle perfectly and got an amazing unexpected breakfast. ✈️ 🗺️ 🇪🇸

Finally in our hotel in Melbourne. Quick recap:

• At 2pm Friday everything was fine.
• At 3pm Friday our Melbourne flight was delayed two hours, but our Dallas flight was delayed four hours, so we would miss our connection, and the next DFW-MEL flight didn’t leave for two more days.
• American couldn’t rebook us despite my platinum status. Our travel department figured out how to get us there through LAX, but before that a colleague traveling with us with Concierge Key status got us not only rebooked but on standby with a third alternative (which we ended up taking). If only American cared that much about all its passengers.
• We made DFW, but all the gates were occupied, so we sat on the tarmac until one cleared up.
• After getting into the airport, we closed down the Flagship Lounge (it inexplicably closes at 10:15pm even though the last flight boards much later), enjoying champagne, beers, cocktails, and even some dinner while we waited.
• Our Melbourne flight was late arriving, so it was very late boarding, and we didn’t take off until 12:30am or later.
• Seventeen and a half hours later, we landed in Melbourne around 7:30am.
• Obviously we were too early to check in, so we dropped our bags at the hotel, got coffee and breakfast, and went exploring at the river, botanical gardens, and CBD.
• We returned to the hotel for a break before venturing back out for dinner.

It’s been quite a ridiculous 34 hours, but we are excited to be here. Now for that nap…

✈️ 🗺️ 🏨 🇦🇺

In November 2021, Meera and I were itching to get traveling again. We had had our shots, waited past all the international quarantines, and it was time to go again.

We chose to visit Minorca and Mallorca because we had enjoyed Barcelona so much a few years prior, and we wanted to go back but experience something new.

While we stayed in Sóller for our time on Mallorca, one of our favorite days was driving up the coast to Port d’Andratx to visit the lighthouses and see the sailboats at the port.

The wealthy neighborhoods didn’t make it easy, but we did manage to park the car and do some hiking on the hills overlooking the port before going down for dinner and a closer look.

We were lucky enough to catch a class of sailors out training, and they kindly passed in front of the lighthouse like ducklings following their mother so I could catch this photo from the docks. ✈️⛵️🇪🇸

What if you went to Versailles as part of your honeymoon, but it absolutely poured that day in November 2017, and all of your pictures were of you and your brand new spouse soaking wet?

On the plus side, I snuck this jacket into my luggage as a surprise gift for Meera when we got there, so she was both cuter and more comfortable than I was.

Note, as usual, the red backpack straps over the sport coat; I am the essence of class. ✈️ 🇫🇷

In June 2013, I was on a business trip to Mountain View. I had never been to California before, so I spent as much of my free time exploring as I could.

I drove down to Santa Cruz, and I saw the Breakwater Lighthouse.

Then I went west to Pigeon Point Light Station near Pescadero.

But despite my love of lighthouses, the vast majority of the photos I took that week—with my disappointing-in-retrospect iPhone 4 camera—were from the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, which is a thing that exists. Some of them even turned out pretty good!

In 2017, we camped in Garner State Park with some friends and took a brief hike the next day.

You’re not permitted to use local “found” firewood, so one of the people with us brought a truck bed full of huge branches we spent a long time chopping into firewood on which to cook a very nice pot of camp chili.

Food you work for is supposed to taste better, but I mostly remember the work and the time, not so much the food. Even as I type I wonder if maybe the food was fajitas… 🏕️

In August 2016, I was in Adelaide for a business trip. Okay, I was in Woomera for a business trip, but I had taken a week of vacation on the end of the trip to explore Adelaide.

One day I decided to hike up Mount Lofty. Okay, I decided to walk to Mount Lofty from Adelaide and then climb up it.

The trek took me past a place called Waterfall Gully, which is a… gully… with a waterfall. Australians have the best names: Mount Lofty, Waterfall Gully.

The hike up was quite challenging: 1,000m up in a 5,000m hike. But I kept getting passed by trailrunners getting their vertical 5k in. It was embarrassing. (It didn’t help that the only boots I had with me were steel-toe safety boots.)

After reaching the top, I tried to walk back to Adelaide, but I was exhausted, so I stopped for a pizza and called an Uber. ✈️ 🍕

Back in 2018, I had a business trip to Thun, Switzerland. Meera and I decided to make a vacation of it. Over the course of a week, we visited Thun, Interlaken, Gimmelwald, Zermatt, St. Moritz, and Zurich.

In Zurich, we were unwilling to pay for a chocolate tour, so we found a review online that listed the places they went and did the tour on our own. One of the places was of course the Sprüngli shop, where we learned about Luxemburgerli, which are basically colorful mini-macarons.

Finally, the requisite selfie where I’m wearing the same Osprey Daylite Plus I’m wearing in nearly every travel photo taken of me in the last ten years. ✈️🌍

In 2019, my wife and I joined another couple for a backpacking trip in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado. On the way back, we stopped for a day at my in-law’s condo in Ruidoso, New Mexico to recover a bit. But instead of resting and recuperating from a challenging hike, we decided to go for another hike in the nearby Lincoln National Forest.

Okay, this one is entirely my fault.

I thought, hey, without 30–40 pounds on our backs, how hard could it be?

But the day was hot and the trail had depressingly little shade, so halfway through, I snapped this picture of us in front of Grindstone Lake, and we turned around and went home.

As I remember, dinner that night was pizza from Cafe Rio Pizza and beer from Lost Hiker Brewing Company. As it should be. 🏕️🍺🍕

Some friends and I were talking about The Picture—the one you’re proudest of, the one you always want to show people, the one that makes you wonder if maybe you’re actually a photographer after all.

I’ve taken some pretty pictures, but I think the best one I’ve ever taken is of a couple I don’t know and never met, on the beach of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand. I hope they don’t mind, and I hope if they ever come across this post, they’ll appreciate how perfect their moment was (and say hi!). ✈️ 🗺️ 🇳🇿