The next big trip

So I had some free time tonight and decided to peruse some old photos of my various journeys. It amazes me how fortunate I've been to be able to travel. As I was looking through my pictures of last year's trip to Egypt, it strikes me how truly amazing it was. Traveling really changes you in some cool ways. For me, its been subtle and developed over time and I'm still trying to put to words how it's affected me. Overall, I would have to say that I don't see myself as being so big anymore and I mean that in a good way. It's good to put your life in perspective and I think that as Americans, it's so easy for us to get caught up in our comfort and routine lives that we lose sight of the rest of the world that goes on outside of our borders. Traveling has helped me keep my attitudes in perspective and realize that there is more out there and the world doesn't revolve around.

Despite some of the amazing places I've been, there are countless others that require my presence and seeing as I haven't been on an airplane in over a month or had a serious international visit in a year, it was time to plan my next trip.

So.....in September.....I head to Greece and Turkey. Basically it's an island hopping cruise that spends some time in Athens, Instanbul, and all of the standard Greek Islands that people normally visit. By going in later September, I'm hoping to avoid the August vacation exodus that Europeans seem to love so much.

I'll be going with a friend I interned with at IBM so many years ago so it should be a good time. He will be bringing his digital camera that is worth more than his life and me being the old man, I'll be bringing the trusty old film camera so we have both ends of the spectrum covered.

It should be a good time all around assuming I don't end up in a Turkish prison (which when you think about it, it's me, so it could happen).