I live my life like a marathon. It’s actually the wrong approach because I am burned out easily. I take on something new and then stop for a while or switch gears. It’s dangerous and it’s also often a turn off to people. I did that with beer from January to May. I’m still enjoying beer but not sprinting as much anymore. I only hope that the time I spend on beer today is sustainable and ongoing. It’s something I enjoy very much. I’ll be brewing my first batch tomorrow so that will be a lot of fun.
Knowing I’m like this doesn’t actually lead me to avoid getting caught up in something. I traveled a lot in 2010 and 2011 then, I just stopped. I went home for Christmas but I really took my foot off the gas and spent more time at home. I love where I live so it’s a great thing to be home alone with my thoughts, working on new things and writing. Well, this summer, the travel bug has hit and I’ll be on the road again. I’d like to share my schedule because it’s great to meet readers while on the road, make new friends and get travel tips from people who live in or have visited the places I’m going. From now until mis-September, I’ll be busy every weekend. The good thing is, almost every thing planned involves Elizabeth so maybe she can stop saying I don’t take her anywhere. I am a homebody so it’s hard sometimes to get out of the house and go do things. I’ll spend all day in the yard but don’t like spending the money do to things. It’s also a flaw but one I understand a bit more than my obsession for new things.
A brief update on my job since a few people have asked. Things are great. I am now 1 year and 9 months at my job. It’s not a long time for a career but it is now the 2nd longest job I’ve held. I work with amazing people all around the world and I am in love with Microsoft Products even more than before. Most of the hate around MS products stems from three distinct group:
- Those who don’t understand technology
- Those who are given old hardware, old software versions and a terrible IT infrastructure
- Those who don’t collaborate on huge datasets in an organization that employes thousands of people
I have been trained on the tools, have a great support team with great hardware and work on very collaborative projects so things like Sharepoint and MS Communicator are integrated. It’s an awesome setup and one that I love. Microsoft has done a pretty good job with Macintosh integration but it’s not quite there yet.
Also, TomTom is hiring. If you want to work for an amazing company with a global outlook, let me know. I can recommend people I know via LinkedIN which increases your chances or you can apply via our jobs site.
Anyway, let’s talk about the future travel planned:
Europe: May 23- June 4 (Skip past this section if you’d like. It’s pretty detailed)
I’m going back to Europe. It’s my 4th time in Amsterdam and my 2nd time in Belgium. It’s also going to be the 1st time I’ve set foot in London (outside of Heathrow as I’ve flown through there before).
Wednesday May 23rd: Boston to Amsterdam direct. Arrive May 24th at 5AM and check into the hotel. I have two full days of workshops in Amsterdam with my team and other groups we don’t see in person often enough. It’s going to be great. I will probably have dinner with my 3 counterparts that evening but, if I’m free I am going to try and sync up with a few iOS developers recommended to me by my friend, Dom Sagolla. A night of great beers and tasty Dutch food would be an awesome way to spend my one night in Amsterdam. After work one day, I’ll drop by a beer store in Amsterdam. I’m doing a trade with them in exchange for 3 beers from the brewery 3 Fonteinen. They have 3 of the 4 “Armand Seasons” Lambic beers. These were released a few months ago and I’m happy a store still has them at an affordable price (price of a few USA craft beers).
Friday, May 25th: After meetings are over around 17:00, it’s time to hop a train down to Gent Belgium via Antwerp. I’ll check into the hotel and, of course, grab a beer. My first of my beers in Belgium on this trip.
Saturday, May 26th: one of my co-workers has graciously offered to take me around the country on a beer tour. We’re going to the St. Sixtus (Westvleteren) Abbey, makers of one of the highest rated beers in the world. I have a few already in my cellar but would love to try this beer fresh at the brewery cafe and, of course by 24 of their beers to bring back with me. 24 of the best beer on the world costs a whopping 39 Euros. Not a bad deal but you also are committing to not selling the beers and enjoying them yourself or with friends. That day, we’re also visiting two beer stores. One in Gent proper and another outside of the city. Both stores are holding beers for me…about 30+ 750ml beers from some of my favorite breweries that make beers almost impossible to get in America. I’ll leave the 6 boxes of beer with my co-worker and go out that evening with one of my American colleagues to see the city. There are a couple of clubs in Gent that play the kind of music I like so I may check one of those out. Europe is where Dance music started!
Sunday, May 27th: Check out of my hotel and board a train to Brussels Belgium! I loved the time in Brussels last year with my friend Oliver. I arrive Sunday at 10AM and will be playing tourist at some places I didn’t get to go last year. At 2PM, I get on a local train to a small town called Buggenhout for the 2012 Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation. It’s their 21st year of the festival. It takes place Saturday and Sunday and there will be over 70 beers available to taste for a very low price. I’ll get to meet some fellow RateBeer users and try some delicious beers impossible to find in America. That evening, I’ll be spending time at a couple of places that I wanted to to last time. Then, it’s off to bed.
*Sundays in European countries are generally very quiet. People truly don’t work on the weekends and a lot of shops are closed. I’ll have a limited number of things to do especially since Monday the 28th is a public holiday in Belgium. I’ll be in Brussels for most of Monday and it is the largest city in Belgium but there will still be a lot of places closed.*
I check out of the hotel Sunday afternoon and take the train back to Gent for work on Tuesday! This is going to be a great work trip. Tons going on and I get to work right beside my colleagues which is a nice change from day to day here in the US.
Tuesday, May 29th: I am going to a beer tasting that evening at someone’s house who I know from the beer forum online. That should be a great time! He invited me on Monday night to the Metallica concert but I am going to pass on that one. I don’t stay up late on work nights.
Wednesday, May 30th: Typical work day but after work, I’m heading to Antwerp which is a port town about 30 minutes north of Gent. I’ll be visiting the world famous Belgium In a Box warehouse where the owner, Kurt has generously opened his shop to me to pack up some beers. He is a professional beer lover and part-time beer salesman who specializes in shipping delicious Belgian beers all over the world. Instead of chancing my 6 boxes of beer to my own skills and perhaps getting stuck by Customs, I will enlist Kurt to help me out. I pack and he ships (for a fee of course). This means my amazing beers will be waiting for me at the UPS depot by the time I get home. After that, I’m going to the world famous Kulminator beer bar. The husband and wife team have beers dating back decades and you can enjoy deliciously rare and aged beers with beer lovers. It’s a very personal experience that the couple takes seriously. I’m VERY excited and it’s no coincidence that I’m shipping the beers off in Antwerp so I have that extra excuse to hop over to Kulminator.
Thursday and Friday are all work with some after work bonding with colleagues. There are a couple of shops in Belgium that sell specialty cheese, chocolates and mustard that I’ll be visiting. for the most part, those are free evenings with no plans.
*I was hoping to go to France or Germany on this trip. I badly wanted to visit France (again) and Germany for the first time but, I chose somewhere else because of timing*
Saturday, June 2nd: I wake up VERY early, check out of my hotel, and board my first high speed train direct to London. I have tons of friends in England and many more in Ireland but sadly that’s not in my plans this time. I’ll be in London around noon and staying with my friend Alex who I’ve known for close to 5 years now but maybe more. It’s been a while. I’ve only ever seen Alex in San Francisco and he and I are going to enjoy London. There are so many people to see while there but I can’t see everyone. I have a 4AM flight out of London back to Boston on Monday the 4th so it’s really only a day and a half I get to spend there.
*The great news is Alex will be coming to America for the Apple WWDC so he’s coming through Boston on his way back to London and hanging out with me up at the cabin for a week at the end of June. We’ll be having a great time. It’s awesome to see friends twice in a month especially English friends who I never get to see!*
and THAT is my European TRIP!
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Beyond Europe
Now, let’s talk about the rest of the summer. It’ll be MUCH shorter. I promise.
As soon as I get home, I’m going to keg my home brewed beers that are being done this weekend. BIG deal for me as I’m so new to this but also very exciting!
June 15th – 20th: ALEX!!! My buddy is visiting New Hampshire as I mentioned above. There will be guns, fires and manliness out in the woods of New England! We’re also heading up to Burlington Vermont to see my best friend Lee and her husband.
June 17th: Sunday night in Boston seeing Cirque Du Soleil. I couldn’t get Alex tickets but he’s a grown man who’s gonna explore our nearest big city for the night. There’s a lot to do in downtown Boston.
June 23 – 25: Alex leaves, I scrub my cabin top to bottom because I have AirBNB guests EVERY weekend for the entire month of June and then Elizabeth and I drive down to New York to hang out with her best friend who’s flying in with Husband from Monterey. We’ll be staying in a nice hotel, doing touristy stuff and, of course, visiting Apple Stores! DUH!
June 30th: I’m hosting a BIG RateBeer BBQ at my house. Inviting a few people who are welcome to stay at my place over night or bring tents and camp out in the back yard with a bonfire and I’ll be smoking meats and serving some home brewed beers and some cellared beers + a few Belgian Treats!
July 1st: Friends from New York and Boston and maybe a few others will arrive. I’m thinking my Sisters may come up as well to spend a few weeks with me so they’ll all be arriving that Monday for my annual FOURTH OF JULY EXTRAVAGANZA. Preliminary plans: Kill one of the pigs and do a pit roast, fireworks, other tasty treats, movie nights, hiking the nearby Cardigan Mountain and more. Friends are welcome to stay as long as they want…well, at least until the next AirBNB Guest :)
July 14th: The Southern New Hampshire Brew Fest. Tons of local breweries will be represented. Elizabeth and I have VIP tickets and we’ll have a total blast.
July 21st: The Vermont Brewery Festival. This is a big deal. A lot of my favorite breweries will be there and we’ll get to stay the night with my friend Lee if she’s in town or stay the night before. Not sure yet.
August 4th: Ommegang Brewery’s “Belgium Comes to Cooperstown” event which is an annual overnight camping event. There are a HUGE range of Belgian based and Belgian style breweries from all over the place. Great food, live music. It’s going to be a BLAST!!!!
August 11th: Hill Farmstead’s Annual Festival of Farmhouse Ales which is also AWESOME or so I hear. It’s a lot smaller than Ommegang’s event and that will make it awesome.
August 24th – 28th: SAN FRANCISCO! Going to San Francisco for my 26th Birthday (Plans are coming, I promise). We’ll be seeing an SF Giants game, going wine tasting (maybe) and going down to Monterey for the last leg of the trip. I’m glad I kept my Zipcar membership for this trip.
September 8th: The Hampton Beach Seafood Festival. Lobster will be at it’s peak and we’ll be enjoying some great seafood. I’m also going to be visiting a great friend, David Sakolsky who is now head brewer at Blue Lobster Brewing Company. It’s going to be a blast. A weekend of fun, that’s for sure!
September ??: Visiting my BFF in Cape Cod. Whenever he’s home for a few weeks, we’ll go down and see him. Not sure when that will be. Maybe October. Not sure yet.
And, that concludes my summer. In between travel, on free weekends, I’ll be brewing some great beers, taking care of my crops and animals and, when I’m gone, my neighbors I’ve promised some eggs and meat to if they help me with animal duties. So don’t worry, my chickens and pigs will be just fine!
It’s going to be a very busy Summer and, this was an exercise for my sanity and for my friends who are all over the world. I have to find time to go down to Florida to see family. Miss them so much! That’s all for now. Thanks for checking in!