round the world in sixty days

These things don’t happen overnight.

There has been a significant preamble up to this undertaking. The potential energy captured over the last few months, maybe years, decades even, will soon be released in a kinetic burst …  as we empty our pockets, clear security, wait patiently for our group number, and eventually trudge aboard that CRJ-700 to Dulles.

I believe Lao Tzu wrote “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step commuter jet.”  Jen and I will take that jet on 7/7.

The roots of ‘Round the World in Sixty Days (RTWISD) can be traced back to at least as far as when Jen and I met, in May of 2013. I quickly determined that she has been to a lot of places. Meanwhile, I knew I had been to a lot of places. We agreed our interests lay in visits to new and strange places and that summer in Europe is probably best left to old¹ people. The day after we met, I flew to Bogota and she went to the BVIs².

Since then, I have learned at least a few more things about Jen. She and I share an aggressive sense of curiosity, ability to embrace uncertainty, and a habit of pushing our limits. We also like to climb things.

A benign trip to New Mexico spawned a hike up Wheeler peak @ 13k ft (in the snow, wearing sneakers)³.

The beautiful surroundings at a New Zealand wedding inexplicably inspired Jen to dash up a closely shorn mountainside in her dress and heels, as I followed in hot pursuit.

Like any gateway drug worth it’s salt, these shared travels led us down a path to the hard stuff.

Pre-planned trips weren’t going to cut it anymore. We needed to take it up a notch. We needed a randomness factor. I devised an elaborate plan to score a new rush, a higher high…

I engineered an Airport Roulette “model” in Excel. For the hardcore junkies out there, the inputs to the model were the listings of every direct flight from Boston, and the output (at the click of a button) – a city – to which we would then travel. No do-overs.

We got Tampa. Take heart – we avoided Plattsburgh.

Actually, greater Tampa was fun and an adventure in it’s own way. Finding secluded beaches, pronouncing Chihuly, and eating at a non-strip-mall steakhouse became our challenges.

Airport Roulette evolved, or devolved (depending on your perspective), into Travel Madness, an airport roulette variant inspired by March Madness. Like March Madness, 64 city-teams vied for the championship – our presence. Cities were diligently assigned regions, seeded, and matched up against other cities. The winner of each game moved on to the next round.

Seattle, a 2 seed out of the West Region won the championship.

Last summer we forayed back into planned travel, the Brazilian World Cup whirlwind. Ten days in 3 cities, 2 WC matches, the Amazon, a jungle, and a mountain of redemption.

So that is where we end up – with a lot of individual and some combined travel under our belt, poised to bite off a healthy chunk of the world. Are our eyes bigger than our stomachs? Will it taste like fish? I guess we will find out. Stay tuned.

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¹ I love older people

² According to the Huffington Post, rule 5 of dating is finding common interests

³ Jen has a habit of picking aggressive hikes, then soft selling them to me.