Traveling man

Note: Some of the prompts are incredibly lame, hence the delay. Hard to get excited to write about. So therefore I will only write the ones that interest me.

December 22 – Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

How did I travel? Well by subway, ferry, airplane, train, and Zipcar. What a weird question to ask. instead I'll catalog all the places I've been this year for posterity.

MenuDirections conference
March 20-23: Miami, Fla.
The annual national conference for my magazine brought me to Miami for the second time. Though I didn't get the chance to leave the hotel at all so I enjoyed none of the city's delights except during our annual Dine Around, where the entire conference enjoys a progressive dinner at three Miami restaurants. I was so busy I didn't even get to enjoy any pool time.

Visit to University of New Hampshire
March 31-April 1st: Durham, N.H.
I got a tour from my favorite foodservice director in a little electric buggy around campus. He even had a free basket of wine, cheese and snacks put in my hotel room. I was also there on the day they had a huge special event featuring Mary Ann Esposito, TV chef on PBS, who gave me a free cookbook and lots of delicious food. Driving back from this trip I had the fun experience of having to pull over for not one, not two, but three conference calls. It was then that I got the news that our company had been purchased. These calls caused my phone to die and in panic mode to find a place to charge it for the final conference call, I pulled over in Greenwich, Conn. into an office park, sneaked in and charged my phone. Thinking I had enough juice, I went outside but quickly the phone started dying again. Instead of risking discovery, I found an outlet on the outside of the building, behind some bushes. So there I sat, hidden behind bushes, plugging my phone in as I listened to my company's big news. People who worked there must have thought I was insane.

Visit to University of Massachusetts
April 22-23: Amherst, Mass.
This trip I was treated to the huge Taste of UMass event , which included a Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest where I saw a young man vomit. This trip also marked my rental car's collision with a Porsche, which thankfully has never amounted to any money. Though I still live in fear of receiving the bill for this mistake THAT WAS NOT MY FAULT.

Casey's wedding
May 12-17: Chicago, Ill.
I've written about this trip several times but it was so lovely I must recap. We had a great bachelorette party with karaoke and the Great Will of China, heard about the boys' bachelor party at Medieval Times/an arcade where Phill got knighted. The Kritikos', the Cardons, Cichelli and myself shared a lovely meal in Wicker Park where Ted critiqued Jared's order of duck, I tried a scallop for the first time and Corinne made us milkshakes afterward. We watched Casey and Phill graduate in a beautiful church, where we found out Casey had won a ton of awards that she told no one about. We gathered for a fun-filled rehearsal dinner where we had the longest conversation about zucchinis that anyone has ever had. The next day we watched Casey and Phill get married and showed everyone how to dance to "Don't Stop Me Now." Great trip.

Casey's reception
May 21-24: Kansas City
Another celebration of Casey and Phill's nuptials, this one joined in by many more friends that I knew...We shared a incredible night of karaoke, characterized by a brilliant rendition of "I Swear." The weekend was capped off with the Sigmon's and Kritikos' joining the Ramsey's (and for a time, Dan and Kim) for a viewing of the finale of "Lost" and beef Stroganoff.

Zach and Vanessa's wedding
May 28-31: Washington, D.C.
I begged to be invited to this and good man that he is, Gavin obliged and invited me as his date. A lovely dinner was followed by an epic night of boozing, complete with shots, hot hamburger tales, makeouts (by some) and a visit from a dear friend, and current D.C. resident, Jessica. The next day Alison, Kim and I took in the Air and Space museum, which we tore apart with our humor. The wedding itself was small and lovely. Very unique and touching, even though I didn't know the bride and groom as well as some. The night that followed was filled with Lady Gaga getting the party started and we didn't stop dancing for five hours. Fantastic.

Visit Corinne/FARE conference
June 25-30: Chicago, Ill.
A work trip gave me a chance to visit Corinne and Ted for Corinne's birthday. We had a great day on the beach, which afforded my first dip in a Great Lake. We went out for drinks to celebrate Corinne's birth with some of her fantastic friends. Then I retreated to Oakbrook for a conference where I had to moderate a panel, which was also a first for me. I was so nervous, especially when I looked in the crowd and saw my publisher and the CEO for our new company. I made it through but swore never to do it again.

NACUFS conference
July 7-10: San Jose, Calif.
Another work trip, this time to the West coast for the conference for college and university foodservice directors. The trip did afford me the opportunity to travel to Monterrey to see Miss Jennifer Ghrode and the lovely Katy. They showed me around their town, the aquarium and took me to a wonderful breakfast in Carmel.

Trip to visit Jeff
July 28-Aug. 8: London, UK and Paris, France.
This I've covered so I won't gush anymore. I spent too much money to go see Jeff and go to Paris for three days. Worth every penny.

Trip for Autumn/Gold's birthday
September 10-12: Atlantic City, N.J.
This was an epic impromptu trip. After a night of watching AFV monkey clips and several beers, we decided to book a hotel in A.C. for the weekend after our last Mets game of the season. Somehow we got the brilliant idea for 10 of us to take a limo from the Mets game to our hotel in A.C. It was inspired idea that completely lived up to the hype we had created in our heads. After the sheer amount of booze during the trip down, the rest of the weekend was rather mild in recovery. But still very fun and hilarious. I also won $80 on a slot machine so well done me.

Grandma's 90th birthday
September 22-27: Kansas City
Speaking of epic, to celebrate my Grandma's epic life, we had a huge party with all my cousins. Had the chance to spend some good times with them at the famous Double Nickel karaoke, where I destroyed Gangsta's Paradise.

Trip to University of Colorado, Colorado State University and Denver LTC
Sept. 27-29: Boulder, Colo., Fort Collins, Colo., Denver
I flew directly to Colorado after Grandma's birthday for visits to two colleges and a long-term care residence. I'd never been to Boulder and it was just as cool as you hear, though I would have liked more time to explore. The director at CSU did take me on a driving tour of Fort Collins and Rocky Mountain National Park, complete with a stop at the hotel featured in The Shining (the book, not the movie).

SFM Conference/Disney World
Oct. 4-10: Orlando, Fla.
Another work trip turned fun when Mom decided to join me and play while I was working. The conference was cool because we got to have a reception at the Disney Studios after hours and ride the rides as many times as we wanted. We also got a tour of behind-the-scenes areas of the parks and a dessert reception at EPCOT for the fireworks on the last night. After the conference ended, my sister joined us, and the three of us had four days at Disney/Universal. We went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where I downed delicious Butterbeer in no time.

That brings us to trips home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which as always are great. I've done pretty well with travel this year. In the coming year I hope to travel more, I have wishes of going to Chicago, N.C. and Salt Lake to see dear friends. Trips home for Kim and Dan's wedding. A dream of a trip to Ireland. Stay tuned.