I had been to the state of Missouri once before, but only to the airport in Kansas City, so I jumped at the opportunity when I was invited to the Saint Louis the for an interview. Unfortunately, my short visit was all business, but I did enjoy long drives through the countryside from and to the airport.

It may be a while before I get around to posting my journals from this trip... I still have a LOT of editing to do.

Merry Christmas in many languages

I first met my friend Clara in August 2002 at Eden Hill Hostel in Sligo Ireland. We only hung out together in Sligo for a day before our respective itineraries took us in different directions, but kept in touch over the years. Clara is from Spain, but found a job in Tokyo and relocated to Japan. After leaving my last job, I finally had an opportunity to travel again, so I decided to fly out to visit her and to explore Japan.

While looking up something else online, I learned something interesting that had confused me since my 2006-2007 stay in the Philippines.

I took a short trip to Bristol for Thanksgiving (21-22 November 2007). It's not exactly a "travel" blog, but since it involves public transportation, I figured I'd post it here.

I spent three weeks in March of 2007 traveling through China. Recently, a friend planning a trip there asked if I had any advice, so I drafted these tips for him.

The year began busy for my company in 2004 with overlapping activities. By then, however, we had enough people to handle two different events in the same month. I was still the only Company Sales Representative and the person most experienced at dealing with our consumers, so I carried a lot of the burden and worked both shows. (The names in this journal have been changed to protect the guilty.)

I had never been to Chicago before, so when a business engagement came up in the city, I decided to go early to spend a day exploring. A year earlier in England, I had picked up a brochure for a Chicago hostel so I called the number and booked a reservation for the night before my company would start paying the bills. Chicago is a great city and I had a terrific time. =D (The names in this journal have been changed to protect the guilty.)

My trip was mostly business, visiting various lumberyards and home centers go sell our products into new retail stores, but I had a good time spending a night island camping at Lake George. (The names in this journal have been changed to protect the guilty.)