A quick visit to NYC is always a quick fix for seeing friends, taking care if business, try a new restaurant and soak up on some art. Here's to a wonderful couple of days.
Year in Review
I have to admit that if it wasn't for the 3,287 photos on my phone I would forget all about everything that happened during the year and about all of the places I visited on 2013.
It was a great year in a lot of aspects. I changed my logo and branding. I got my strategic/business plan in action. I met really nice people, some clients, some not. All became friends. Some stayed and some moved to other countries to get on with their lives and dreams. I traveled. A lot. The end of the year was not as good, but the balance is definitely very positive.
So a quick balance:
- saw a bunch of very good friends in LA, Tucson, Barcelona and Lisbon. There's nothing better than seeing good old friends and catching up with them.
- Added some new states to my list of US states visited, which now counts up to 28 (and hey I'm not counting 3 that I only briefly drove through…).
- Finally completed the pacific northwest drive that we didn't finish in 2008 and I have to say that Oregon is still my favorite state.
- Global warming made Vancouver and London an awesome place to visit in the summer and Shanghai and Hong Kong a true sauna.. But totally worth it.
- On the other hand the weather wasn't very cooperative in Croatia and Jamaica, but seeing an old friend getting married and seeing the fortress of the series "Game of Thrones" made it all worth while.
- Saw an alligator in the wild in the Florida keys. I'm still wondering why people live there...
- Berlin was absolutely awesome, forget Barcelona, this is the creative place to be in Europe.
Let's see what 2014 brings on…Happy new year!
Barcelona and Dali's "taller"
If you travel to Europe from the East Coast you might as well maximize your trip. While in Lisbon I managed to get away one weekend to go to Barcelona with 3 goals in mind:
- see very good friends which I haven't seen since 2009;
- visit Salvador Dali's summer house in Cadaques (Costa Brava/Girona),
- Eat extremely well, this is after all the place where all Ferran Adria disciples opened their restaurants.
I have to say the mission was accomplished and other resolutions came out of this visit. The first one is that you should see good friends more often than every 4 years. The second is that 3 days is not enough to try every restaurant I wanted. Next year, it's a promise.
December in Lisbon
Lisbon still has it charm, even in the winter, between rain showers and with a terrible economic depression.
It's one of the most beautiful cities I visited and combines balmy weather with urban and ocean views, mixing it up with lots of history. If you have a chance go and visit, it's still cheap and people are nice even if the economy is down. Plus, you'll be doing them a favor by increasing their tourism revenue. And you'll have fun, promised.
