August 22, 2023
I love to travel, but when COVID hit, I put travel on hold. I did not want this summer to come and go without taking a couple of trips. I was watching the Tony awards and saw that Josh Groban was starring in one of my favorite plays – Sweeney Todd. I spent a couple of days debating if I should or shouldn’t. I finally came to the conclusion that life is short and should be enjoyed, I would probably regret not going.
When I fly to the east coast, I typically take an early morning flight. This time, I decided to take an afternoon flight which landed me in Newark around 9:30 PM. Throughout the day, I kept thinking how nice it was to have slept in, had breakfast and didn’t feel rushed getting to the airport. We arrived late evening and getting into the city was much easier than if we had landed during rush hour.
The downside to this trip was that unfortunately, my long time friend Allan Bierman, who lived in NYC, passed away in January, 2022. It seemed strange that I was going to be in NYC and was not going to see him.
I still remember when we first met on a tour in Italy. After a heavy meal, Allan suggested that a few of us go and have a “digestif”. We walked to Piazza San Marcos in Venice, where they had competing orchestras playing Vivaldi, Verdi and Puccini. We sat down at one of them and ordered grappa. When the orchestra took a break we were off to the other side of the Piazza and not long after, we were back to the original place. At the end of the night we all had spent too much money on drinks but had a great time and had a memory that would last a lifetime.
Allan and I stayed in touch and a couple of years later, Allan called and asked if I wanted to go to China with him. I jumped at the chance and we went. From that point on, we travelled regularly and went to Vietnam, Cambodia, Austria, Germany, Nicaragua, the Baltic States, Russia and Ukraine. I have so many fond memories of each and every trip and just to name a few – celebrating his birthday in China, taking a cooking class in Vietnam, visiting the Christmas Markets in Germany, and sampling different Vodkas throughout the Baltic states and Russia.
I always jumped at the chance to attend a conference in New York knowing that I would get to spend time with him. I really enjoyed when I got to hang out with in NYC, visiting his favorite restaurants and going to the places that he enjoyed. As much as I was looking forward to this trip, I also knew that Allan’s absence would be felt but I also knew that life is short, this trip was about getting back out there, post-COVID and enjoying things!
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