Other International Trips
1967
- New Trip: Jul 01 — from Laredo, Texas day-trip (by car) to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
...as a boy of 12, my first trip to a Mexican bordertown was quite an eye-opener.
1979
- New Trip: May 12 — from Houston, Texas by plane to Georgetown, Cayman Islands
...for some much-needed fun in the sun, snorkeling (during the day), and skinny-dipping (at night); hehe ;-)
- May 22 — by plane to Houston, Texas
1982
- New Trip: May 01 — from Austin, Texas by plane to Cozumel, Mexico
...my first dive trip; it was great!
- May 13 — by plane to Austin, Texas
1985
- New Trip: Jul 01 — from Big Bend NP, Texas day-trip (by boat) to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico
...this trip across the Rio Grande into Mexico was very different from the one when I was 11; while my friends and I sipped all-too-warm beer, a truck-load of machine gun-toting Federales arrived to have a look around.
1990
- New Trip: Sep 08 — from Austin, Texas by plane to Vancouver, Canada
...and what a beautiful city it is.
- Sep 10 — by plane to Austin, Texas
1994
- New Trip: Apr 06 — from Austin, Texas by plane (overnight) to Madrid, Spain; by plane to Rota
...for the wedding of my girlfriend's sister
- Apr 10 — day-trip (by car) to Gibralter, Gibraltar and back
...for the actual (legal) wedding of girlfriend's sister; they couldn't really get married in Spain, but they had a wedding ceremony there, followed by a first-class Spanish-style party.
- Apr 15 — day-trip (by car) to Tarifa; by ferry to Tangiers, Morocco; by ferry to Tarifa, Spain and back
...a day-trip, with a tour-group; very touristy, we had to eat where they wanted us to eat, shop where they wanted us to shop (at a carpet factory a man offered to trade a $2000 carpet for the video camera I was using); I felt like a prisoner the whole day.
- Apr 19 — by plane to Madrid; by plane (overnight) to Austin, Texas
...slept in the airport wiating for our flight home.
1996
- New Trip: Jun 06 — from Austin, Texas by plane to Vancouver, Canada
- Jun 08 — by plane to Austin, Texas
1997
- New Trip: Aug 17 — from Austin, Texas by plane to Copenhagen, Denmark; by train to Odense
...a business trip to install software for the national telecom company of Denmark.
- Aug 22 — by train to Copenhagen
...for a little R&R during my business trip, with my new-found Danish friend.
- Aug 24 — by train to Odense
- Aug 29 — by train to Copenhagen
...more fun with my new friend before going home.
- Aug 31 — by plane to Austin, Texas
1998
- New Trip: Jan 21 — from Austin, Texas by plane (overnight) to Sydney, Australia
...this was intended to be a "scouting" trip prior to packing up and moving to Australia; but it turned into a regular vacation instead; my juggling friend, Steve, was along for the fun.
- Jan 23 — day-trip (by car) to Avalon and back
...to meet with a potential client (in the telecom industry); after the meeting, I realized there just wasn't a market for my software in Australia at that time. :(
- Jan 24 — by plane to North Island, New Zealand
...an impromptu tour of North Island, complete with black-water rafting (in an underground river) to see glow-worms, a jetboat ride, and many other amazing activities.
- Feb 02 — by plane to Sydney, Australia
- Feb 04 — by plane (overnight) to Austin, Texas
- New Trip: Dec 19 — from Los Angeles, California by plane (overnight) to London, England; by car to Bickington
...went to spend the holidays with the family of my British girlfriend, whom I met while I was working in California just prior to my world tour.
1999
- Jan 03 — by car to London
- Jan 04 — by plane to Los Angeles, California, USA
...due to a blizzard that had hit Chicago (where we were to change planes) the night before our flight, which stranded thousands of passengers, the airline was offering travel vouchers to any passengers who were willing to give up their seats to others whose plans were more urgent (or less flexible); my girlfriend and I gave up our seats for two $800 vouchers; and we were on another flight home only four hours later; the best part was: we only paid $668 each for our original round-trip flights.
- New Trip: Dec 28 — from Austin, Texas by plane (overnight) to London, England; by train to Lower Largo, Scotland
...to meet up with a young couple Steve and I had met while we were in New Zealand; I used my travel voucher (see above) to "pay" for this flight.
- Dec 31 — day-trip (by car) to Edinburgh and back
...the millennium in Edinburgh!!! - what else can I say? ;-)
2000
- Jan 01 — day-trip (by car) to Glen Coe and back
- Jan 05 — day-trip (by car) to Edinburgh and back
- Jan 06 — by plane to London, England; by train to Lille, France
...just a pit-stop on my way south to visit Andy and Sue.
- Jan 07 — by train to Laudinie
...spent 5 glorious nights with Andy and Sue in their beautiful 12th-century French Villa.
- Jan 12 — by train to Chamonix
...my first time to snow-ski outside the U.S.
- Jan 16 — by train to Verbier, Switzerland
...more snow-skiing - this time at the biggest resort I've ever seen; the last run I made on the last day was more than four kilometers long.
- Jan 19 — by train to Florence, Italy
...where I first met Kumiko.
- Jan 21 — by train to Rome
- Jan 23 — day-trip (by foot) to Holy See, Vatican City
...I was supposed to visit Vatican City with my new-found friend, Lia (from Romania), but she had to work.
- Jan 24 — day-trip (by foot) to Holy See, Vatican City
...Lia was finally able to get the day off, so I went back to Vatican City with her.
- Jan 26 — by night-train to Paris, France
...where the locals make New York taxi drivers seem friendly.
- Jan 27 — by plane (overnight) to Austin, Texas
- New Trip: Apr 04 — from Austin, Texas by plane (overnight) to Tokyo, Japan; by car to Kurume City; by plane to Fukuoka
- Apr 05 — day-trip (by car) to Ogori City and back
- Apr 06 — day-trip (by car) to Noko Island and back
...as it was spring-time, flowers were everywhere.
- Apr 11 — by car to Aso Mountains and back
...had a nice hike along a cold mountain stream (which Kumiko fell into late in the day).
- Apr 12 — by car to Kurume City
...we had planned just a day-trip to Oita/Beppu, but it snowed after we crossed over the mountains, and the roads were closed - we ended up staying overnight in Beppu.
- Apr 16 — by train to Osaka
- Apr 17 — day-trip (by train) to Kyoto
...a magical place; just like what we westerners think of as a "traditional" Japanese city.
- Apr 17 — by train to Yokohama
- Apr 18 — day-trip (by train) to Tokyo; by car to Mt. Fuji
...I was lucky enough to visit on one of the rare days when the summit was not obscured by clouds.
- Apr 18 — by car to Hakone
...stayed in a traditional Japanese-style hotel; $200 per night - per person!!! :o
- Apr 19 — by car to Tokyo; by plane (overnight) to Austin, Texas
