Right, so after four weeks among the frenzied chaos and energy of China, my next leg had me heading up to Mongolia. An abrupt transition from the Great Wall to the great Mongolian steppes and mountains intrigued me; I was pretty fired up to spend a month in this country that is more than merely exotic, more than merely a name I only knew from playing RISK back in the day.
Nope, Mongolia is far more than that... promising me sights of the birthplace of Genghis Khan and Mongolian BBQ, unforgettable (if not exactly tasty) cocktails made of fermented mare's milk and stunning vistas so sweeping that photographs barely do them justice.
But, life does have a way of throwing the odd curveball every now and again (um, that's like a googly to you cricket-loving Brits), and you just have to adjust. In this case, my folks called a week before my China leg ended and gave me the scary news that my dad was going in for a fairly risky surgery on short notice.
Right. Scratched the trip, and rebooked immediately a flight for SF... With a frantic email to my travel agent, I was booked on a flight, not to Ulan Bataar, but a three leg flight from Beijing to Tokyo, LA, and then SF.
It was quite a culture shock, to go from the booming but raw energy of Bejing to the laid-back, "it's cool, man" culture of San Francisco. But, it was a nice problem to have, and the first few days flew by in a blur, turning into weeks and then over a month.
First, the most important bit... my dad came through the surgery with flying colors. Hurrah to the UCSF medical team - who rock. My mom, brother, and I were all able to celebrate first over a burger in the always cool Carl/Cole neighborhood, and then a curry and several whiskies as we explored a bit of SF's Inner Sunset district.
Once that huge weight was off our shoulders, I took stock. While not Mongolia, I resolved that with six weeks in SF, there was no good reason I couldn't play tourist in my own country. It's the same old story - you live in an amazing place for most of your life, and keep meaning to get to certain sights "someday", yet never do.
Well, over the next few weeks, in between some good all-around faffing and catching up with family and friends, plus showing a remarkable lack of skill playing soccer on my brother's indoor team...
...I made a fair stab at reducing the list, starting with a day hike at Muir Woods. Think really big redwood trees. Huge.
... to finally exploring the north tip of the world-class nature preserve at Point Reyes
... checking out the trails of the Marin Headlands and their sublime view back toward SF
... climbed to the top of Mt. St. Helena, overlooking Sonoma and Napa counties, with the bonus of finding a hiking partner who was a spitting image of Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings.
... day trip flying kites and exploring Mendocino with my friend Emily
... reliving my uni days at Berkeley, including gorging on the classic Cal institution - Steve's Korean BBQ...
... and of course watching far too much World Cup, including the final with my mom and brother at a pub which had me drinking a beer at 11am. Quite a first in front of my parents!
... plus some day trips to SF and two reunions. The first was super fun and a great excuse for all the Hawkins clan to come together, play golf and poker, and heckle every few years. In this case, I found out that my youngest cousins are now drinking age, and one is even playing ultimate. Crazy.
But the other was my (gasp) 20th high school reunion... I'm sure everyone says the same thing, but man, does it strain credibility to think that we've been out for so long. It makes us sound very nearly adult, and that's a scary thought. But, it was a great time, catching up with loads of fun folks, and realizing that despite all of the hijinks we pulled and (somehow) survived, we actually turned out okay...
I didn't just stick around the Bay Area either, as my friend Emily and I headed off on yet another of our road trips - in this case, a week plus exploring the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Way, way too many good memories to list here, especially as Dave and Drea met up with us for two days as well. We'll just call it one of our best road trips ever. Period.
Finally, I got in a few days up in "the city that I could definitely see myself moving to" - Portland, Oregon. A great mix of San Francisco's culture without the sticker shock, plus Seattle's forests and mountains with a bit less rain, Portland's an amazing place. Throw in a city that loves bicycles, and I'm pretty much sold on the place :)
In this case, I got to catch up again with my good friends Ross and Tracy, plus Dave and Drea in their fantastic new house. Well, "new" can be misleading. Built in the early 1900's, what would be a relatively recent subdivision in the UK qualifies it as a near-museum piece in our young country.
Beers were drunk, and we regressed big-time, from playing with Ross and Tracy's great kids to getting our video game fix in a pub that featured 50+ old school games from the 80's and dozens of pinball machines besides.
That should have been it for the RTW trip. I had it planned that I would fly back to SF, have a full day with the family, and then head out the 16th for London. Except... except for one minor detail that didn't smack me in the face until 1:00pm on the 15th. Yup, turns out my flight back to the UK was that very day, at 5:00pm.
Drat. Darn. Sugar. (or insert your own favorite swear word here)
It all worked out, but after frantically trying to contact customer service, my travel agent, and whomever else, then chucking the heaps of stuff I'd accumulated in my travels and in the States into two bags, my Mom, Emily and I all piled into the car and bombed down to SF at warp speed... only to find out I missed the flight by 10 minutes.
(Repeat swearing here.)
But all's well that ends well, as Virgin was decidedly UN-RyanAir-like, and rescheduled my flight for the next day at no extra cost. So, after all that stress and anxiety, I got to do a last BBQ for my family and Emily as we originally planned. Perfect, and I'm sure I'll be reminded of my error many times down the road - heckling by the family is a great way to end three and a half months of travelling...
Now that I'm back in London - my next task? Forget Kilimanjaro or Everest... it's all about finding a job back in London. Know anyone who's hiring? ;)
Nope, Mongolia is far more than that... promising me sights of the birthplace of Genghis Khan and Mongolian BBQ, unforgettable (if not exactly tasty) cocktails made of fermented mare's milk and stunning vistas so sweeping that photographs barely do them justice.
But, life does have a way of throwing the odd curveball every now and again (um, that's like a googly to you cricket-loving Brits), and you just have to adjust. In this case, my folks called a week before my China leg ended and gave me the scary news that my dad was going in for a fairly risky surgery on short notice.
Right. Scratched the trip, and rebooked immediately a flight for SF... With a frantic email to my travel agent, I was booked on a flight, not to Ulan Bataar, but a three leg flight from Beijing to Tokyo, LA, and then SF.
It was quite a culture shock, to go from the booming but raw energy of Bejing to the laid-back, "it's cool, man" culture of San Francisco. But, it was a nice problem to have, and the first few days flew by in a blur, turning into weeks and then over a month.
First, the most important bit... my dad came through the surgery with flying colors. Hurrah to the UCSF medical team - who rock. My mom, brother, and I were all able to celebrate first over a burger in the always cool Carl/Cole neighborhood, and then a curry and several whiskies as we explored a bit of SF's Inner Sunset district.
Once that huge weight was off our shoulders, I took stock. While not Mongolia, I resolved that with six weeks in SF, there was no good reason I couldn't play tourist in my own country. It's the same old story - you live in an amazing place for most of your life, and keep meaning to get to certain sights "someday", yet never do.
Well, over the next few weeks, in between some good all-around faffing and catching up with family and friends, plus showing a remarkable lack of skill playing soccer on my brother's indoor team...
...I made a fair stab at reducing the list, starting with a day hike at Muir Woods. Think really big redwood trees. Huge.
... to finally exploring the north tip of the world-class nature preserve at Point Reyes
... checking out the trails of the Marin Headlands and their sublime view back toward SF
... climbed to the top of Mt. St. Helena, overlooking Sonoma and Napa counties, with the bonus of finding a hiking partner who was a spitting image of Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings.
... day trip flying kites and exploring Mendocino with my friend Emily
... reliving my uni days at Berkeley, including gorging on the classic Cal institution - Steve's Korean BBQ...
... and of course watching far too much World Cup, including the final with my mom and brother at a pub which had me drinking a beer at 11am. Quite a first in front of my parents!
... plus some day trips to SF and two reunions. The first was super fun and a great excuse for all the Hawkins clan to come together, play golf and poker, and heckle every few years. In this case, I found out that my youngest cousins are now drinking age, and one is even playing ultimate. Crazy.
But the other was my (gasp) 20th high school reunion... I'm sure everyone says the same thing, but man, does it strain credibility to think that we've been out for so long. It makes us sound very nearly adult, and that's a scary thought. But, it was a great time, catching up with loads of fun folks, and realizing that despite all of the hijinks we pulled and (somehow) survived, we actually turned out okay...
I didn't just stick around the Bay Area either, as my friend Emily and I headed off on yet another of our road trips - in this case, a week plus exploring the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Way, way too many good memories to list here, especially as Dave and Drea met up with us for two days as well. We'll just call it one of our best road trips ever. Period.
Finally, I got in a few days up in "the city that I could definitely see myself moving to" - Portland, Oregon. A great mix of San Francisco's culture without the sticker shock, plus Seattle's forests and mountains with a bit less rain, Portland's an amazing place. Throw in a city that loves bicycles, and I'm pretty much sold on the place :)
In this case, I got to catch up again with my good friends Ross and Tracy, plus Dave and Drea in their fantastic new house. Well, "new" can be misleading. Built in the early 1900's, what would be a relatively recent subdivision in the UK qualifies it as a near-museum piece in our young country.
Beers were drunk, and we regressed big-time, from playing with Ross and Tracy's great kids to getting our video game fix in a pub that featured 50+ old school games from the 80's and dozens of pinball machines besides.
That should have been it for the RTW trip. I had it planned that I would fly back to SF, have a full day with the family, and then head out the 16th for London. Except... except for one minor detail that didn't smack me in the face until 1:00pm on the 15th. Yup, turns out my flight back to the UK was that very day, at 5:00pm.
Drat. Darn. Sugar. (or insert your own favorite swear word here)
It all worked out, but after frantically trying to contact customer service, my travel agent, and whomever else, then chucking the heaps of stuff I'd accumulated in my travels and in the States into two bags, my Mom, Emily and I all piled into the car and bombed down to SF at warp speed... only to find out I missed the flight by 10 minutes.
(Repeat swearing here.)
But all's well that ends well, as Virgin was decidedly UN-RyanAir-like, and rescheduled my flight for the next day at no extra cost. So, after all that stress and anxiety, I got to do a last BBQ for my family and Emily as we originally planned. Perfect, and I'm sure I'll be reminded of my error many times down the road - heckling by the family is a great way to end three and a half months of travelling...
Now that I'm back in London - my next task? Forget Kilimanjaro or Everest... it's all about finding a job back in London. Know anyone who's hiring? ;)
