Travel Planning
Planning Carb: Pizza
One week brainstorming. One week selecting a route. One week booking additional flights, hotels, and key attractions. Three weeks is all it took to plan an 81-day adventure around the world!
Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco, and Steamboat.
Credit is due to Claude AI for helping me book everything so quickly. Claude did a lot of the research on what to do in each location and suggested itineraries. Then I gave feedback and we iterated. I did all the actual booking - I’m not ready for AI to fully take over. It makes too many mistakes. Like miscounting days and suggesting Sofitel is a Marriott Bonvoy hotel 🤦♀️.
What led me to book “around the world in 81 days”? I’d love to say Jules Verne but that’s a happy coincidence. In reality, I’m a casualty of the recent Amazon layoffs. I suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands and a generous termination package. I poked around LinkedIn and wasn’t super excited by the opportunities out there, so I took a beat. Took a breath. Thought, “what do I want to do with this time?” The answer came quickly: “travel”.
The trip plan started with Australia and New Zealand in January, wanting to get to the Australian Open tennis tournament, and maybe I’ll add a trip in December before the holidays. Then I remembered the Star Alliance Round the World itinerary program and started mapping a route. I called my sister to make sure it was okay if I missed Christmas Eve this year - she said absolutely. Knowing I needed to be in Steamboat late February for an annual ski trip with friends, I spent days trying to eliminate stopovers along my route. I yelled at the computer when I selected direct flight paths then they only showed stopover options 😒. Resigned to having a couple stopovers, I took a deep breath and finally hit Book.
These three weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. Sadness, excitement, frustration, anxiety, and more excitement. As excited I am about this unique opportunity to travel, I sometimes wish I was back at work. I had built a great team and we were about to launch two major products. I was disappointed to miss those launches, one of which was a mere week away. I’m proud of how I handled myself during the layoff. I didn’t get depressed, I was able to grieve quickly, and move on. I put in a happy face and made lemonade out of lemons. I can’t change what happened, so I’m not wasting energy on it. But I’d be lying if I said not working isn’t weird. Planning this trip is surreal. It’s the trip of a lifetime, but not under the circumstances I expected.
At the end of the day, I’ve landed on calling this my sabbatical adventure. Welcome to the wild ride ahead.