I kicked off the start of my pre-MBA era with six weeks of travel in Europe. We are so back, baby!! After an extremely eventful end to my pre-MBA working life (in which I contracted COVID for the only time and had to miss the company offsite, including a going-away spa retreat from my team...), I convinced my closest pals to escape to Europe with me with some snazzy decks.
How many times can I possibly write about traveling to SF and LA? The limit does not exist!! I'll admit that these American-focused blog posts are becoming a bit repetitive before we get to fun international locations, but such was the state of post-COVID travel. I remain dedicated to writing about these adventures to commemorate the memories shared with my friends. In this case, I was able to squeeze in a BUNCH of time with friends from both high school and university.
I visited Texas twice in spring 2022. Spring must be the best time of year to visit Texas — the weather was downright idyllic!
After over a year of COVID lockdowns, I finally made my way to Pittsburgh for Duolingo's IPO and quality team time.
For my last pre-pandemic alt-travel experience, I took a quick weekend trip to San Francisco! I didn’t plan for this to be my last alt-travel experience: in fact, I already had trips to Boston and Philly lined up too (iykyk). Little did I know, this would actually be my last trip before COVID locked everything down in North America just one short week later. Thankfully, it was a weekend full of friends in a city I’ve come to feel comfortable visiting.
After a delightful time in Seoul and Jeju, the last stop on my 2019 Korea trip was Busan! We had trouble finding our Airbnb at first, and were told we need to speak Korean in Korea. I felt affronted at the time, but I've come around to the logic.
I'm saying this upfront: we did not have enough time in Jeju. Our "three days" in Jeju was more like one day, since we arrived late on the first night and left early in the morning on the last day. There was a bit of poor planning with this segment of the trip overall: we booked a nice hotel with a pool, only to discover that the pool wasn't open yet for the season. Ah, the perils of shoulder-season travel (still the best considering the beautiful weather and lack of crowds though)!
Witty title credits go to Kim Namjoon of BTS, with the lovely song "Seoul."