FYI, "amici" means "friends" in Italian! Indeed, the next leg of my eurotrip 2022 was to Cinque Terre with Cora, Alex, Tiffany, and Haochen. Upon Alex's arrival in Bologna (HCS missed his flight and would join us later), we spent the morning taking a series of trains. Cinque Terre is not the easiest place to get to, yet it's somehow still super busy. It is somewhat more rustic-feeling than places like the Amalfi Coast, but certainly not off the beaten track. Western voices were rampant.
On Labour Day weekend 2025, Andrew and I moved in together in SF! I spent two weeks packing up the Willoughby with help from my parents (so appreciated) and flew to our new home on Berry St in Mission Bay. Andrew graciously set up everything upon his arrival in July, so I was able to unpack and settle in within a day. Efficiency! Alongside trips to Daly City (my first day trip spot — Target, In-n-Out, and Jagalchi 😍), we even managed to squeeze in a hike in San Bruno.
For the last segment of my travels with Tiff and Cora (as a trio), we arrived in Bologna! After the seclusion of Slovenia and the Dolomites (and tbh, even Croatia), it was nice to be back in a big city. At the time, I felt like Bologna reminded me of New York City: busy streets, a faint scent of urine, and multicultural offerings (there were surprisingly a bunch of Asian shop owners!). Now that I've actually lived in New York, such a comparison doesn't quite fit the bill anymore. But hey, I'm glad 2022 Charmaine felt that way.
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!
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.
A great perk in the consulting world is alt travel. While I was working in the Prairies, I took advantage of this perk by staying the weekend in Lake Louise and Banff. I admit, this is a bit of a weird blog post to write since it was so intrinsically tied with Valentine’s and birthday celebrations for my ex. But we carry on!
My workplace enabled me to participate in a special analytics training. Little did I know how lucky I was: in 2019, the program gave me an excuse to visit Miami, which turned out to be the last cohort before the program went virtual due to COVID. Naturally, others like Cait and Malcolm decided to opportunistically seize the opportunity to tour around over the weekend with me.