Walked down Abbey Road and ate a meal at a friend’s home overlooking Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded most of their albums.

Ate Italian food at a table full of sailors on an island in the Gulf.

Enjoyed beautiful spring days with snow-capped mountains circling the horizon.

Flew in six types of aircraft in 96 hours.

mach zehnder modulator

Attended a BBQ without all the usual BBQ fare but lots of other highlights such as: camels, falcons, lobster tails, ice sculptures, henna artists, and princes.

Circumnavigated a country to see an underwhelming castle. Got three speeding tickets in the mail from the traffic cameras for the trouble (two were within 5 minutes of each other — the other 20 minutes prior).

Learned about the French Foreign Legion from one of their former commanders.

Had to make way for His Highness.

Passed the water taxi desk to pick up my rental Ford Focus

Missed our exit on the autostrada

Got the chills in a medieval wine cellar

Landed during the worst time of day into the most dangerous landing zone in the world

Drove after midnight through wet, terror-filled streets

Flew in 4 different aircraft models over the course of 12 hours

Had a sandwich in a palace, kangaroo in a villa, burrito in a tent, stir fry in a warehouse, and Indian at my seat in business class

Drove through vineyards in two separate countries – one where the growers are famous for the wine and one where they killed for it

See below for a cool website that lets you map where you have been. This is the map I created from my 45…and, obviously, counting…

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Read two and a half business books plus one on how to create this blog

Visited twelve countries going back to two of them for a second visit

Did not stay at the hotel we have stayed at the last few times we visited this city, which was fortunate because that hotel was bombed the second day we were there, killing two people (bomber and the security guard who stopped the bomber from killing others)

Slept on three different continents

Did my Crossfit workout in 8 different countries

Tried to order some local Bedouin food, but, when they had none left, had to resort to a chicken sandwich

Met a fellow Georgetown alumni, who graduated a year before I did, who now holds the title of �??His Excellency�?� and is the Foreign Affairs Minister for his country

Stopped in two countries for a visit but stayed for under four hours each

Drank a couple beers in a German-style pub, an English-style pub, and a Jazz bar in the middle of three separate Arab countries

Took very few pictures, which is very unusual for me

(A couple of the picture highlights, click below to see and read more)

Had a piece of baggage lost by the airline before I even left Tampa

Had a $108 bar tab for 6 drinks

Given a gift of the modern-day Benny Hill show (which is very funny by the way) at a Korean restaurant then went to a club through the VIP line, which was longer than the main line

Ate a feast for lunch in a country that only recently declared a cease fire. Our hosts never stopped bringing us course after course

On my eighth day into the trip, I touched down in my sixth country (seventh if you count an hour stop to refuel the aircraft) and third continent

Visited the two most dangerous little towns in the world followed by the most dangerous city

Had a couple beers with one of my oldest military buddies and talked Middle East politics and the merits of Al Jazeera English

Drank African beer swatting mosquitoes kicking myself for forgetting my malaria prevention medicine.

Flew to another war zone on Christmas Eve where we were briefed on all the enemy ass kicking our guys are doing in so many locations

Inaugurated a coffee shop in this war zone, where I saw a guy who I had eaten tummy (tripe) soup with on another continent and mentioned in a previous post

Took off in the wee hours of Christmas morning in by far the worst weather I have ever flown in. These conditions were easily eclipsed an hour later when we landed in even worse weather. When we could see outside the plane, the conditions got a unanimous “holy shit” from my traveling companions. No other plane in the world would have taken off or landed in those conditions. OK, maybe Santa would

Had a white Christmas in a country that normally looks like a desert — and most people did not even believe gets snow. When you have desert at 6-12 thousand feet, you get snow (See my photo gallery of this trip)

After the weather did not allow our helicopters to fly, drove 2.5 hours on some of the worst roads in the world when it is dry but had just received 4-6 inches of snow. Watched trucks and Humvees get stuck in ditches. Got jammed up in two road closures but found a detour thanks to some polite Italians

Saw kids sledding that were too poor to even have cardboard (not to mention McDonald’s trays) to sled on

Flew over one of the world’s busiest ports at night where the lights from the inbound ships still at sea looked like a sprawling city

Helped a Swiss girl carry her two surfboards out of baggage claim in the middle of snow ski season

Drank tequila in one of the most glamorous cities in the world, amazed at the excessive display of fur coats, boots, and anything else you can cover in fur

Ice skated on a lake in the dark

Took the longest toboggan ride of my life. Then, got on board the train for a ride back to the top to do it all over again

Watched curling for the first time in person

Drank spiked, spiced cider on a bar made entirely of ice

Danced on stage in the wee hours of the new year in my long underwear shirt

Attempted to light fireworks after midnight from a frozen lake that turned out to be not that frozen

See more pictures of the latter trip in my gallery

(Click ‘more’ to read and see more)

Visited 6 countries

Met the man that George Bush owned the Texas Rangers with

Ate duck while talking about the Iraq war with some French generals

Attended a ceremony where we gave a high US medal to a French soldier�??s wife and sons who was killed in action in Afghanistan

Drank more overpriced cocktails in the famous, little did I know at the time, Buddha Bar, which I stumbled into.

Attended a ceremony with a king

Ate panini, sweets, and drank beer in one of the world�??s most beautiful and photographed places (See my web gallery of pictures)

Traveled via C-130, 777, Blackhawk helicopter, Gulfstream jet, and train

(some picture highlights — click ‘more’ to read and see the rest)

Went from cool and pouring down rain to 110 degree heat to below freezing to back to 110 to just above freezing back to 110.

Stayed in the same hotel as David Beckham and the Real Madrid soccer team

Met a country’s president.

Ate dinner with my hands in a medieval cellar

Ate ..tummy soup” (tripe) in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere as a prevention for an inevitable hangover.

Did shots of the local version of vodka (but twice as strong), flaming shots, and local brandy.

Rode in a motorcade down the wrong way in rush hour traffic.

Flew over a former prince’s palace that is crumbling to the point it is un-repairable

Haggled with local merchants over Persian rugs, art, antiques and a bootleg copy of Season 3 of Nip/Tuck.

(Some picture highlights — click ‘more’ to read and see the rest)

Imbibed (a bit too much) at the biggest and greatest party on the planet.

Had to wake up at 8am and drive 2.5 hours at 110 mph or above to make our meeting the next day.

Met with a general that carries a swgger stick

Rode in a helicopter flown by pilots from a 3rd world country

Had lunch with one of our ambassadors who was speaking Russian while we did toasts of vodka and ate caviar served by girls in Ali Baba themed costumes.

Flew in and out of an airport that had more airplanes parked in the grass than on the pavement.

Attended an awards ceremony awarding some of the bravest actions of the summer.

(some picture highlights — as always, click ‘more’ to see and read more)

Watched artists sketch tourists’ portraits on a bridge that used to be behind the Iron Curtain

Ate dinner on the bank of one of Europe’s greatest rivers, in a tent, overlooking the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and in the military’s best chow hall

For the first time, we were the intended target of mortar fire rather than just hearing it somewhere in the distance. This is where the line you hear in movies “Incoming!” becomes a real-life command

Escorted by a 12-man security element with 6 vehicles

Stayed in a 5-star hotel compliments of a foreign government

Watched Arabs snow ski indoors in the middle of the desert in August when it was 110+ outside

Took a boat ride on a sea with an immediate view of 4 different countries, then a boat ride in a completely different ocean

Spent the night on 3 continents (not including North America)

Parachuted into a wildlife refuge without an animal anywhere to be seen

Sipped a margarita by the pool, while Muslim women who wanted to swim, had to do so fully clothed with head scarves

Ate dessert in the desert sitting directly across from men from 6 different Arab countries.

Lost badly playing cards at 30,000 ft, lost mildly in a national capitol, won in a tent.

Visited the scene for the climax of one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time.

Within 120 seconds, turned down a ride on a donkey, camel, and horse

Could not resist a 5-year old Arab selling camel tooth necklaces who spoke English better than many American kids

Given vodka and Seven-up by a beautiful Iraqi girl wearing a bikini

Ate exotic game meat brought to your table on a spit