As I was speaking with Rosa last night about my pursuit, and yes, she is also at a different point in life, she reminded me that seeking out work in Italy or elsewhere may not be easy and I do understand that. I also reminded her that I have been able to weather many storms and manage many bumps in the road over my lifetime. I also reminded her that I can continue with my business from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world as was proven out this past summer, and that tutoring and/or teaching English as a Foreign Language is within my grasp now. It may take time, but it will happen. More importantly, if I don’t take a chance now, then when? Now, when the new year, yes, I know still two months away, is upon us and who knows, what it will bring, with the craziness in this country and the world, I am not tied down to a state, a city, a company, and nothing is really holding me back here in America. You only live once and I will live it. I am willing to give it that shot, both personally and professionally. 
It does not matter where I live and how I live as long as I am happy. Isn’t that what it says in the US Constitution, the pursuit of happiness. Well, I am on that pursuit, and I am the happiest when I have been with her and each time, we are together, it is a test and while nothing is perfect and it should not be, we enjoy each other’s company. Yes, and while it was a shorter amount of time, this summer proved it is possible and I am only looking for a chance to move forward in our relationship. She is, always, on my mind and in a month’s time, we will be together again.

For this week however, I am off to the Big Apple for a conference and trade show at the Jacob Javits Center and also a little personal business including a visit with an uncle of mine, visiting my grandparent’s gravesite and for the fun of it, hitting the 72nd Hard Rock, up near Yankee Stadium. Funny, I have never been to Yankee Stadium, even though I lived in New York City for many years of my life, and it should a little quiet up there now that the Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs, but the pursuit of happiness includes the Hard Rock experience, so I will continue to add to my collection. Yes, I have been to the one at Times Square. Next week this time off to Europe for the month of November and a part of December, for business and more travel adventures I will be excited to share with you. The routine of packing and unpacking continues. What packing ideas do you have to share?
Until next week, thank you for your support of my crazy little world and of my small business. It is truly appreciated, and as always, I am interested in your thoughts, comments, questions and adding to the discourse is always appreciated be in on the site itself or on Facebook, Twitter or wherever you read this.

It is crazy to think that a week ago yesterday, I was enjoying watching the Vikings beat the Saints at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and then enjoying some of the classic foods in the East End of London the next day on a foodie tour. In fact, the sample fish and chips were so good, that afterwards, I went back and had the full portion. I left last Tuesday back to the states and back here in New England and no, never did to Windsor this past go around. Maybe next time and glad to see that the Vikings made history by winning the game yesterday against the Bears, to be the first team to win the next game after returning from an international game.

Actually, the reason I'm one step closer also has to do with my time in Rome this summer. As you perhaps recall, besides arranging travel and of course, being with Rosa, I was working on completing my practicum, so I would be certified to teach English as a Foreign language and I had to complete at least 20 hours of actual experience teaching English to non-native speakers. Well, I did it and with Rosa’s help, getting me a couple of her friends and acquaintances, I completed, in fits and starts, the 20 hours and included a few with her along the way. She is not a native English speaker, so it counted. The most interesting part of the experience was getting back into teaching mode as I had not done that in a while. ​

After the business part of my time here, it was time to did a little exploration of London and, having been here before, in fact last year, most recently, I wanted to explore London, as I did last year after the business part of my trip, pounding the payment, but actually tried the Hop On Hop Off experience with one of the supplier’s companies and things seemed to go well for the first hour or so, and then things seemed to unravel. As the route continued, we started going around in circles, and we passed by St. Paul’s Cathedral, not once, not twice, but three times, and it is definitely worth seeing, but even with diversions (English for detours). Oh, that’s right, British English, not American English, we continued. It seemed that finally, we were back on track, and I was getting to a stop where I wanted to change route, so I came down from the top. As it turned out, this was a new driver, he was getting further behind, as he had done the repeated route, diversion or not, and then did not even stop at the designated stops at the end of the route, so he could get back on track. Perhaps, more training should have been involved. ​

In the end, we got back to the beginning, which in this case, Piccadilly, I would have had to repeat the whole route again, just to get back to the place I had wanted to get to. As it turns out, however, one of the tour operator employees, listened to what had happened, and radioed ahead to one of the drivers of the other route, escorted me to the meeting location, so that I would not have to meet that route by doing the whole circuit over, and connected to the second route. In the end, I was on my way, headed in the correct direction and had a very nice conversation with the driver, a gentleman by the name of Trevor, who was originally from Jamaica and has been with the company for some 30 years. He and chatted for the better part of the time. No, I was not distracting him, and he knew the city and history, like the Black Taxi Cabbies and being in the same age bracket, we talked about many things, so it was almost like a personal tour, even though there were others on the bus, upstairs. In the end, he made, along with the tour operator employee, whose name I did not get, a mistake by a rookie driver into a pleasant experience and then enjoyed lunch, by then I was very hungry, at the Churchill Arms Pub and had Thai food. It was good and albeit strange, for a British pub, it was a nice experience, after which, I walked back to my hotel about 1 ½ miles through some very nice neighborhoods. ​

Time zones are a funny thing and they have not always been there. In fact, back in the 1800’s is when they first arrived on the scene in 1883 and in the US alone, there were over 144 local time zones in North America. When train travel was the thing sand it took days to travel from place to place, it was no big deal. Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian engineer, was the first person to propose the use of worldwide time zones back in 1878. His idea was to divide the world into 24 time zones that were each 15 degrees of longitude apart. The reason for this is that the earth rotates 15 degrees every hour, or 360 degrees in 24 hours. Thank you, Google!!! I was thinking about this when writing today’s post, as in the past 2 weeks, I was returning from Italy which is in central European time and then back to the east coast of the United States which is in eastern time zone and now in the United Kingdom, which is in Greenwich Mean time, or essentially the basis of the 24 time zones and yes, there are 24 hours in a day, right? 

Really though, it was about the massive jetlag I was feeling especially after a week back in the states and finally feeling like I had gotten over it, and now across the pond again. However, as I had spent over 2 months in Italy, it would have taken more time to fully get over jetlag and I knew this as it wasn’t until days 5 and 6 back, that it really hit me, but not fully and when I went to bed last night, having stayed up all day, I slept through the night and it was only my mobile phone alarm which went off at 6:00 am local time, here in England, that is. 
Anyway, on my flight over to jolly ol’ England, with my connection in Amsterdam, asked the flight attendants how they do it dealing with the time zones and if there was training, they received in terms of sleep management and they said no, so I guess each of us must figure out a way. For me, regardless of how long I am going to be in a place, and how many time zones, I cross, I simply try to stay up if possible, so it is easier to get on the new time zone. I also suggest this my clients, but to each his or her own.