Saturday night we returned home from our first vacation in almost 3 years. Our last trip, to Porto in 2023, was more of a fact-finding trip in hopes that we could move abroad. Unfortunately life had a different idea and my mom passed away a few weeks after we got home, changing the trajectory of a lot of things for us.
These days we’re pretty happy in Chicago and, thankfully, don’t feel like we need travel to escape where we live. That said, we both love to get out and see new cities and hope that, one day, we will be able to finish that move to Porto.
For this trip I was actually gone for 2 weeks, a week in Athens for work and then a week for vacation in Rome. Joy flew out to meet me and we made the best of every moment.
Work Travel to Athens
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Athens but I really found that I loved the city in my short time there. We were there for my company’s annual on-site trip and I was able to spend a few days getting to know all my new teams as well as exploring the city when our meetings were done. We talked about our roadmap for the next year, how we want to move forward and then we toured ancient Athens, including the Acropolis. It was amazing.
While I love working from home and wouldn’t easily trade it for an office again, a successful remote team still requires some regular face time. For the first time since before Covid I feel like I’m in an organization that understands that fact and I’m grateful for it. Tomorrow I’ll return to work refreshed and ready to move forward, but still able to work where I work best.
Meeting the team had me reviewing the past year, especially when I went into the office. In some ways I think that was very successful. Most of the Chicago tech folks I got to know I met by going into that office. That said, to pretend going into an office is more productive is just a fantasy. Good leadership hires good people and empowers them to work where they’re most productive. It would take me a lot to give that up again.
After work and meetings I loved getting to see Athens, a city I’ll admit I knew little about. Each of the 3 days of the on-site we were able to pick events to attend in the afternoon. I spent one day touring the city by foot, another at the archaeology museum and the third touring the Acropolis itself. As someone who is increasingly more fascinated with history than tech, it was amazing. I’ll look forward to going back, next time with Joy.
On to Rome
As much as I enjoyed my time in Athens, the week came to an end all-too-quickly and then it was on to vacation.
We originally planned on going to Spain, a place my wife and I would both love to see and a place we might eventually consider moving to. Unfortunately flights and timing just weren’t working out so instead we decided on Rome, a city that’s been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.
It didn’t disappoint.
From the time we arrived on 06 February until the time we left on 14 February we were moving. I averaged 17,000 steps per day (about 12,000 more than I averaged the past couple of months at home). We saw all 4 major basilicas, walked the spine of the Circus Maximus, toured the city walls and the forum and so much more. We even saw Pope Leo XIV speak to the crowd at St. Peter’s Square. I took almost 2,000 photos while we were there and I loved every minute of it.
As a Catholic myself it was all such an amazing experience. Though I enjoy our lives in Chicago, when it was time to come home on Saturday I was definitely not ready for it.
Back to Reality
As I write this on our second day back home I’m already looking forward to planning our next trip, wherever that might be. We will return to both Athens and Rome at some point, though, and I can’t wait for all of it.