Have you ever traveled beyond the continental United States?

[NNadir]

70. There was a time in my life, I used to wake up and not know what country I was in or language to try.

I guess my best foreign language is French; I can handle a little German, not much but some, being able to read both languages, speak them awkwardly and find listening most difficult.

I tried to learn a little Norwegian when I worked for them; they were not encouraging, saying it was a waste of time to learn their language.

It was all business travel, with some socializing and some tourism mixed in if I stayed in Europe for a couple of weeks. I did it for about 10 years.

I don't miss it.

For the first two or three years, it was kind of exciting; just a job for 2 or 3 years, and then it really started to suck, flights, hotels, trains, strange restaurants, sleep deprived.

My kids were small then. It was hard to be away from them.

For the first 8 years of that life, I was able to fly business class to Europe; three times I was upgraded to the Concorde, a few times to first. The Concorde sucked going to Europe, which I did twice, because of the jet lag, coming back was OK, because you arrived before you left in the sense of the clock.

Then I came down to the real world: Economy and sometimes Economy plus.

I'd estimate - I lost count - that I went to Europe about 30 to 40 times, India once (but for three weeks), Mexico and Canada a lot, too many times to recall. The only time I was deep in to Mexico was a beautiful night in Cuernavaca, though I nearly choked to death in the chauffeured drive from Mexico City, slash and burn agriculture.

The country I visited most was France, a wonderful country, but even France got old after a while.

I never went with my wife, but I always missed her, because their is something or was something, inspiring erotic thoughts in Paris. I really longed for her when I was away.

Lately I've been very fond of "staycations," at most getting a Hotel in the Hudson Valley or at the Jersey Shore.

Of course, under the reign of the orange pedophile, one does begin to think of leaving the country for good. I'm advising my son, who speaks excellent French, to move to France when he gets his Ph.D. It has to be better to be there with family; I always went alone.