New Year's Eve in Venice

New Year's Eve, Friday 31 December 2010, Venice

Nothing is planned with the group today, save for the farewell dinner this evening, and I might even bail on that as true "good-byes" are not a favorite of mine. The Globus itinerary has, for the most part, been well planned, albeit a bit slow for my liking, and I do regret that we did not make a swing back south through Naples, Capri and Pompeii. I remember it well from last time (one of the few things I do remember clearly since my illness was essentially cleared by then), but it is unfortunate that so many of the others who have never been to Italy before will miss it. The family from New Jersey will be staying a week and making the swing.

So today the tour is over, and tomorrow night I have my post-night at the VCE airport hotel. The accommodations work out well for me in that tonight's hotel is right in back of the NYE festivities at St. Mark's Square, and if I am a bit hungover tomorrow morning, all I have to do all day long is to figure out how to get from Venice proper to the airport hotel, with an eye on my flight home Sunday morning. Surely, even if I am a bit "under the weather" tomorrow morning, I can figure out how to make the short migration over the course of the day! Tomorrow night will be a bit melodramatic, bringing the trip to a slow wind-down rather than a crescendo. Still, it is far preferable to the alternative of (attempting) to stay up until midnight, then needing to awaken at 4:00 AM to catch a water taxi to the airport for a 6:30 AM flight.

As always, New Years Eve is a time for reflection and introspection, and being in a foreign country, with a quiet agenda for the day, certainly drives that home. It's 8:30 AM local time, and I am not yet sure what I will do with the day. This evening, I would like to take advantage of being so close to St. Mark's Square and see the new year in, though I have been falling asleep fairly early all trip long, probably due to the cold. (I'm not sure if it is a hibernation instinct or not, but cold weather usually has a somnolent effect on me.) More than likely, I will read the second Bernard Haisch book a bit, then have a couple of drinks and take a nap mid-day, with the hope that will tide me over till midnight.

I find these trips a bit odd at this point in my life: I'm by no means the oldest, and in fact I am probably still below the median age, yet it is bittersweet to see the young people--high school and college age---realizing they could be my children, yet also feeling it was only a short time back that I was that age. The youngsters are friendly enough, though somewhat shy and awkward at that age, so conversing with them only comes in short soundbites. With that in mind, I do look back at that young American woman in the Rome bar with awe, her confidence apparent, yet also very approachable and receptive. She will be one of those unexpected gems I remember for the rest of my life, one which no tour itinerary can ever promise as a highlight.

I'm more convinced than ever that I would truly enjoy living in Europe (or at least having a job that requires extensive travel), yet I am not sure how to make that come to pass. Add to that the notion I have not one but two properties in Washington at this time, plus the fact this is not a great time to sell, and it makes the European connection seem even further off. I still remember having the special visa for the UK (the HSMP visa), and the decision I had to make: Living for at least a year in the UK, possibly even becoming a UK citizen, or moving to Seattle and keeping the dogs. In hindsight, I do not regret the decision to keep "the boys," though I definitely wonder what my life would be like at this time had I gone the UK route instead. Possibly, it would not be all that different, in that I might not have been able to find work and could well have wound up needing to return to the US at the end of the year. Of course, there is no way of knowing what would have transpired had I gone with the other choice, with the only certainty being that it was one of those handful of truly strategic decisions we make in our lives. Sure, job choices and the like do ultimately have an impact on the future, but few junctures are so sharp, so poignant, as deciding whether or not to migrate to a foreign land. Along that same line of briskness: Buying a business, (which I actually do regret, though had to do) joining the military (which I have never doubted) and getting married (which I have never doubted).