Callavetta's VirtualTourist Home Page

18 Days
20,256 Miles
6 Hotels
9 Airports
4 Countries
5 Offices

Business trips offer a unique perspective of a foreign culture. Not only does one not race from tourist sight to tourist sight; you get to meet with locals. Ideally a little preparation assists in understanding some of the differences in doing business in a foreign environment. This will be travel to my own company's divisions in Asia and Australia, so while part of the goal is to facilitate a shared culture and a Company brand for the Human Resources teams, it will be fascinating to really try to understand what people want from their jobs, their employer, their lives. I'm currently reading "CultureShock China". I highly recommend the CultureShock series for anyone who wants to delve a bit deeper into the place to which they travel.

This trip will include Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong. Then on to Malaysia followed by Singapore followed by Australia. (Hello premier executive status!)

We've just returned from nearly three weeks in Italy. Updates coming soon.

Once a journey is designed, equipped and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

How do you photograph the Grand Canyon? I'm convinced that you simply cannot. Nothing can surpass that first glimpse. The AHA value alone is staggering. Everyone told me "you're going to love the Grand Canyon. It's so big." But that did not prepare me for how big. It's HUGE. It's HUMUNGOUS. It goes on FOREVER. And my modest digital (which is, I've been told, along with my laptop, at least 3000 years old) and my paltry photography skills, cannot begin to capture the colors and nuances and shades and depth and distance and grandeur.... Get the point? It should be an absolute must on everyone's life list.

In July it was off to London and Paris with my niece, Gabriella to celebrate her Graduation. We made the most out of 7 short days with a Paris Fashion Show, London Theater, Big Bus tours, a visit to the London Tower, lunch and shopping on the Champs.... so much to do, so little time!

Easter Week in Roma! It's a good thing that airplane travel and labor have short memories! Otherwise the human race would come to an end and we'd never travel.

9 hours from Rome to NYC followed by 6 hours from NYC to San Francisco. Ugh!

But I'm gradually building my Rome pages so if you're interested in a Grasshopper's perspecitve of Roma, stay tuned.

This year, my March has been spent exploring much of my own state, California. And what a remarkable state it is.

I began the month with a drive down the famous Big Sur Coastline to LA to watch a friend do her first Marathon. We ate crab sandwiches on a cliff at Rocky Point, marvelled at elephant seals in San Simeon, and enjoyed dining on wonderful Italian food in Manhattan Beach.

Then I took a trip to the Mendocino Coast to visit friends from the East Coast at their rented house on a cliff overlooking the Pacific, tasted wines in the Alexander Valley, and raced a BMW driver around the curvy roads on Highway 128. Coming home, over the Golden Gate Bridge on a gloriously sunny day gave me a view of the City that was simply unparralled!

I LOVE traveling and seeing all the amazing things the world has to offer. But California is truly a miniature of some of those very same amazing things.

Airfares to London that is..... My weekly peek at the United Airline website E-Fares showed me a fare to London for $199 (excluding taxes). I can't pass that up! As a premiere exec. flyer I get double miles so this $297 fare (with taxes)will earn me enough miles for a domestic trip. I'm paying more than that to fly to Colorado next week!

So Jill, Lorna and I will take a quickie 4 day weekend in one of my favorite cities. I never should have gone to see "Love Actually". It made me crave British accents, double decker buses, the Thames, and a London Pub Crawl.

When I was growing up, my father dubbed me "Grasshopper". "You never think about tomorrow", he said. "You are always thinking about today!"

Then I grew up and became a Mom, a single Mom, and I became an "Ant". One day I realized that I had lost my Grasshopper. And I missed it.

Today I cherish my Grasshopper. Travelling is one of the ways that I have learned to nurture that part of my spirit. The world is so large. It is so easy to see only the smallest part, that is right in front of us. My goal is to see as much of it as I can. And to embrace the differences that make us a Universe.

Travel and other worldly tests

How big is your footprint? Take this test and see how much of your share of the planet you are using up. Also interesting is The Story of Stuff.

Test your toilet knowledge around the world.

From the Vagabond puppeteers: Jetset Chaussettes

I'm hooked on webcams. I have the bookmarks for bunches them on my "favorite places" on my computer and check them regularly. Leaning against the fence in this picture is my friend, Suzann, who just moved to Germany and agreed to stand in the view of the webcam near the Christmas markets in Garmish Partenkirchen at a given time.

Here are some of my favorite webcams.

Tubingen Daughter Lorna stood in this one once while we talked on our cell phones to eachother, 6000 miles apart.

Paris Bakery I've spent a rediculous amount of time watching a guy make bread here.

Keystone, Co. I check out the snow level when I'm in California

Eiffel Tower Webcam Click until the lights are twinkling.

Hotel Aminta This webcam lets you watch the Bay of Naples and/or the town of Sorrento. When I stayed at the Aminta I never tired of the view.

Falcon Cam In Spring a falcon couple comes here and builds a nest, lays eggs and you can watch them hatch.

Chicago Skyline We're going to Chicago for New Years. Brrrrrrr!

What are your favorite webcams?