Category Archives: Travel

Rushing off to the airport after basketball practice Wednesday, taking a night flight to San Diego, speaking yesterday morning (mental health day from school), and then rushing back to SF brought fond memories of my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Then, I would spend 20-30 hours a week on my company. I travel much less now.

Business travel always brings its good and bad experiences. I love the fight for the exit row seat on Southwest. I hate flying when I’m congested and sick.

Yesterday morning was successful nonetheless, where my co-panelists and I articulated why it’s imperative school districts implement technology to improve customer serivce and communication with parents and the community. Our session attracted overwhelming numbers. Some great buzz for our product eFM Education. Here’s a pic of me pontificating…

In the men’s bathroom in the UN European Headquarters in Geneva they had a flyer above the urinal that said something in French and then the English version: “Please use the black gum button on the floor to flush the water after using the urinals.” Someone took a pen and crossed out “use” and wrote “press” and crossed out “gum” and wrote “rubber.” Underneath that s/he then wrote “USA!” Here’s a picture.

At my high school people post flyers above urinals advertising events and whatnot. Someone will post a flyer about a meeting on AIDS in Africa and someone will write some horrible thing like “Quarantine Africans!” or “Jane is hot!!!” (if Jane is organizer). Stupid shit like that.

I didn’t think I’d see the same thing at the UN. And people wonder why the US has a poor image abroad.

Last week I talked to my good friend and business partner Dave Richmond (President of Comcate) via Skype since I’m in Switzerland (the quality of the VoIP completely blew me away!) and before talking business he told me a story of a youth hostel he stayed at in Switzerland.

Right then I resolved to move ahead with my possible weekend trip to Geneva and Zermatt (see my Zurich Blog for forthcoming details on the jaunt). It seems everyone has memories from when they were a broke student and stayed at a youth hostel.

So Saturday afternoon I checked into the Geneva Youth Hostel for only 30 Swiss-Franks for one night. I walked into my room on the third floor and there was another 40-something black guy already unpacking his stuff. He turned around: “New York.” I guess that’s how you introduce yourself. “San Francisco,” I responded. Another guy walked in later. Also very old. “I’m from San Francisco,” I said. “Ireland,” he said. Another guy was from a country I had never heard of. During the night, one guy was talking in his sleep in a language I had never heard before.

Other things overheard in and around the youth hostel:

• “Man, you need to stop doing so much crack.” Response: “Hey, at least I snort, you smoke!”
• “I feel you bro, let me tell you, the only thing that’s stayed the same in my life the past six years is my cell phone number.”
• “Jlksjdflkajsdfl” – gibberish spewed out by a guy who decided to move his mattress right into the middle of the hallway.

You can’t beat the price. Despite being a “Youth Hostel” (I was youngest there) I guess even adults won’t mind a slight hurt to their ego by finding the cheapest bed…wherever it lies.

OK, so I have had a ton of media experience in the U.S. because of my entrepreneurial activities, the highlight last year including a 2-3 minute live interview on CNN! But little did I think that, a few days after arriving in Zurich, I would open up the local Zurich newspaper to see my picture and a blurb of my comments on my enthusiasm at the San Francisco-Zurich sister city partnership. Riding on the train this morning, everyone was reading the paper and a couple people, hearing my English, could draw the connection between the person in the picture and the person sitting in the train. I can’t actually read my quote, since it’s in German (an immensely frustrating experience that I went through last year with articles in French and Chinese about my activities). But, if you know any German, here’s a pic of me and the blurb in German:

For the first time in my life I am currently outside the borders of the continental US and in Zurich, Switzerland for the next three weeks as part of a San Francisco delegation in the sister-city partnership between Zurich and San Francisco. If you’d like to follow my travels and pictures check out my sister blog My Zurich Exchange Adventures.

Otherwise, posting will be light. Let me know if you have any suggestions for things to do or people to meet out here!