70,000 Miles - 2022 Year in Review

6 countries,  3.5 Times Around the Earth, 2 newly-visited countries.

2022 was the year of travel. After COVID brought on sharp declines in people venturing outside of their homes, global travel trends this year have returned to 80% of their previous peaks. On a more personal note, my individual travel trends have returned to what feels like 1000% of its previous peak. This year I have traveled more than I ever have in any year, and in doing so I racked up a record-breaking number of newly-visited countries. This year saw big mileage gains in other mediums too (more on that later!), as well as other exciting progressions that can’t be measured in units of distance.


Let’s start by reviewing this year’s resolutions 🌈

This year I effortlessly continued to age, biked 100 miles, maintained friends and made new ones, and visited Chicago, NYC, as well as many many countries.

So, did I visit 3 national parks? Er…maybe. I visited Yosemite (my strongest candidate), as well as The Banias in Israel (I never said three U.S. National Parks!). And for the third? Well, I visited Alcatraz. Technically a National Park…but let’s face it, not in the spirit of the resolution. So I think I’ll mark this one as incomplete.

But as Thomas Jefferon said, "He who accomplishes all his goals is neither learning nor growing and lacks sufficient ambition."

In the interest of full disclosure, Thomas Jefferon did not say that, and I made up the quote. But the sentiment, I believe, is true. I didn’t quite smash this resolution, but in doing so I pushed myself to try new things. And in the end, isn’t that what is important? Yes. Ok, moving on.

COVID

For this year’s review, I’d like to first address what past Ruben would be most curious about: COVID. Spoiler: You get it. Even so, this year saw me receiving just one COVID booster, representing a 75% YoY decline in jabs. To calculate the YoY decline in cases is more difficult, however. And this is difficult even if I had the patience to crunch the numbers since many (if not most) cases are discovered with rapid over-the-counter antigen tests that aren’t officially recorded anywhere. These readily available tests are a big improvement over the testing situation of the previous year, but perhaps most shockingly most people don’t really follow case numbers anymore.

The NYT has removed the COVID counts from the top of its homepage, and more personally I’ve stopped keeping track, which is a big departure from my laser-focused attention to them last year. I would say people’s attitudes this year have been forged by a strong desire to want to move on, difficulty coming to terms with the lack of control we have over the virus, and an understanding that for most people the virus is something that can be recovered from.

Work

Mandatory return to office (RTO) did occur (something I asked about in last year’s post). And it occurred rather abruptly. In March of this year, a single email went out saying that we would be required to return to the office in a month. I’ve been going into the office 4 days a week since it reopened in 2021, so this was business as usual for me. But I was still caught a little off guard by the announcement. There was always this loosely formed expectation in my mind that RTO wouldn’t occur until COVID was "under control." But as it turns out, there is no such thing.

The RTO announcement was one of the last big remaining obstacles of returning to the old normal, and so its announcement represented a lot as it pushed us into the next phase of the pandemic. Nevertheless, RTO was not strictly enforced. Most team’s attendances definitely steadily increased as the months of 2022 passed by, but Google’s so-called "hybrid work week" of 3 days in office is merely a suggestion it turns out. Perhaps just as I wondered about RTO last year, I will wonder for 2023 whether RTO starts becoming more than a suggestion–especially since this year saw the NASDAQ drop by one third.

Otherwise work has been great. I switched teams this year to a Search Infrastructure team working on frontend things. It was a very difficult decision to leave my previous team, but I can report that it was well worth it. I miss my old team and the work we did, but this new team aligns very closely with my interests. It’s a somewhat specialized area that doesn’t really exist at other companies since most rely on open source frameworks for their frontends. To be able to work in this space is very exciting and I look forward to continuing on the new team in the new year.

And the Google Orchestra resumed in person as well!

A New Blog Format

Normally I divide my blog post into different themes and provide some insights and thoughts on each topic. This year, I’d like to try something a little different. I’ll be walking through each month of the year, since each month featured a part of my travels. I think this is the only true way to fully describe what the year was like. We’ll start in February, however, since January was the only month I spent at home.

February

In February, Lauren and I went to the East Coast to visit Providence and NYC.

I had never been to Providence before, and it was a blast. We got to walk around Lauren’s alma mater Brown, stay with her awesome friend Arushi, and visit the mansions in Newport. And of course, a little bit of ice skating.

From Providence we took the train down to NYC to visit Leah. It was great to catch up with Leah during her busy time in law school. We also got to meet up with another one of Lauren’s awesome friends, Anna, who came down from New Haven. We went to the first of two museums on a ship I would go to this year–the Intrepid Museum on the Hudson River–and I visited Google NYC.

March

In March, Lauren and I made our first international voyage of the year to Europe visiting London and Paris.

In London we visited UCL where I spent a semester (now many years ago) and later ate at a restaurant at the top of the Gherkin–a place I’ve wanted to visit since first coming to London. I also visited the Google London office, and Lauren and I went to Hackney to partake in an incredibly fun cocktail making experience that my mom got us as a gift!

We also visited Hampton Court Palace, the palace of Henry VIII, ate at Nando’s, rode the DLR, and visited the Museum of London among other things!

London remains my favorite international city and it is always a blast to return.

From London, we took the Eurostar train under the Channel to Paris–Lauren’s first time in France. Although Paris is a bit more unfamiliar than London, I’m always in awe of its dense urban beauty. We walked from Sacre Coeur to the Eiffel Tower, went up at night, visited Versailles, the Catacombs, the Holocaust Museum, the Louvre, and my great friend Eli who was studying there at the time.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the trip, I got a mild cold. The US still required a negative COVID test for reentry at that time. Luckily it turned out not to be COVID (safe for now Ruben) and we ended up leaving on time and witnessing a rare showing of snow on the way out.

April

In April we headed south to San Diego.

San Diego is a nice short flight from the Bay and a nice place to relax and recharge after some considerable long-distance travel. It’s my second time visiting since Lauren, her sister, and myself drove down in 2021.

We visited the USS Midway (the second of two museums on a ship I would visit this year), got Churros in La Jolla, visited Coronado Island, and drove out to Valley Center 40 miles northwest of San Diego to visit a mini pig farm!

The mini pigs were incredibly adorable. Being prey animals, they were suspicious of those taller than them (which is essentially every living thing) so they were hard to play with at first. But after a lot of effort, they eventually gave into belly scratches and playtime with us. The uncomfortable truth, however, is that when they grow up to be full-sized mini pigs they lose a bit of their charm. You can see a photo of me below holding a full-grown mini pig and decide for yourself.

May

In May Lauren and I had a weekend getaway in Half Moon Bay, went berry picking in the East Bay, and had a visit with my dad’s side of the family in Hilton Head for our yearly family vacation. It was chilly in Half Moon Bay, but the views of the Pacific were breathtaking. Berry picking, on the other hand, was pretty hot. But we secured so many berries we had to aggressively give some away before they went bad! Towards the end of the month, we were off to Hilton Head where we had a great time reconnecting with the family and visiting nearby Savannah. Autumn continues to effortlessly beat us all at cornhole!

June

Rounding out the first half of the year in June I went to Chicago for a business trip where serendipitously my sister and my dad were too. I flew in during the weekend to stay with Seth and visit some of my Chicago friends.

From there, I went to Colorado Springs for Lauren’s family vacation. We spent some relaxing time in the high-altitude city going horseback riding, checking out a wolf sanctuary, and taking the cog railway to Pikes Peak. We also saw a bear with her cubs in our front yard who fortunately left us alone!

To round out the trip to Colorado, we then headed down to Denver to hang out with my Mom and Michael while staying in a favorite of Lauren and myself: Cherry Creek.

June also saw me going to a friend of a friend’s wedding in Minneapolis, which I was able to visit for the first time. I was also able to reconnect with my childhood friend Nate who lives there now.

July

In July, Lauren and I went to Chicago again before driving to Fort Wayne, Indiana for her friend’s wedding. From there we went to Carmel, Indiana where we visited my mom and dad and Pearl and Lizzie!

August

In early August, we returned to Half Moon Bay (this time just for the afternoon) to watch the International Dog Surfing Competition where skillful and intrepid pups effortlessly glided down cascading waves with tails wagging. But there was more adventure in store, this time for the humans. In August we also went to Israel–Lauren’s first time in that part of the world.

August also saw my bout of COVID. I got it from Lauren, who likely got it at San Jose airport. It was not fun, but alas it was my time.

The trip to Israel was absolutely incredible and jam-packed. We started in Jerusalem, witnessing first-hand the depth of history it has to offer. From Jerusalem we went north to Tzfat where we ducked in and out of artist studios admiring Israel’s creative epicenter. From there we went down and over to Tel Aviv, Israel’s cosmopolitan capital. We had fun on the beach, ate at great restaurants, explored exciting shopping streets, and visited Jaffa.

September

September saw me visiting a new National Park–Yosemite. Even though the falls had dried up for the season, it offered spectacular views and great hiking. It was also when my friend Mattie visited, and provided a great way for all of us to catch up.

Later in the month, we went to Dublin for my second business trip of the year. I had been working with a team in Dublin and it was great to finally meet them–they’re just as awesome in person! It was also great to get into a single room and unblock huge parts of our project.

After Dublin, Lauren and I went up to Belfast to spend the weekend. I highly recommend visiting Belfast. The entire city is pretty small, so we were able to walk to everything the entire weekend. It’s lively, easy to navigate, and very scenic. We lucked out on the weather, too.

October

In October, Lauren and I went to Colusa, CA about 65 miles north of Sacramento. There we biked 100 miles around the Sutter Buttes completing one of my new year’s resolutions! The ride was a blast and, of course, challenging. It was an unusually hot day, so our good luck with the weather ended. But we quickly made friends with the other riders at the snack stops. The buttes were a great sight too to ride around. And believe it or not, they’re eroded volcanic domes where nuclear weapons used to be housed in the ‘60s!

November

In November, we took a pasta making cooking class and had a ton of fun. We also went to visit Lauren’s family in Dallas right before Thanksgiving before heading to Denver to visit my mom and Michael again. Lauren and I had a great return to a neighborhood we adore–Cherry Creek. We walked around the Christmas Markets and spent a day visiting Boulder where we did some holiday shopping. The best part of the trip was a phenomenal home-cooked Thanksgiving meal at Michael’s sister’s home where we got to meet all of their close friends.

December

And that brings us, finally, to December. We finished the year strong by doing one last international trip. That month, we went to Germany–the first time for both of us. We started in Munich.

In Munich, we saw beautiful Christmas Markets and storied histories of Germany’s past. We learned of the birthplace of the Third Reich, tried authentic German cuisine (we didn’t love it), and fell in love with the other, non-German food offerings of the city. After strolling through the picturesque English Gardens, we even witnessed some Germans surfing on the Eisbach River.

From Munich we headed up to Berlin, a city that Lauren and I absolutely loved! On our first day we made our way to Alexanderplatz to ride to the top of the Fernsehturm, Berlin’s iconic TV tower and highest structure. From there, we took in panoramic views and tried to acquaint ourselves with the layout of the city.

We visited Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and the Topography of Terror Museum on the site of the former SS headquarters. We also visited the Berlin Technikmuseum, where we saw trains, planes, boats, and other technological developments up close.

Later in the week, we spent a day north of Berlin in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. We toured the camp with an excellent guide who walked us through the different compartments of the torture regimes. The camp, though difficult to walk through and learn about at times, was an excellent memorial to the atrocities committed by the Nazis.

After so much pre-war history, we did some learning about post-war Germany and visited the Stasi Museum where we learned about the paranoid spying practices of East Germany and the lengths they went to to block Western influence.

All the while we were in Germany, we escaped California’s biblical flooding that destroyed many parts of the Bay Area. Fortunately, Lauren and I weren’t directly affected!

A Visual Review

Resolutions for Next Year

Next year I plan to

Closing Thoughts

And that brings us to the end of the year. A crazy year. An adventurous year. An exhausting year. A worthwhile year.

Now that I’m out of school and not guided in time by regimented semesters, time can sometimes lose its meaning. Whereas in school the end of the spring semester likely meant a new summer job and a whole new slate of classes in the fall, in the workforce December doesn’t look all that different from January even though we’re turning the page on a brand new year.

It’s reading and writing blog posts like these that stop that notion of predictable continuity in its tracks. I had all sorts of interesting predictions last year, and hoped to travel to just 2 countries. These serve as a great reminder of how long a year truly is, how much you can pack into it, and how there are always fun surprises lurking just beyond view. And it’s with that feeling that I excitedly look past the horizon of this year for a new one with more changes in store–many of which are already in motion. And–if this year has taught me anything–many of which I can’t possibly yet imagine. Either way, I can’t wait to reflect on them and share them with you in next year's post!