I arrived home last night from about 5 1/2 weeks in New Zealand and Australia speaking and then on vacation for the last month with my family. After 24 hours of travel, I went to sleep at 9:00 PM last night and awoke at 2:30 AM….jet lag is going to be a bitch this time.
There is so many business and personal stories to tell about the trip which I will do over the next month in this blog. I learned:
- the withdrawal of being "off the grid" for a month (it got so bad the first week, when I carried my camera, I kept feeling that it was vibrating- like a phone) but being clear headed everyday to be there in the moment right now
- about the nature of fear- bungy jumping off of cliffs, riding helicopters over glaciers and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge
- about the amazing creatures nature has created: Kangaroos, Kiwis, Koalas, Crocs,Fairy Penguins, and the beauty of the glaciers and the fish at the Great Barrier Reef.
- about "Starrying Eye Dogs" who control the sheep just by looking at them! Talk about if looks could kill!
- about fair pricing, service environments where consumers DO NOT Tip, and the important of Tour Bus Drivers in this world
- about the destruction of indigenious people like the Maoris, the Aborigines and the American Indians
- about loving new sports like Rugby and Australian Football and never quite getting cricket.
- about the gift of being able to learn something every day then you had no idea about the previous day
- and about celebrating the differences between people.The Kiwis and Aussies are different than Americans and that is a good thing. I have always been one to celebrate the difference and not judge them. It humbles me that in the end, people is what we have.
And thank you to Katherine for writing in the blog over the past month. I enjoyed reading her posts. I has been 25 years since I graduated from college to enter the business world at IBM. Working with Katherine reminds me how different things are now and how they are exactly the same.
