Europe
11:15 pm in Oslo Norway in June 2010…Still daylight. The sun rose at 3:00 am brightly shining through the hotel curtains!
I LOVE working for Europeans, socially liberal and fiscally conservative. We held our board meeting at the home of one of the owners in Oslo Norway, BUT when the FIFA world cup broadcasted, we stopped the meeting to watch the game!
One of my favorite photos. This nun was sitting in this small van in a NO PARKING ZONE in Rome, Italy. Who’s gonna arrest her?
My second interview with Rift Valley was held in London and Zimbabwe in December 2009. London was experiencing a huge snowstorm, so getting in and out was crazy. My Dubai to London flight was on a BRAND NEW Airbus A-380, only her second flight! I was to fly to my connecting flight from London to Paris, but the planes were shut down, so I booked a seat on the Eurostar, which connects London and France via an under the ocean tunnel. 3 trains after my train, the Eurostar was closed too. I made it to CDG in Paris, barely, and caught my flight to South Africa. I made it to Zimbabwe but my luggage arrived the next day. In Zimbabwe, I met folks at the main office, traveled to Border Timbers in Mutare, and visited the UBM retail business. I spent the last few days at the home of the Deputy Chairman, which was located on his tobacco farm, the largest contiguous tobacco farm in the world. I made it back to Honolulu on Christmas Eve, barely getting out of London because of the snow. My flight schedule was HNL-MNL-DXB-LHE-CDG-JNB-HRE-JNB-CDG-LHR-DXB-MNL-HNL…Needless to say from Honolulu to London and Africa was a really long trip!
Our Chairman at Rift Valley is a BIG CHELSEA fan. So one December, we watched a game…from our skybox suite. Lots and lots of fun. The crowd was wild.
We visited Paris and, of course, went to the Louvre. If one wants to visit ONE museum in the world, VISIT the Louvre. We were so SHOCKED at how small is the Mona Lisa. We hung out in the Greek section, because Tracy loved all things Greek Mythology. We were fascinated with the ALIEN-LOOKING statue! We also toured the Italian paintings section. One could spend days at the Louvre. We visited the Eiffel Tower at night, climb up as far as we were allowed.
For our Banana business, I visited Rome, which was the European headquarters of the Chiquita sales group. I called my parents and asked, “Why did we leave this country? Everyone here is so beautiful!! I visited Rome three times and visited the Vatican every time. So fascinating!
We visited the Harry Potter filming studios near London. We were the last tour of the day, and there were only a handful of us. Frankly, IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING TOURS THAT I HAVE EVER DONE!
Just happened to be visiting Istanbul during the riots of 2013. For my morning walk, I took a left out of the hotel and next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the destruction. Two days later, during my morning walk, the police presence was huge. It was that evening when they stormed the area to kick out the protestors. Fires were everywhere. I ate in the hotel and asked if I should be worried…”No, it’s okay here!” And by the way, the shawarma at the hotel was the best ever!
I visited Zurich from Berlin as the guest of the Chairman of Barry Callebaut. It was snowing and the planes were delayed. I LOVED the snack/meal served on the Lufthansa plane…What’s the deal with the clown? My first and only time to visit my ancestor's country, Switzerland!