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Ten years ago right now, I was on a plane to Japan. It was my first trip to Japan to live there half time and do my doctoral research with the Super-Kamiokande experiment[*]. This trip almost did not happen. For one thing, there was the last minute Mystery of the Missing PassportTM. More importantly, though, I had nearly turned down the opportunity to live and work in Japan, because of the huge changes that it would bring to my life.
I am very glad that, in the end, I did not shy away from this experience. It was the birth of the Nomad, and a critical point in my life. Because I chose thusly, the past ten years have brought a host of adventures: Working (and SCUBA diving) in a giant cup of water lined with golden hemispheres in a mountain under the Japanese Alps, watching as a colleague won the 2002 Nobel Physics Prize (and basking in the reflected glory), building a solar powered laser facility in the Argentine pampas, driving a roving nitrogen laser to calibrate fluorescence cosmic ray telescopes in the dead of the night, working in a decommissioned underground nuclear bunker in Southern France, running a cryostat to look for dark matter in Italy, living in Oxford and producing temperatures far colder than the Universe. Life has certainly been interesting!
Looking at my flight log[**], I have flown 199 times in the past ten years. Actually, I am slightly miffed about this. I really would have liked to have broken two hundred in ten years of being a Nomad. Still, 2008 has been a particularly unusual year in many aspects... one of which is I have flown far less than in previous years. By the end of 2008, I will only have been on seven flights -- the fewest number since 1999[***]!
It seems appropriate that, as the decade mark hits, I am planning to return to Japan -- for the first time in over five years. My last trip to Japan was in August 2003, after which I received my doctorate and left the Super-Kamiokande collaboration. I do miss being there quite a bit. Coming full circle, I recently joined the T2K collaboration[****], so I shall be making my return to Japan next month for a collaboration meeting. Very much looking forward to that!
[*] To be fair, it was my second trip to Japan, as I had been there once before as a tourist. Still, going to Tokyo for sightseeing is quite different than living in Japan for two years.
[**] Yes, I have a flight log, chronicling every flight that I have taken since the start of 1990. I put it together last year as a memory exercise (see point five).
[***] And, possibly even more strangely, the only two countries that I have been in this year are my home countries of the US and the UK.
[****] Which uses Super-Kamiokande as one of its detectors.
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... "no-one told you when to run..."
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Re: ... "no-one told you when to run..."
(Actually, I had planned on going for extra practice at the ice rink to break in my skates a bit more. But I am still sniffling a bit and haven't had a full sleep in days, so I reluctantly decided to stay in tonight. Ah well, there shall be ice skating tomorrow (in addition to the aforementioned potential running))
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Have a spot of Guiness in Dublin, turn round, then be back home -- just a few hours and a minor trip for a jetsetter like you. ;)
Persephone
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Actually, it is a great idea! I haven't been over to Ireland since 2006, when I went with
If I were not already completely booked for the rest of the year -- as well most of January! -- I would probably pop on over for a weekend, just to add the extra flight!
Anyway, it's okay. Between my upcoming trip to the States and the January 2009 trip to Japan, I will soon be able to say that the past decade has held 203 flights. It just would have been nice to have hit two hundred by the time my first decade as a Nomad has elapsed...
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~~ iz ebil ~~
Persephone
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It does sound like you are planning to make up for the flight deficit in quite a bit of travel during your time stateside over the holidays, though- how many states are you planning to visit over how short a period? It's impressive. *grin* As are your stories from the past ten years... such an interesting life you lead!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend - *hugs*