seojealous

another week, another whirlwind trip all in the name of internet marketing. moments after the plane touched down, my colleague voiced the question on everyone’s mind: “which way to don johnson’s house*?”

travelling for work is a great cover. it provides the perfect excuse to rationalize uber-tourist behavior. it’s almost as if you’re not really there - it’s a stolen moment. so if in your spare time you end up drinking at the hard rock cafe or trotting up and down south beach, you have plausible deniability. you’re not a pale midwestern tourist. you’re working. go ahead and order that delicious cuban food while drinking your mojito from a bright orange souvenir goblet.

*weird coincidence: i’ve been watching jeopardy while writing this - that last question just referenced don johnson and melanie griffith.

by now, you’ve read the mozzers’ smx diaries twice over. you’ve watched the video of rand fishkin getting down at the google dance a few dozen times. but there’s still one thing you didn’t know about smx: an infamous pioneer of the urban exploration underground was among us in seattle. 

in self-described web 1.0 fashion, max action has finally updated the action squad site (website, he’s quick to point out - not blog), retelling his adventures above and below seattle two weeks ago. he describes it thusly: 

- 1 part action squad trip log for the usual site visitors,
- 1 part vacation blog for friends and family,
- 1 part synchronicity tale, and
- 1 part seo conference blog.

i’d also add ‘3 parts cultural juxtaposition.’ if you’ve never heard of urban exploration, here’s a place to start: max action at smx seattle. as a personal endorsement, max action is the kind of guy you’d follow down the side of a steep limestone cliff in la jolla while wearing cheap flip flops. in the moment, it would never cross your mind that this might not be a good idea.

*note that action squad follows a strict, self-imposed code of conduct. that said, many of their adventures are potentially dangerous and somewhat less than legal. disclaimer, etc.

early last week i returned from my first trip to europe since college. and let me preface this - i had a great time. what follows is not a complaint, but i couldn’t help but be taken aback by some of the contrasts.

then: me, backpack, railpass, catching the next train out of town (wherever it was headed), finding someplace to ’sleep’ after i arrived.

now: me, husband, one of those awful rolling suitcases, train tickets purchased well in advance on the RENFE website, emails back and forth with the proprietress of a charming hostal, and hotel reservations made ahead of time online. 

maybe i was braver and more spontaneous back then (and probably stupider - i don’t necessarily advocate travelling alone in italy if you’re a 20-year-old woman).  but it’s become so easy to take care of every detail from your desk without making a single international phone call. the internet has helped foster so many of my lazier tendencies.

among the highlights: a trip to the museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia in madrid to see picasso’s guernica. rolling through thousands and thousands of acres of olive trees near the sierra nevada foothills. jamón. watching from the beach as a naval ship left port in the mediterranean while blaring darth vader’s theme march from star wars. a spanish version of the daily show. sun (sun!). and the best calamari i have ever eaten, expertly prepared by a bartender.