2022
Monday, October 9, my alarm setting is to 4 am. At 3:30 I'm already awake, I can't sleep. Everything is ready, packed in my luggage, Visa, passport, ticket, camera, already in a pocket of my backpack. Waiting, waiting for the alarm to ring, waiting for the life to start. My cats are watching, quite surprised to see me already up. Waiting, with nothing to do. Ok, go to Connect man, for welcoming some new members, and reply to the people from east, where is already morning, life, activity.
Waiting. Ok, it is 3:55, let's prepare the coffe, and go to wake up @AntonellaGr, my wife, my alter ego. Switch the alarm off , i don't need it.
The smell of the coffe is in the air, now. Well, my LGSummit17 adventure starts now.
At 5am I am at the Venice Airport, to drop my luggage. All shops are closed, there is only one bar opened, I need more caffeine, the journey will be very long.
8:30, in Frankfurt now, passing the queue for the passport control, then I'm in, no more barriers between me and the States. My flight will start in 90 minutes.
Mapping in the airport is funny and relaxing and, you can believe it or not, some place is missing 🙂
10:00 - Flying now - It is quite strange to fly west, following the sun, in a never ending day.
Passing over Iceland
Landing in San Francisco at 2:00 PM (midnight for my body) of a sunny day, and passed the immigration control, I had my first nice experience:
At the airport's BART, I was trying to understand how to manage it, when a girl came out of the station, smiling. Take mine, I don't need it, I'm leaving now. She dropped a ticket in my hand, and entered in the airport with a smile.
This was my first present from the Summit.
My hotel was beautiful, minutes to Union square, a nice place to spend a few hours, waiting for a reasonable time for having a dinner, fighting with my internal watch, that was screaming, claiming that it was already 1:00 am.
Ring, my phone is giving me a message. And my guided tour, with a wonderful local Local Guide started.
I've been helped, guided, from my very first step in USA, carefully protected. Well, this is a private message, but I know tha most of you, the 150, had a similar experience.
If in some day, in some future moment, Google want to invent a "best local Local Guide Award", I want to be the one that say ... "and the winner is ....."
I want to give it with my hands, a big golden PIN, rising it, ... "and the winner is ....."
"Union square is nice to take photos ..."
Yes it is, Is a very inspiring place
with a lot of places around, there and down to Market, for interesting shopping.
But the subject that captured my eyes was the square at sunset, with the shadow covering everything in dark, with the top of the buildings lighted by the sun
blades of light, reverberation of light, passing through the buildings, using the windows reflection to move the light down to the canyons
Ok, do shopping, even if my body is claiming a bed, then ...
I was just passing in front of Sears, it was perfect, barely understanding what was the dinner. I've only putted a finger over the menu. "This one". "with smashed potatoes?", "yes, please"
before 9 pm I was sleeping, dead body in a huge double bed, my alarm set at 7:30
3:30, my body is knocking on my head, telling me that is already lunch time
6:30 I'm up, having a shower. Today is the day, a long long day that drive me to the Summit. Maps say: "30 minutes walking, from Union square to Hyatt"
I have time, I can go and have breakfast and, going out ...
Oh My God, Sunrise was unexpected, breathtaking, a Golden sunrise.
Now, it's time to go, the long way is in front of me, let's climb, now...
... "and the winner is ....."
