Chris Brooks Newsletter 011
Spring is just around the corner and we are in the midst of big transition: we are departing Florida for the winter and working our way north to NY/NJ. On March 23 we will fly to Europe for a long-planned (since 2019) 7 week adventure.
1. 🚘 Where I’ve been traveling
Two big trips in February:
- First up was a 10 day camping adventure up to the Carolina sandhills. We mostly stayed in Harvest Hosts on the way up, with our primary destination being an off-road driving class in Troy, NC. Played some golf along the way, returning to Tobacco Road and playing Pine Needles for the first time. We ended the trip camping at a state park near Daytona and put some of our off-road skills to the test (a small test) with some beach driving.
- We flew cross-country to San Diego for a wedding, spending most of our time in the Carlsbad area where we reunited with an old friend from Boise. We did quite a bit of hiking and trail running in the area, and spent a day in Legoland.
2. 📖 What I’ve been reading
Books:
- I’m nearly done with Sanderson’s The Bands of Mourning.
- I dashed through Influence is Your Superpower and took some useful notes that I still need to review. I read content like this primarily to help me in my coaching.
- Several of the Rick Steves Europe books have been in rotation as Julie and I do deeper planning on our upcoming Europe adventure. Rick Steves is such a ubiquitous player in Europe travel content these days. Hard to believe my friend David and I used his Europe Through the Back Door as our bible for 3 months of travel back in 1990.
- Currently reading Hugh Thomas’ The Spanish Civil War, a recommendation from a wargaming buddy. I want to have a better understanding before we head to Spain in less than three weeks.
Articles:
- How comfortable are you listening to and accepting new ideas that don’t align with your world view? Go read this comic and explore your own biases and, perhaps, learn some techniques for tricking your brain into being more open.
- There’s been some interesting banter going around on the interwebs regarding Matt Yglesias’ article on why young liberals are so depressed. The analysis rang true with me as I reflect on my own social circles. So many of my middle aged friends that are left-leaning are overwhelmed by nerves and even anxiety when confronted with our current geopolitical context. I love arguing maybe a bit too much, and often try to take contrarian positions with whatever position the other person is taking. I like to think of myself as an “optimistic progressive” – we have a long ways to go as as civilization, many wrongs are still being done, but overall you are much better off being born today than you would have been 25, 50, 100, or 200 years ago.
- Tyler Cowen and Kevin Drum have had some back-and-forths on the subject, and Kevin’s “we have nothing to fear” article resonated with me. I’ve had to ask folks my parents’ generation several times: what are you so afraid of… personally?
3. 🍿 What I’ve been watching
Movies:
Quite a few this month!
- Disney’s live action princess story Enchanted, recommended by my sister after our NYC adventure. Better than I expected.
- Julie and I watched the first half of Wakanda Forever and never finished it. Very disjointed and disappointing.
- On the flights to and from San Diego I watched Phantom of the Open and re-watched Reservoir Dogs. Phantom was a fun romp (especially for a golf fan), and Dogs was so so good to revisit after so many years away. I even forgot much of the plot line.
TV:
- Still working through 1923 and The Last of Us.
- In the middle of Full Swing and very much enjoying it. Don’t let the the dud of a first episode turn you off.
- Julie and I finished Tulsa King, an at times far-fetched but always fun show starring Sylvester Stallone.
- On a friend’s recommendation we watched the first season of Dirty John, a true crime dramatization of a dating app con man. Fun diversion.
4. 🎶 What I’ve been listening too
We discovered early in the month that our new camper van had come with a free 6 months of Sirius / XM, so we’ve been enjoying the surprise nature of radio when not listening to podcasts. Favorite stations: the smooth sounds of yacht rock The Bridge, The Beatles station, and U2 XM.
5. 🎲 What I’ve been playing
Nothing new to report here: continuing my online real-time playing of Crossing the Line: Aachen 1944 and Panzers Last Stand. I’m enjoying Panzers enough that I’ve started a solo play of the full campaign, which I’m certain I’ll never finish.
6. ✈️ Preparing for 7 weeks in Europe
Julie and I are tag-teaming our preparations for our big adventure starting at the end of March. Our planning process tends to be about the same for our big trips (going back to Galapagos, Greece, Ireland, and Vietnam):
- I’m the advance team, taking care of key flight bookings and our AirBnB bookings for the big group (6 of us for the first 2 weeks). I’m a points nerd and like to optimize travel point redemptions, and for this trip I turned 275,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and about $200 (taxes and fees) into 3 legs, 2 passengers, of business class travel: Newark to Madrid, Venice to Vienna, and Brussels back to Newark. I took advantage of the United Excursionist perk to get the free third leg (Venice to Vienna) added, simplifying our transition from Italy into central Europe.
- I also stay on top of bookings that require significant advanced booking; primarily popular tourist spots like La Sagrada Familia and the Anne Frank House.
- I take care of necessary train bookings, and am currently in the process of taking care of overnight accommodations. I try to stay about a month ahead, so right now I’m looking at Venice for four nights starting April 9.
- Julie focuses on the deep dive: day to day plans as if she was a local tour guide building an itinerary. She’s methodical and painstakingly detailed. Her daily plan typically involves a few “big rocks” that are scheduled (e.g., visiting El Prado and a fixed dinner reservation) with optional add-ins sprinkled in. Add-ins might be a self-guided walking tour, an open market to visit while moving from one spot to another, or perhaps an interesting lunch spot.
- We’ve become big fans of Apple Notes for this shared work. It shares many of the real-time collaboration features of Google Docs, with better Apple device support and (we believe) better privacy.
My next newsletter will be coming to you most likely from Italy. Ciao!
-Chris
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