Blog of Sam Fox

(Not page 3, popstar, politician, pornstar, or phoenix professional)
USA

New Orleans: Swamps, Food, Booze and All That Jazz

New Orleans has been on my bucket list for a long time, I think what initially started the wish...
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USA

Exploring the Enchanting Swamps and Vibrant Music Scene of New Orleans

I wrote this blog post about New Orleans with the help of ChatGPT, which fed the itinerary to create...
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Africa, Kilimanjaro

One foot in front of the other all the way to Uhuru Peak (and down)

The next two days are going to blend, in 36 hours we will have added over 6K feet in...
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Africa, Kilimanjaro

Last of the 'easy' days as going gets tougher but home comforts help

“Day four! Half way done”. This is the first line in my notebook that I wrote in my tent...
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Africa, Kilimanjaro

The scenic route up Kilimanjaro

This is post 2 of 4 in the series “Kilimanjaro” Kick-off for Kili The scenic route up Kilimanjaro Last...
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USA
New Orleans: Swamps, Food, Booze and All That Jazz
USA
Exploring the Enchanting Swamps and Vibrant Music Scene of New Orleans
Africa, Kilimanjaro
One foot in front of the other all the way to Uhuru Peak (and down)
Africa, Kilimanjaro
Last of the 'easy' days as going gets tougher but home comforts help
Africa, Kilimanjaro
The scenic route up Kilimanjaro
North America

ATM caves, a must-do adventure

August 2, 2020
  1. Mexico to Belize, via the Chicken Bus
  2. Slowing down, Caye Caulker island life
  3. ATM caves, a must-do adventure

Things kept on getting better after we left Caye Caulker. The next stop was San Ignacio, our home for a couple of days. The location wasn’t particularly astounding, barring a local market across the road and the Macal River bordering another town, it was mostly devoid of things to note. Yet, from this town, we were less than an hour away from one of my trip highlights—Actun Tunichil Muknal, or in less tongue twisty terms: ATM caves.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

July 4, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

If all had gone to plan, we would have just completed our French vacation/holiday, and I would be in England right now. As it is, like so many things, the trip has been postponed. With most holiday plans out of the question this year, I decided to use some days off for a staycation With New York reopening from the lockdown it’s a better time to take off. With the offices closed on Friday, I took Tues-Thurs off to get six days in a row for the price of three. It’s been a great chance to get some runs and cycle rides in, as well enjoy as much football as I can soak in with the resumption of the Premier League. Ah, and work on this blog!

A couple of highlights from recent runs
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mountains in the catskills new york
New York, NYC coronavirus lockdown, USA

An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’

June 20, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

We’ve been back three of weeks now, a weird few weeks. When we left the city as still firmly in lockdown, the streets were deserted, and we were getting groceries delivered and left outside our door. A lot of things changed while we were upstate: cases went down a lot, the state started reopening in certain areas, summer arrived and George Floyd was killed. I’ve already reflected a bit on that first week back with the protests, riots and curfew. My next post will be a chance to reflect more on what the city is like now we’re back but I’ll look back at our couple of weeks upstate here.

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New York, USA

A Pandemic in a Pandemic

June 4, 2020

This is something I wrote late on Monday, was going to post on Tuesday but #blackouttuesday needed a voice of silence. Now I’m posting on Thursday evening. Protests continue, the curfew has been moved up to 8pm, some looting and rioting continues across New York and the country. Several shops near us were broken into and now boarded up, but unlike earlier this week I don’t hear any sirens or people outside right now (11.30pm).

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Escape to the Country

May 19, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases
View of Manhattan from 59th Street Bridge
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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Looking for escapes

May 8, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

It’s Friday evening, one craft beer down, Indian on the way and music on. Not a bad start to the weekend.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Rain and games

April 30, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases
A very empty Union Square

Things seem to be easing up a bit, although that’s come with the mandatory mask-wearing. We’ve had very spring weather for the past week with some beautiful warm days and some days of constant rain. As I write this now, I can hear the rain hitting our AC unit – quite a comforting sound. Thinking back I don’t remember having such a distinct Spring season in NY.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine

April 21, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

It’s been over five and a bit weeks since the lockdown started and two weeks of self-isolating. With that we felt safe for a weekend trip to Long Island.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Discovering the new exciting

April 16, 2020
  1. First day working remote
  2. We stay home and wait
  3. Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing
  4. Confirmation arrives, stocking up
  5. Finding routine in irregular times
  6. New challenges with the remote working
  7. Noticeable changes
  8. Finding a pattern
  9. COVID-19 Lock Down
  10. First week, check
  11. Weekend plans? You know stay away from people as much as possible.
  12. Game night as the pause begins
  13. Streets empty as everyone builds furniture and plays games
  14. Staying sane
  15. Keeping date night going
  16. Socializing remote
  17. Friday feeling? TGIF?
  18. House Parties not Street Parties
  19. Running in the rain
  20. Betting on unknowns
  21. Optimizing the lockdown life
  22. Community Support
  23. Virtual Social Closeness
  24. Friday night: Virtual Happy Hours & Games
  25. Four Weeks In
  26. Discovering the new exciting
  27. A Weekend Getaway in Quarantine
  28. Rain and games
  29. Looking for escapes
  30. Escape to the Country
  31. An upstate retreat for some ‘normalcy’
  32. Rediscovering New York as lockdown eases

This week began with a bang, quite literally, as a big thunderstorm came over New York. Having my workspace and desk face out a window is nice and especially when you get dramatic weather. It’s always nice to be inside and look out during a thunderstorm but during these times there’s the added bonus of not feeling like you desperately want to be outside when it’s pelting it down with rain.

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USA

Long weekend in Nashville – don’t think twice, just go

April 12, 2020

It was a chilly 40 degrees (just above freezing) in New York, winter coat, woolly hat and gloves weather. The good news: it was Presidents Day, a public holiday. More good news, we weren’t wearing coats either. In-fact, with iced coffee in hand, we were meandering our way to the start of a walking food tour. It was the last day of our three day long weekend escape to Nashville and it was beautiful and sunny.

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