Blog of Sam Fox

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...
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
NYC coronavirus lockdown

Finding routine in irregular times

  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

Trying to stick to usual routine. Got up at usual time, shaved. Enough time for a 30 minute walk before my first call of the day at 9.30. In less typical routine, practicing social distancing by making my own lunch today, for the first work day in probably years.

Managed to get another short walk in this afternoon in place of the usual lunchtime walk to get food. Cooked dinner for the second day in the row. Coming out of this quarantine I’m going to be a better cook!

Another walk after dinner- any way to keep active and avoid the apartment walls that are going to become all too familiar.

NY announced movie theatres, theatres, nightclubs (damn) and commercial gyms closed until further notice. All restaurants and bars are limited to takeout or delivery. During out evening walk we thought about how we’d continue to support local businesses – occasionally picking up or ordering food in from our favourite local restaurants.

Tweet of the day:

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Confirmation arrives, stocking up

  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

Took a shorter walk today given yesterday’s walk was ¬20K steps. First stop was Barnes and Noble in Union Square to pickup a couple of books since we’re likely going to be locked down for a while. The bookshop was almost dead.Then we stopped by Irving Farm for a coffee and brunch sandwich.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

Stretching the legs & (some) social distancing

  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

Today’s plan was to see a NYC FC MLS game, but that’s now been postponed. So too is the Premier League. Instead we took a long walk to the Upper East Side, with the weather gorgeous. Not feeling the gym past few days with everything going on (Update: As of Mon 16th 8pm all gyms must close)

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

We stay home and wait

  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

Almost everyone chose to work from home today. Everyone’s saying they’ll come in on Monday but to be honest it feels like everyone is just waiting for the official “stay home” communication. It’s already happening in other places.

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NYC coronavirus lockdown

First day working remote

  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

Today the whole company did a trial WFH day to prepare for a potential coronavirus lockdown. The idea was to test if we can connect to the networks etc. For the most part everything worked OK, couple of VPN issues aside. Dell team had done an unofficial trial last Friday but it was different knowing the whole company WFH.

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Canada

Montreal in Fall: 1 hour north, 100 years back and some stunning colours

Top of Mount Royal, looking out to Olympic Stadium

I compare it to when there’s something such as a restaurant/café so close to where you live you never go there – “It’ll always be here, could go anytime, let’s go there instead”. It’s been just over five years since I moved to New York, in that time I’ve visited 13 US states/districts and 10 countries. More than once I’d taken a journey totaling over 20 hours flying time.  What I had never done was fly one hour north and visit Canada.

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North America

Slowing down, Caye Caulker island life

  1. Mexico to Belize, via the Chicken Bus
  2. Slowing down, Caye Caulker island life
  3. ATM caves, a must-do adventure
Caye Caulker sign in big letters on the beach

Last October on my Mayan travels, the second country in the trip was Belize. At the end of a marathon journey by public transport we reached Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is a tiny island, it is possible to walk North-South and East-West in a couple of hours. If so far the trip had been a light jog, with a few sprints, this was the rest stop. After this we would pick up the pace for the finish.

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Europe, Greece

Uncovering the local Athens

View of Athens city from Acropolis

How many days in Athens?” It was a question I’d asked Google, Trip Advisor and people I knew. The answers varied a lot. An expat said one or two days maximum, some of the internet suggested two to three days, others on forums said how much they love Athens and you could spend a week there. In terms of a unified opinion I wasn’t going to find one.

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Europe, Greece

How about it, Delta? Take me to Athens!

The competition wall. Photo credit: The Drum

It’s May and we are boarding our free Delta (return) flight to Athens. When we reach Athens we’re going to take another flight to the Greek island of Santorini. Even as we sit in our seats and the plane takes off, we’re still not sure if we really believe we’re here.

How about it, Delta? Take me to Athens!

Last July I posted those words on Instagram along with the hashtag #pilottalksweepstake and a series of pictures spelling out the ancient Greek city.  I never win competitions, though that may be because I never really enter them. Since moving to New York I have definitely got the travel bug and with Danielle also enjoying travel, the bug has probably only grown the longer I’ve been here. Perhaps it’s that but when I first saw this competition last summer it caught my attention. I was helping a friend move apartments and gazing out the window of the U-Haul when I saw the promotion. For once, I asked myself: why not enter?

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