Unique New York
Nice Sail Away
Complete NYC 2012 Nautical Journey
"The whole object of traveling is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."
📅 July 14, 2012
⛵
Setting Sail
Nice Sail Away
🌊 The Journey Begins on Open Waters 🌊
Nice Sail Away - The Adventure Begins
Continuing the Nautical Journey - 2014
The essence of travel captured in a single moment—setting sail toward new horizons while carrying the wisdom of past journeys. Every departure is both an ending and a beginning.
🎓
1980 • NYU
The Happiness Assignment
📚 Professor William J. Baumol's Life Lesson 📚
When I went to NYU, back in the middle ages of 1980, my Economics Professor William J. Baumol asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told him 'Happy'. He said I didn't understand the assignment, and I told him he didn't understand life.
Personal NYC Memories - The Young Scholar
Sometimes the most profound lessons come from challenging conventional wisdom. The pursuit of happiness isn't just a career goal—it's a life philosophy that shapes every decision we make.
🏙️
The NYC Connection
Belonging to New York Instantly
🗽 You Can't Go Home Again 🗽
One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in 10 minutes as in 10 years. I grew up young wanting to leave it, and I am growing old wanting to get back to it. But you can't go home (again). The future just ain't what it used to be.
Nobody walks in L.A. but getting around by subway in NYC is no longer a pain in the English, since I can ask for directions in almost any language now, and I did, especially in Spanglish.
Once the culture shock honeymoon period of leaving rural Long Island for the bright lights and big city was over, I made the switch from country bumpkin to city dweller. I was what I pretended to be—Urbane. Yet to be truly cultured and have worldly experiences, I couldn't just be a book worm. I had to undergo life through "experiential" purchases—and traveling—It started with the mantra, "Any Place But Here".
⚓
The Return
Back Where I Docked Two Years Ago
I am back in New York, where I docked two years ago. The familiar harbor welcomes me like an old friend, with memories of previous adventures and new discoveries waiting to unfold.
The Dock - Gateway to Dreams
I came to America last week as an expat. You know, on a Disney cruise ship, through the Statue of Liberty. And I saw that skyline, not just as a representation of steel and concrete and glass, but as really the bedrock of the American Dream.
🗽
Personal Liberty
The Statue of My Personal Liberty
Ed Reif with Lady Liberty - Symbol of Personal Freedom
It has become the statue of my personal liberty. We don't call it the statue of immigration, we call it the statue of liberty. She is carrying the torch of liberty from the USA to the rest of the world.
Seeing New York from the water, approaching as our ancestors did, transforms the entire experience into something profound and deeply personal. The skyline represents more than architecture—it embodies dreams, aspirations, and possibilities.
📚
Complete Adventure
2012 New York Trip Reports
📖 Complete NYC Adventure Collection 📖
Wall Street - You Have Just Been Shot
Manhattan Project - NY is The Bomb
Unique New York - All You Need Is Britto
NYC - Notes From The Underground
A comprehensive collection of experiences, observations, and adventures from the complete 2012 New York expedition. Each report captures a different facet of the city that never sleeps, from Wall Street wisdom to underground discoveries.