I am a travel buff. It is my goal to visit every state in the United States (I’ve done 33, so far) and many countries throughout the world. There are a lot of countries out there. Some, like Australia and South Africa, are at the top of my list. Some, like Myanmar and Sierra Leone, don’t sound all that appealing. Some, like Iran and Yemen, might be interesting but are off the table for obvious reasons. Antarctica would be amazing, but it’s not actually a country.

So, when it was time pick a place for my annual vacation with my good friends and favorite traveling companions, the Wyszynskis, there were many potential choices. When we started traveling together many years ago, our trips were easy drives from the Wyszynski home in Los Angeles. We slowly got more adventurous and made our way to the farther reaches of California and nearby states. Last year, we got even more adventurous and went on a spectacular trip to Hawaii. Where do we go next? Should we dial it back a little? We all look forward to this trip each year, but maybe the expectations are too high – or maybe not. Diego, the leader of our fearless group came up with another great idea: Hong Kong! But that was not on my list! It sounded crazy, but maybe it was not so crazy.