12/31/16,
“Another Year Over”
Sydney, New
South Wales, Australia
In less than
12 hours, I will be watching the fireworks burst up over this bridge, as I ring
in 2017 from the iconic Sydney Opera House.
By any measure, this has been a most interesting year. By the numbers, it brought me to 5
continents, 18 countries, 9 Olympic Stadiums, 3 Natural Wonders of the World, 3
New7 Wonders of the World, the site of one of the Wonders of the Ancient World,
and more World Heritage Sites and National Park Sites than I can recall. By the headlines, it is a year that saw the
exit of Britain from the European Union, the election of our first President
without any prior political or military experience, an associated surge in
right-wing populism around the world, and more celebrity deaths than I care to
remember. It is a year that I thought
would never end, yet also somehow went by too quick.
I am now smoking my 2011 Christmas Pipe, my
traditional New Year’s Eve pipe, the same one I smoke in Quebec, Port Lockroy,
and Hong Kong. It also the same pipe I
smoked in view of Mount Everest at Syangboche.
Soon, once the fireworks erupt, I will be able to include Sydney in the
list of iconic places where I have rang in the New Year, and, a few days,
later, this trip will be forever remembered as one of the greatest trips I have
ever taken. It has been a resounding
success on every level, but I just wish I had more time.
As for the year itself, let’s review. It began in Hong Kong, and, when that trip
came to a close, two very interesting things were going on. The Oscar race was about to began, and the Iowa
caucuses would be not much later. At
that point, I assumed that Spotlight would win Best Picture. It did.
As for the Presidential nominations, I did not know what to think. Hillary, as much as I hated her, seemed the
sure favorite on the Democratic side, but the Republican side was not
clear. I did not see how Trump could possibly
win, but I also did not see how anyone else could beat him. Out of a sense of amusement, more than
anything else, I began to root for him.
Somehow, miraculously, he never faltered in the polls, and he kept
winning primaries. By the time the Oscars
came around, he certainly looked like the frontrunner.
As for the Oscars, I saw them all, not just
the Best Picture nominees, but every single nominee from Foreign Language Film
to Production Design to Documentary Short.
I saw all 50-some nominated films.
I watched the Oscars, celebrating Mark Rylance’s talent and Leo
“finally” winning his Oscar. I cheered
when Spotlight beat out Revenant and Big Short.
Meanwhile, my travels continued.
Mexico, Peru, South Carolina Flanders, New Mexico, and I kept going, while
Trump and Clinton kept winning primaries.
That brought me to the summer, which I began in Greece, at which point
Trump was considered the presumptive nominee.
I have previously recounted the summer in great detail as a whole, and I
do not want to be repetitive, but I will focus on my trip to England, which took
shortly before Brexit. The whole country
was talking about it, and I was glad to join in the conversation, at roadside tea
stands, at pubs, wherever anyone was talking about it. The trip was a letdown, but my return last
month made up for it, as did the Fantastic Beasts premiere. When I got back, the vote soon occurred, and
I stayed up late drinking gin and smoking Cubans as the returns confirmed the
results. When I went back to England
last month, they were still talking about the fallout.
After I celebrated my 29
th
Birthday in Rome, by the time I got back, the Oscar race had started again, but
the general election was of more interest.
Trump embarrassed himself at the debates and with old audio
recordings. That was when I stopped
wearing my Trump hat, when I learned the news on the way to Texas to say “Mainland
US Complete” again. However, remarkably,
Clinton managed to embarrass herself more, and, by the time Election Day came,
I was wearing my Trump hat again. I prepared
for his humiliating defeat. Then the
returns started coming in. When Virginia
was too close to call, and he was winning in all the red-tinted swing states, I
started to realize he might actually have a chance. I started doing the math. Before long, my math confirmed the
impossible. He was actually going to
win. He did. I cheered as he made his victory speech and
stayed up until 4 AM watching the returns.
The next day, the transition began, and the Oscar race heated up. As of now, Manchester by the Sea is my
favorite, but La La Land will probably win.
When I get home, there are still plenty of movies to watch, and there
will be lots more once the nominations come out. I did my England return, the right way this
time, saw Everest, and then met Raymond in Kathmandu. We had a great time together in Nepal before
I went to Qatar. I got home, and then
the calendar was just one page. I
finished up my school year, and then it was time to leave for Australia, and
now I’m here, in Sydney, with only 10 hours left in the year. I have recounted the details of this trip
above, so I suppose I need to recount the details since my last entry.
After I closed, I walked back to my hotel,
eating my dessert on the way. I passed
out almost as soon as I got home and slept in quite a bit, having given up the
idea of any activities today. It would
be a day of pure relaxation and enjoyment.
I woke up around 9:30 AM and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner,
opting for their signature breakfast platter, along with two flat whites. The breakfast was certainly interesting, and,
after breakfast I headed out towards the Opera House.
I wanted to properly claim it as a World
Heritage Site before I closed out for the year, so I lit up an H. Upmann and
headed over there. I learned two things
as I got closer. First, almost
everything was closed off or access-restricted.
Second, smoking was allowed anywhere outdoors. That was good for my NYE celebrations, but it
would make the present a little more difficult.
I learned that I could get a view of the Opera House from the harbor if
I passed through some checkpoints, so I did just that. I got through security with no issues and
walked along the harbor, shocked that people were dressed like this was a day
at the beach, though I guess it was appropriate for the 90-degree weather. I wondered if I would be too hot in my
formalwear tonight.
I took my ceremonial
pictures first at the Harbour Bridge, where the fireworks will occur, than at
the Opera House. I realized that this
would be the perfect place to write my year-end entry, but, unfortunately, I
didn’t have my 2011 Christmas Pipe, so I had to head back. I stopped for souvenirs on the way, getting
everything I needed, and I was soon back at my hotel. I reorganized and then headed back to the
harbor. I found spot in view of the
bridge, where I sat down, lit up my 2011 Christmas Pipe and proceeded to write
this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out 2016. It’s been an interesting year in many ways,
and this trip has been a great one, but 2017 has some great trips lined up,
too, and I can only hope that it will be a better year than this one. Here’s to auld lang syne.
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