Tao of Pauly

New Zealand Anyone?

Moscow is out.

The G (aka my Boss) decided to pull the plug on the Moscow trip. There may be one sojourn to the Motherland scheduled in the spring. I feel much better knowing that he made the call for me. It was a tough decision. I knew Nicky really wanted to go... and didn't want to spoil the party. Alas, I had as many reasons why I didn't want to go as the reasons to go. The spring is a much better time for me anyway and I hope that The G decides to green light a Moscow trip then.

New Zealand is in.

I'm supposed to go to Australia for three weeks in October. I had a ten day work assignment and intended to explore some more of the country that I didn't get to see in January. I just found out that Nicky was hired for the same assignment... in addition to a gig in New Zealand two weeks before. I was not offered that assignment as Schecky said, "You're too expensive!" But I decided that I'm going to go anyway and crash in Nicky's paid hotel room. She has to cover an event on the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) and I decided to play in that same tournament she's supposed to cover.

Yeah, another four weeks on the road.

Here's my crazy schedule... another week in London. NYC for three days. Florida for eight days. NYC for five days. Hollyweird for two days. New Zealand for ten days. Melbourne for two weeks for work. After that assignment, we might go to Uluru or up to Sydney or drive on the Great Ocean Road. Since we're both going back to Australia in January of 2008, there's no pressure to see everything. In early November, I fly to Hollyweird then back to NYC.

I'll take the rest of 2007 off from covering poker tournaments and just focus on personal projects and spending time in NYC for the holidays. Although I won't be traveling for work, I have a new start up business that I can't wait to jump into and a Swedish gaming company wants to hire me for some freelance work.

I might go back to Amsterdam before Turkey Day and off to Las Vegas in December for a week before I return to NYC for Christmas. Then it's back to Oz in January for four or five weeks.

To sum up... Moscow is out. New Zealand is in.