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From Guadalajara we caught a direct flight to Chicago for the last stop of our 5 1/2-month stint in North America. Before heading to Bangkok for a new series of adventures in Asia, we spent two days in the Windy City celebrating an important milestone in the lives of old friends, Chris Sterling and Todd Vitale.

My friendship with Chris goes back to our freshman year in college nearly 32 years ago. On February 7 Chris and Todd celebrated 25 years together in the place where it all began. They met at Spiaggia, the spectacular Italian restaurant, Chicago landmark, and favorite dining spot of Barack and Michelle Obama. We were honored to join them and our friend Shawn-Laree O’Neil for an incredible dinner that night — at the restaurant where Chris, Todd, and Shawn-Laree all worked together back then as well.

On our second night we switched gears and met Chris and Todd for dinner at Girl and the Goat for a different kind of experience on the hot Chicago dining scene. This casual place serves innovative small plates and is bursting with life. Chris had to work to get seats for us, even on a Sunday night. Heck, our taxi driver even asked how on earth we managed to get into the place! But best of all we were joined by our friends Nina Fernandez and Sonia Arroyave. There is something about Nina and Sonia: When you get together with them, you cannot possibly not have fun.

Since we are barely equipped for winter weather we lucked out in Chicago, where our two days were warmer than usual for early February. But that was enough cold for us anyway, so we are headed back to warmer climes. We’re flying to Bangkok, and we intend to spend the next 5 months traveling toward, in, and around the Himalayas — through Vietnam, China, Bhutan, Nepal, and northern India.