I’m writing this on a 777 ten hours out of Dubai and two hours from Adelaide. This follows my trip of about similar length from Boston to Dubai.

This is my 18th trip to Australia since the 70s when the country was part of my management “domain." running from Tokyo to Sydney. I calculated at one point that I was responsible for 36 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. (Maybe that included depth.)

I’m arriving to spend two days with my Pacific Rim Growth Cycle group, and then present my Super Best Practices Workshop for the final time, following London and San Francisco. Fifty people are attending, which isn’t a bad “draw." halfway around the world!

I guess I’m truly a globalist. I was an exchange student at 17 and have now landed in 61 countries, not counting California. My observations are that all of us, from Singapore to Santiago, from Bora Bora to Budapest, are far more alike than different. It’s much easier for me to understand people—and to like them—having met them on their own turf. Few places are parlous, few trails perilous.

There are people here in Rhode Island who have never been to New York. Whether countries, states, or neighborhoods, we need to get around and appreciate what’s out there. Otherwise, we lead lives spent breathing our own exhaust and only believing what others tell us.

Where is your next trip?