To continue the tradition from past years, here’s a list of cities I have been to this year:

End of an era: 5.5 years in the making, the thesis is submitted, bags are packed, memories are tucked away into a special part of my heart. It’s a little crazy to think about, but I’ve called A2 “home” for just about as long as any other city I’ve ever lived in!

• Ann Arbor, Michigan

Job hunt: The end of a Ph.D. brings with it an epic multi-month fly-everywhere-and-talk-about-yourself ordeal. Scheduling this was quite the epic traveling-salesman setup. (Turns out, we didn’t have an utterly optimal solution — I flew the DTW->PHX->SJC I think 4 times this year!)

• Bay Area (Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose and San Francisco)
• Columbus, Ohio
• Redmond, Washington: I come back here a few months later for a friend’s wedding
• Madison, Wisconsin
• Florham Park, New Jersey
• New York City, New York

One last epic summer internship:

• Mountain View, California

My first conference travel as a non-student:

• Seattle, Washington

Going home: back to India after many years!:

• Delhi
• Mumbai: though Delhi is technically “home”, 2 weeks in Delhi, and I just had to leave for Mumbai. Maybe it’s the waves at Juhu beach. Maybe it’s the bustle of the trains. Or maybe it’s the huge list of seafood restaurants I just had to eat through!
• Kolkata: Like an old, wizened grandma, it doesn’t matter HOW many years you come back after, Kolkata is always the same.

Southeast-Asia vacation with parents:

• Singapore
• Putrajaya & Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Genting, Malaysia
• Penang, Malaysia
• Phuket, Thailand
• Krabi Island, Thailand

Seven days in Rajasthan : Longest I’ve been away from my laptop!

• Udaipur
• Jodhpur
• Jaisalmer
• Jaipur

Next up:

• Columbus, Ohio!

21 cities, 5 countries, 2 continents — looking forward to 2012!