Travels and Conferences in my 2010s.

Sunset in Long Beach, CA

This year started as a slow one. In fact, this is the only year without migrations, since I left Sri Lanka in 2012. I have been in constant movement during the 7 years of 2012 - 2018. I changed countries more often than changing apartments in the same country. Erasmus Mundus mandatory mobility, topped with my adventurous and curious nature, led me to not have a single year without such migration since 2012. When migrations are the norm, not moving around becomes an event on its own.

Although I did not travel during the first half of 2019, the latter half was filled with several local and foreign travels, starting with my 2 Ph.D. defenses in Portugal and Belgium. The only conference I had this year was BigData 2019 in Los Angeles, not counting the GSoC Mentor Summit in Munich as a conference (it is an unconference).
 

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA

This was my first time visiting Los Angeles. However, previously I had a layover at LAX airport during my first flight to the USA in 2011 for the GSoC mentor summit. Several years and trips after, that DXB (Dubai) LAX (Los Angeles) flight remains the longest non-stop flight of my life so far. This time, I visited a lot of places in Los Angeles - hiking up close to the Hollywood sign, and walks to Little Tokyo and China Town. I also visited nearby towns such as Santa Monica and Long Beach.

I love conferences and I like traveling. I also like to overdose in caffeine during conferences. Overall, I am happy with everything -- although I hope I will have more research opportunities and conference visits in the upcoming years.