The Centro Dream Empowerment Program: Living with intention

At Centro, Rob Kohn is known for two things: his lightning-speed RFP turnaround time, and his vacations. Rob is a Denver native and has worked at Centro in NYC for a year and a half. With family spread across the country, he is no stranger to the art of travel.

This summer when Rob’s older brother moved to Beijing, it was another perfect opportunity to take advantage of Centro’s 15 days of allotted vacation time.  By May, he had a trip booked for a week and a half.

Below is a picture- by- picture narration of Rob’s adventure in his own words. Be sure to check out our Instagram and Facebook accounts to see all the photos!

Picture 1: The Great Wall of China. After an unforeseen layover in Toronto and an extra flight across Canada, I landed in Beijing nearly 24 hours after leaving New York (talk about a time warp!). Upon arrival I went directly to the Great Wall for a short hike and a lot of sightseeing. Check out the incredible scenery!

Picture 2: “The Bund” of Shanghai at night. We came to Shanghai after spending a day in Beijing and another in a rural area called Suzhou. This picture is of a waterfront area with colorful lights and very unique architecture. We took a walking tour through Shanghai and learned about the city’s rich history. This was my favorite skyline of the three major cities I visited on the trip (Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong).

Picture 3 – 5: My favorite part of the trip was heading south the less westernized and more “traditional” rural regions of China. Pictured here is the Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam to the northeast. Though I’ve never visited Vietnam, the landscape of southern China starts to look a lot like the way you imagine Vietnam to look from pictures and movies. This is one of many amazing backdrops in southern China. I did not visit the Hunan province to the east which is famous not only for its chicken dishes, but also for serving as the setting for the 2009 film Avatar. In Guangxi, we rented bicycles and rode in and out of the rice paddies and crop fields. Later, we boarded three man (two passenger, one bamboo-stick yielding captain) bamboo boats and floated down the Yangshuo River. We were in the Guangxi region for two days.

Pictures 6-8: The trip concluded in Hong Kong, which is quite different from the major cities of mainland China. At times I felt like I may have been back in New York or another major U.S. city. Pictured are the traditional soup dumplings with pork and truffles (there’s an art to eating these correctly!) and some spicy noodles. The last pictures are a view from the top of a friend’s apartment, and the Hong Kong skyline. On the 9th and final day of our trip, we boarded our plane out of Hong Kong for the 16 hour flight home.

At Centro, we are all about encouraging dream fulfillment. So much so that we have a dedicated internal team that helps Centrons plan and achieve big things; from personal improvement goals to fantasy trips. Rob’s story is just one of many we’ll be featuring here on the blog, so stay tuned for more stories of #dreamempowerment. #Dreambigdreambigger