I flew to Omaha to cover Warren Buffett's annual meeting. I didn't know I'd witness history being made.

I had a dream start to my reporting journey.
My nine-hour flight from London to Chicago became far more interesting after I learned my seatmate was making the same pilgrimage.
The value investor in his 30s, who asked not to be named, showed me a Berkshire Class B share certificate — signed by Buffett in 2005 — that his firm had given him as the proof of ownership he needed to get a meeting pass.
He told me that when his wife asked why he was so excited to go to Omaha, he replied, "Imagine you're a Christian and you have a chance to see Jesus Christ."
When he nodded off a few hours later, Buffett's face looked up at me from the Kindle on his lap, as he'd been reading "Tap Dancing to Work."
Arriving in Omaha, it was clear this was Berkshire turf.
I took a connecting flight from Chicago to Omaha and arrived late on Thursday night.
One of the welcome ads on the airport's wall requested visitors to "check your SPACs, Crypto, and EBITDA at the gate" — a nod to Buffett and his late business partner Charlie Munger's disdain for risky, speculative, and volatile assets.
Munger called the proliferation of special-purpose acquisition vehicles, or SPACs, a "moral failing," dismissed bitcoin as "stupid" and "evil" as well as "rat poison." He also described earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization as "bullshit earnings."
Omaha businesses were ready for Berkshire weekend.
The influx of thousands of Berkshire shareholders to Omaha each year spells opportunity for many local companies.
The Hudson News store in the airport had several areas dedicated to Berkshire books and other financial titles, including "Poor Charlie's Almanack" and "Buffett & Munger Unscripted."
Another airport eatery had a See's Candies stall and a sign from Berkshire welcoming its shareholders.
I took a taxi to the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Omaha. There was a banner in front of the hotel welcoming Berkshire shareholders, and a similar display outside the elevators on my floor.
Berkshire's big bash evolves with every acquisition.
This was my third annual meeting, and I'm always interested to see how it changes to reflect the deals that Buffett makes.
The conglomerate added Squishmallows-owner Jazwares to its exhibitors after acquiring the toy company's parent, Alleghany, in 2022.
Squishmallows was one of the biggest exhibitors at Berkshire's shareholder shopping day this year, with myriad displays and interactive activities.
Berkshire took full ownership of Pilot Travel Centers at the start of 2024. Pilot employees were selling coffee outside the meeting venue, the CHI Health Center. Inside, the company offered everything from Berkshire Blend coffee to T-shirts with Buffett quotes.
Buffett superfans were out in force.
Wan Xue, or "Cathy," 33, from China, was first in line to get her shareholder pass on Friday. She told me she'd purchased 11 books on this trip already, and planned to buy more.
She planned to see everything related to Buffett that she could, and had already visited his birthplace and school as well as Berkshire headquarters, she said.
Plenty of Buffett experts were in town.
Veteran investors including billionaire Mario Gabelli and Buffett's former financial assistant, Tracy Britt Cool, spoke at conferences on Friday, the day before Buffett's Q&A.
Fund manager Chris Bloomstran said at the Gabelli Funds conference that tariffs, trade wars, recessions, depressions, and other crises were "net good for Berkshire" as they created buying opportunities. "Bring on a little pain," he added.
I asked Gabelli straight after the conference how he felt about owning Berkshire stock given the current market turmoil.
He shrugged off any concerns, saying he first met Buffett more than 50 years ago at Columbia Business School, and has only ever sold Berkshire to stop his portfolio becoming too concentrated.
At her company Kanbrick's conference, Britt Cool shared a memorable piece of advice from Buffett about long-term, responsible management: "Think about this business as if it's your family's only asset and you cannot sell it for 50 years."
After Buffett's bombshell, I headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart for the shareholder picnic.
After Buffett shocked the world with his retirement plan, I left the press area and spoke to several dumbstruck shareholders.
Once things calmed down, I took a taxi to Nebraska Furniture Mart for the shareholder picnic, and saw "Mrs B's Clearance & Outlet," named after the remarkable lady who built NFM and sold it to Buffett.
There was a photo of Buffett's face on the front door. NFM stocked Buffett T-shirts and other merchandise, and featured an entire See's Candies concession.
Shareholders took the news of Buffett's exit in good spirits.
At the picnic in NFM's parking lot, there was live music, bocce, barbecue, drinks, and lots of people laughing, taking photos, playing games, or dancing.
Sam McColgan, 31, a Stanford graduate student, told me he was "somewhat relieved" that Buffett had announced his resignation, as "it would have been a shock to the world" if he'd died while still CEO.
I even went on a shareholder fun run
On Sunday morning I donned an official shirt and racing bib and took part in Brooks' 5K run. I loved the branded team shirts for See's Candies and Oriental Trading employees, and the announcer's wordplay about "investing in yourself" to garner "healthy returns."
I enjoyed traversing the center of the city, but the run wasn't long enough as I was interviewing people along the way and had to keep retracing my steps to avoid finishing.
The finishers' medals were satisfyingly heavy.
I liked the look, feel, and weight of my finishers' medal.
The rest area after the race was well set up with breakfast burritos, Dairy Queen ice cream, and energy drinks at the Berkshire Hathaway Energy booth for runners.
It was fun to tear off a tab from my race bib and exchange it for a Pilot hot chocolate too.
Buffett's retirement was front-page news on Sunday.
The magnitude of what I'd witnessed became clearer after I saw Buffett on the front page of his hometown paper in my hotel's lobby on Sunday.
Buffett bought the Omaha World-Herald for $150 million (and took on its $50 million of debt) in late 2011. He sold his newspapers, which also included The Buffalo News, to Lee Enterprises for $140 million in 2020.
People were still processing Buffett's bombshell.
After a shower back at the hotel, I took a Lime scooter to Markel's brunch at the Omaha Marriott, down the road from where Buffett held his Q&A.
Much of the second floor was packed with people wearing Berkshire merch they'd purchased over the previous two days, from hats and windbreakers to polo shirts and shoes.
Calvin Sowah, 30, a venture capitalist from New York City, told me that Buffett's casual manner caught him off guard.
"I wasn't expecting it," he said. "And he just said it so nonchalantly that it was like, 'Oh, wait, what? You're retiring.'"
A veteran shareholder told me he wants Buffett to keep sharing his wisdom.
Speaking in the hallway outside Markel's shareholder meeting, Martin Wiegand, 67, told me he's attended more than 30 Berkshire meetings and has owned the stock for about 40 years.
Wiegand said his father was a school friend of Buffett, and his parents attended Berkshire meetings too.
He told me he wants Buffett to continue talking after his deputy, Greg Abel, takes over as CEO in the new year.
"I hope he doesn't drop the mic and walk off the stage, never to be heard from again," Wiegand said. "I hope he teaches a Coursera course — some sort of a podcast is too much to ask," he continued, adding that he'd like Buffett to keep doing media appearances.
"Warren Buffett's the moral authority of finance in America," he said. "And I think he proved yesterday he's still the sharpest man in the room at 94."
There was time for one final story from Omaha on my trip home.
I thought my Berkshire experience was over when I boarded a flight to New York City early Monday morning.
But my seatmates, Aidan Sims and John Di Bella, were two finance majors from NYC who'd also made the trip to see Buffett speak.
Sims said he had a date to a formal on Friday night, but managed to make it to Omaha in time to watch Buffett's bombshell announcement.
Di Bella told me how he spent the night outside to get good seats for the Q&A. He played poker on the street, vaulted up the arena's steps once the doors opened, and scored selfies with Apple CEO Tim Cook and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The chance encounter cemented Omaha in my memory as a magical place to meet fascinating people, hear wild stories, visit historic locations, and, just maybe, have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). As my Swedish army bike rattles down the last hill, I place a hand on the basket to secure my Midsummer contributions: two king-size sausage rolls and a green bean and orange salad. The wide-open fields of southern Sweden's fertile Söderslätt plain, yellow with rapeseed flowers, stretch out to my right, while to my left, the Baltic Sea has just slipped out of sight, having been there for most of my 20-minute ride from the station. When I turn into the gravel drive, Malin and Christian's century-old brick villa, Källbacken, meaning 'hill with a spring', is already clattering with preparations. Malin and her seven-year-old daughter Edith have been out picking the flowers and greenery that will decorate the midsommarstång, or maypole, which they've laid out neatly on a table. I place my sausage rolls alongside and am immediately marshalled into scrubbing potatoes. For Malin and Christian, new potatoes, dug up only days before from the patch at the bottom of their garden, are central to the feast. 'Unlike Easter and Christmas, you don't normally have hot food at Midsummer: it's about potatoes, and herring,' Malin says. The preparations began months ago. 'We actually start preparing for Midsummer in February," she explains, describing the family's annual trip to buy early-maturing Swift potatoes, which then stand, packed in egg cartons, in the barn for three months before being planted in early May. It feels a fitting ritual ahead of this festival, which originated back when Sweden was an agrarian society. Midsummer celebrations not only marked the longest day of the year but welcomed in a new season of fertility. Many Swedes still head to the countryside to celebrate. Although this is my tenth Midsummer in Sweden, the celebrations I've been to have been low-key affairs eschewing tradition: a barbecue, games, but no maypole. Malin and Christian, however, go all in. As well as the potatoes, the couple provide home-grown chives, pickled herring, Christian's home-brewed IPA, and a bottle or two of snaps or akvavit, the Swedish spirit used for toasts and to accompany singing. This celebration is unusual, though, for the lack of heavy drinking – because there are many babies and small children present. Midsummer, more than Christmas or New Year's Eve, is when Swedes really let loose, taking full advantage of daylight that lasts until close to midnight, and singing and dancing until sunrise. Midsummer is when Swedes let loose, taking advantage of daylight that lasts until close to midnight, singing and dancing until sunrise. Photograph by Getty, Fredrik Nyman In previous years, Malin made her own pickled herring, but this year there are five varieties supplied by Abba (the fish-canning giant, rather than the sequin-clad Seventies four-piece), and she's also made gubbröra, meaning 'old bloke's mix'. 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Once the potatoes are fully cleaned, Malin throws a handful of dill into the pan and begins the boiling. Swedes take potatoes seriously. All will own a potato-tester, a metal spike the thickness of a needle, with a blunt end and a plastic handle, which is pushed into potatoes to judge their firmness. My wife, I tell Malin as we chitchat, is adamant that you must leave part of the spuds poking above the water, cook them at no more than a simmer, and steam them dry in a pan afterwards. But Malin has no time for such fussiness. 'I know people who, after half the boiling time, pour out some of the water and add new water, and things like that,' she says. 'But I just boil them – not for too long, since they're new potatoes – but I don't understand why it should be so difficult.' Once done, the potatoes are placed in a bowl outside to be served with butter and chopped dill and chives, and sliced hard-boiled eggs laid alongside. A Swedish Midsummer meal is often formal, with places neatly laid on a long table outside, folded napkins and garnished dishes. But this year, thanks to all the young guests, it's a come-and-go affair, with guests sitting down with different neighbours every time they refill their plates. The conversation touches on the shortage of another Midsummer essential: strawberries, which a bad harvest has pushed above 80 kronor (£6) a litre, if you can get hold of any at all. I pile three sorts of herring onto some crispbread, its saltiness setting off the sweet-and-sour bite of the pickle, and also indulge in some gubbröra, enjoying the cinnamon, allspice and sandalwood spicing of the sprats. The potatoes are firm, sweet and a little nutty, the perfect partner to the stronger flavours of the other dishes. I also take some västerbottenpaj, which is so rich with Västerbotten cheese — somewhere between a mature cheddar and a parmesan in strength — that I have to stop at a single helping. The silltårta, an old-fashioned addition even to this very traditional celebration, has a jelly-ish consistency that doesn't quite appeal to me, but goes down well with the other guests. After the meal is over, I join the children and some of the adults walking it off in the surrounding fields and picking flowers for the midsommarkransar, Midsummer crowns made of birch twigs woven together. When we return, we get to work erecting the maypole, about three metres tall, with a crossbar. While it's commonly believed to be a pagan fertility symbol, representing male genitalia, experts insist each year in Swedish newspapers that there's no evidence to back it up – but looking at it, I find it hard to see what else it might be. Soon, adults and children alike are holding hands, circling around the pole, pretending alternately to be a musician playing a violin, someone washing clothes, and, in the most raucous of the dances, jumping like a frog. The celebrations segue into a house party, and then, later in the evening, a barbecue. Christian pulls a pile of waste wood from the barn and lights a fire, which we sit around as the mothers and daughters go out once again to pick flowers. 'You have to jump seven fences and pick one flower in each field, and you're not allowed to speak to one another. You have to be quiet the whole time,' Malin explains of this last ritual. 'And then you have this small bouquet; you put it underneath your pillow and you're supposed to dream about who you're going to marry.' This is one part of the celebrations I can't partake in, but as I bed down on a mattress upstairs, I feel satisfied that I've truly welcomed the summer. Midsummer feasts to visit While most Swedes will celebrate Midsummer in friends' country or island homes, there are organised celebrations for visitors. In 2025, Midsummer falls on 21 June. Tällberg, Dalarna Dalarna county is renowned for traditional Midsummers, with folk costumes, folk music and dancing. Åkerblads Hotel, in Tällberg on Lake Siljan, serves a traditional Midsummer smörgåsbord, with herring, new potatoes and västerbottenpaj, after which you can go into town and take part in the celebrations. Alternatively, at Våmhus Gammelgård, an old farm maintained by Sweden's main conservation organisation, you'll be served kolbulle, a thick pancake with diced, salted or smoked pork. Ringsjön, Skåne Bosjökloster, a country house and former nunnery on the shores of Lake Ringsjön in Skåne, Sweden's southernmost county, puts on a lavish Midsummer spread. Expect all the classics, plus specialities containing ingredients foraged in nearby forests, and plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Once the buffet's over, join the dancing around a maypole erected on lawns leading down to the lakeshore – one of the most popular celebrations in Skåne. Småland Getnö Gård, a resort on Lake Åsnan in Småland, offers a traditional Midsummer buffet – served, untraditionally, after the maypole dances – including a strawberry cake prepared to a recipe handed down by the owner's grandmother. Most visitors stay over in the campsite or cabins. Fjäderholm In Stockholm, the archipelago is the place to celebrate, and Fjäderholm is the closest island, 30 minutes by ferry from the centre. Rökeriet Fjärderholmarna, a smokery, serves a traditional Midsummer buffet, with all the essentials and more. There's also live music and dancing around the maypole on the island. Väderö Storö The Väderöarnasor 'weather islands', a 35-minute ferry ride from Fjällbacka on the west coast, are the most far-flung islands off the Bohuslan coast. Väderöarnas Värdshus restaurant on Väderö Storö, the biggest island, lays on a Midsummer buffet, picking guests up from nearby Hamburgsund. Published in Issue 26 (winter 2024) of Food by National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).