Well here I am, sitting in a beautiful five star hotel in Sydney, reflecting on the fact that my life has become rather frantic in a very different way the last month. This reflection started on Monday night as I contemplated my first proper business trip in quite a few years. So I’m sitting there thinking – how the hell do I even pack for a business trip anymore?
I mean what clothes do I take? And what’s the weather in Sydney going to be like? But then who cares, because if it’s cold I’ll just have to be cold, because I only have clothes for a tropical climate anyway, so don’t even check the weather, just pack whatever and see where it takes you. Thankfully the weather has been absolutely magnificent, so I have been very comfortable with my selection, but I have suffered the cold on past trips and know how miserable that can be. Hey I live in Singapore and just don’t have winter clothes anymore…
But the next thought – what do I need to take on the plane? Ticket, passport, employment pass, work stuff to read, a book, headphones, a little make-up, work books to make notes, etc, etc, etc… and yet, what bag is best to hold all of that but is also comfortable to travel with, then how do I pack it in a way that makes what I want to utilize accessible during those brief moments one has before putting said bag in the overhead compartment while getting bashed and shoved by other passengers doing exactly the same thing…
And then you get to the airport, and security regulations keep changing, there’s so many different scans, and you’re out of practice so constantly feel like a dufus, but somehow you get on the plane and think right, OK, I’m off. It’s at that moment you start feeling sad that you had to say goodbye to your little loves for the week. You know they’ll be fine, but you didn’t have time to reflect on that aspect as you just got caught up in the madness of actually getting on the plane and not forgetting anything.
So the plane trips done, you got to watch a few movies you didn’t see in the cinema because it’s years since you’ve done that, and then you get to your hotel late in the evening, checking in, finding your room down endless corridors (Beijing was worse though) walking into the unknown (thankfully it’s beautiful), unpacking your bag, sorting your stuff out, finding the iron and ironing board + the hairdryer, all the while trying to get online and you can’t, because you weren’t paying enough attention when someone showed you once how to do it, and so you keep trying to do all sorts of different things to get your email working, and in the meantime you need to Skype with your family because they’re missing their mumma, and it’s getting close to 1am, but you’re not tired because it’s only 10pm where you live, but you have to get up at 6’something am and go meet someone you’ve never met before at an address you’ve never been to before and you have to sound intelligent because you want these people to like and respect you, so you get through that, before doing the next meeting in the same context, and the next and the next and the next, before coming back to your hotel in the evening and going SIGH – I made it!!
And that’s only a week which included business travel, something I will get back into the habit of doing, as I did for so many years of my life. However things have definitely become frantic in a whole new way.
I am enjoying it though, especially as in Australia I got to buy bras that actually fit me – score! Right it’s Friday and time to go and play with my Sydney pals yip yah!
Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea
