I've always thought that it would be fun to travel for business when I was working. You know, like a change in environment would make thee days shorter.
Well, now I'm traveling almost once per month and I'm not enjoying it.
It's not so much the free flight and accommodation. But rather, I don't have the luxuries of the stuff I have at home. Like I don't have my laptop, so I'm typing this on the iPad. Or food isn't as readily available, I can't just open the fridge and just take out some food that I would like to eat. I have to get changed and go downstairs to purchase my food. As compared to when I'm at home I would just wear whatever I am wearing at that point in time and just go down and buy my food.
I also can't just message my friends to meet them for lunch. So it tends to get boring when I am following her on business trips. I can wander around but I also don't want to wander too far away from the area where I'm staying. So coming up with a few articles every day would be a very good way to pass my time.
I suppose the difference with me following my wife on business trips is that she doesn't accompany me most of the time and she is the one who has things to do so she won't feel bored cause she's at her overseas office.
Although I am sometimes bored, I do appreciate the time I get to follow her on trips. This is because the boring time alone helps me to get in touch with myself. I am better able to understand the difference between a holiday, business trip and staying at home.
It might seem very obvious but I never really thought about it. Like when traveling on holiday or business trip things are pretty much always in transition, we are not settled down or setting up operations to make ourselves convenient or comfortable we know that we are a visitor and will be leaving soon.
For example when we are on holiday we are really there just for a very short period of time to sightsee and find out a bit more about the location where we are traveling to.
Whereas on a business trip also many of the expenses are covered we are there basically to do a job and complete a task thus we aren't really there to enjoy ourselves.
This is so much different from home where we have all our operations ready our comforts of the home, where we have customized our own home to our own liking. Hotels a great day have lots of facilities and good service however this is still not home and all the comforts of home is just different from what a hotel can offer.
So if I were to ever move overseas for extended period of time I would definitely set up operations in a rental apartment so that I would be better able to experience the same comfort and customization similar to my own home.
Being away from home so often these days I now understand how much I take for granted the stuff I have prepared in my own house.
Such as stuff food in the fridge, where I can just pick up something and prepare it for dinner. When I'm overseas I can usually only go out and eat. Somehow we just appreciate the home cooked food that is available instead of just buying stuff off the food court. It is usually healthier less oily and less salty.
Or my medicine cabinet where I can just take out whatever medication I need if I'm not feeling well. Although I can easily purchase them when I'm overseas it is just more comforting to know that when I am at home I could just open the drawer and it is already there.
I also don't usually bring my own toiletries overseas so I tend to just use whatever is available at the hotel. So for example, the toothbrush is usually harder than the one that I am used to and the shampoo is usually more drying than the one that I have at home.
So I do take back the feelings that I had previously when I thought that I would enjoy traveling on a constant basis. After doing it for a number of times it gets very tiring and monotonous.
Nothing beats home where everything is available at a hands reach, friends and family are easily contactable, and we are familiar with our surroundings and can travel around easily and safely.
However this does not mean that I would not want to move overseas for an extended period of time when I'm older, it just means that if I were to move overseas I would set up the place where I have moved to, to become just as comfortable as if I was still at home in Singapore.
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