Mental baggage during work travel

Prompt #16: BAGGAGE
Mental baggage can weigh us down as much as physical baggage when we travel. How do you travel lightly – either emotionally or physically?

One of the perks of my job is (if you do your work well enough), we get to fly overseas to cover events.

The first I heard of this, my eyes went wide and my brain starting imagining all sort of wonderful places I could go. But since I was a freshie, my boss didn’t let me go on any trips until I was about a year plus into the job.

It was to Taiwan, my mother’s home country. Coincidentally, my parents were also going there at the same period.

Unfortunately, it was a difficult event that I had to cover. It involved microprocessor chips, which I frankly was not that familiar with.

Anyway, I extended my work trip so I arrive in Taipei some days before the event for travelling with the folks.

It was the most stressful travel. Every day, I had to think of my work. “Have I finished all my preparations?” “Will I understand what they announce at the event?”

The trip was still fun and exciting. But every night in the room, I would panic over my work. I also had to do some work in the morning while my parents went in search of breakfast.

After that trip, I decided that it’s not worth a free plane ticket if I get so worried about work while I’m supposed to have fun. Since then, I only travel on my own expenses.

This post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel. Day 16: Baggage.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

City of Lights, Day 15 of 30 Days of Indie Travel Project

Parisian cliché

Saying your favorite city is Paris has become a cliché, especially for jaded young Singaporeans who already have traipsed across Europe right after their university graduation. They’ll likely tell you that while their favorite European city is Stockholm, there’s no place like home where the transport system and the government works.

(On another note, Tokyo is slowly becoming another cliché but the people here still do not think of it yet because they like sushi and J-pop so much.)

Despite what they say, my favorite city is still Paris.

Continue reading “City of Lights, Day 15 of 30 Days of Indie Travel Project” →

Picnic by the Seine

My first meal in Paris was a picnic by the Seine. In the piercing early-summer sun, overlooking the Notre Dame de Paris.

Here’s my unfortunate choice of not too French food. :(

A short entry about my first day in the City of Lights.

This entry is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project. Day 11: Feast.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

How I learned to eat like a rabbit

I hate eating raw vegetables. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up in a Chinese household where salads are not common.

I dislike the taste of raw leafy greens, eating it makes me feel like a goat. (Others would inject here: At least say a rabbit, not goat!)

It wasn’t until I was in Vietnam where they consumed pails of vegetable that I learned how to eat raw greens (half raw, would be the better term).

At a pho restaurant, a metal pail of fresh greens await you. When you bowl of piping hot beef noodle soup comes, you pluck the leaves off and dunk it into your soup.

I gingerly sniffed the darker greens. It smelled alright. A bit of the unnamed vegetable and I was hooked. Their veg has a slightly herby taste that goes so well with beef soup.

The next time I ate another pho, I eagerly drowned my vegetable in the hot soup and slurped it along with my noodles. Yummy.

But the spell broke once I ended my trip. Back home, all greens uncooked taste yucks.

This post is part of BootssAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project. Day 8: Love Learning.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

Celebration by accident: Feast of Saint Eulalia, Barcelona

I was in Barcelona this February for a work trip. It was the very first time I was in Europe.

Before flying off, I read up on the festivals happening in the Spanish city. I was disappointed that the Feast of Saint Eulalia was on February 12 and that I would miss it by just one day.

I reached the city early in the morning. My hosts were still flying over so I had the chance to wander around the town.

Many shops were still closed and the weather was chilly. I walked to the tourist center and looked at the beautiful European buildings.

On my way back to the hotel, I heard lively music and wondered what street musician was making such a racket.

I ran down the empty alley toward the music. To my delight, the citizens were having a parade. I didn’t miss the celebration after all!

Lively trumpet and drums played throughout the parade. I stayed on, staring at the giant figures and the happy people.

Here’s a snap of some guy escaping his giant whateverthatis

I left the parade in the alley and wandered off again. I was also lucky enough to catch the human tower mentioned in the guidebook.

When my hosts finally arrived, the celebration had ended. *evil laugh*

This post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project: Day 7: Celebrate.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

Gift of Fear, travel edition

Blog title taken from the title of a book that everyone should read: The Gift of Fear.

Travelling as a single woman takes guts.

Despite putting on a brave front telling people about my solo travels, I have to admit here that I feel panicky before every single trip.

“What if something bad happens??!” Worst case scenarios run through my head: my body floating in the Seine, found dead in my hostel room, etc–all sorts of scenarios from bad detective novels.

Despite all my paranoia, nothing really bad happened to me on my trips. *touch wood*

That said, there was a scary incident in Paris. It is scary on hindsight but (fortunately) I wasn’t that afraid then–more annoyed than scared.

Here’s a recount of the event (with edited paragraphing) from my Paris travel blogpost (a copy and paste of my e-mail to my friend):

No need to panic but some random guy threatened to kill me.

Was walking out of train station to where I live. Heard someone calling out from behind. Ignored (bcoz you never know who it is, and quite a few mad men around). Shout got louder as I walked away. I exited, thinking I was safe. At traffic lights, a China man (only reasonable term I can use now) said something loudly to me. I turned to him. He looked red in the face and smelled a bit drunk. He rambled on loudly in his dialect. I never opened my mouth but gave him a look that said: What the f do you want?

He ended his rambling, asking: You are China person (def not “overseas Chinese” in this case), aren’t you? I shook my head and looked away to behind him, holding on to my not-give-a-shit look.

Then he said: Next time you do this, I’LL KILL YOU.

He walked off.

While i feel frightened now, I’m glad I held on to my BITCH PLZ look.

This was where the scary thing happened, in the evening with the sky slightly gray.
Credit: Google Map

Additional information about the incident. It was late in the evening in summer but there was still some light. The tunnels in the Metro were winding. There was a cafe opposite the exit–but no one sitting outside to witness the incident.

As I said I was not afraid when it happened. It was in my instinct that the guy did not have a gun or a knife with him. It was also instinct that told me: Put up a brave front.

Moral of the story: Trust your instinct but bring pepper spray, just in case.

How would you have handled such a scenario?

This post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project: Day 6: Fear.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

My recurring travel mistake

Fortunately for me, I’ve not made any major mistakes while travelling. Hmm..maybe this once when I lost my carryon on a trolley but luckily there weren’t anything irreplaceable.

But there is one thing that I regret not doing on every trip:

Travel journalling. Continue reading “My recurring travel mistake” →

Jidai Matsuri

November

Change and travelling

It’s amazing how one person can change your world view.

I used to have the impression that travelling would only happen at the year end, during the long Christmas and New Year break. I even gave in to the thought that the only travel I would be doing is going home to Sabah during Chinese New Year.

That was until my (now-ex) colleague joined the company. His frequent weekend trips and mid-week flights to exotic locations (thanks to the budget airlines) were a culture shock to me.

I decided to be as carefree as he was. I booked my flights half a year in advance, sometimes with, sometimes without the permission of my boss. I rationalized that if the budget tickets were cheap enough, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t go on the trip anyway.

But, I’ve managed to go on every trip I booked. My dream to visit Paris and to see the Jidai Matsuri were fulfilled this year.

Not satisfied with one long trip every 3 months, I even came up with mini trips each month, trying to see all of Malaysia within a year.

Looking at my TripIt account, I have three trips lined up next year. I’ll be in Hanoi in February, Jogjakarta in April and Da Nang in July.

Now I am also planning for a RTW trip. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I’ll definitely make it happen.

How have you changed?

This post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project: Day 2: Change.

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.