I was just back in town for a couple of weeks. These past weeks was hectic. I was in India, speaking at the Diesel Emission Conference (oh yes, I speak in conferences too!) in New Delhi on Sept. 5-6 and then had a meeting in Mumbai on Sept. 8-10.
Busy with office and college (I am currently trying so hard to finish my MBA), I did not realize that it was time to go again. I left for Doha, Qatar on Oct. 6, a month after my trip to India. Not speaking at conference this time, instead I conducted a training on fuel quality and vehicle technology development. Yeah, I have been doing those things, traveling, speaking and conducting training for the past four years.
I was landed from Doha on Tuesday, when I need to fly (again) to Jakarta on Friday early morning. The original plan was to be back in Singapore on Monday night and fly again to Bangkok for another speaking engagement and meetings on Tuesday early morning! Gosh! I felt sick of Changi airport... going in and out for almost every month.
Business travel is not as luxury as it seems from the outside. Very often, we work 24 hours during traveling period. Some pre-arranged meeting, dinners and lunches with clients, speaking at the conference, etc. need to be attended. And I need to keep smiling during those times, does not matter what I feel or whether I am tired - the smile should already been a default in my face.
Whenever I had "me-time" during my travel, I spent it by working in my hotel room and ordering room service! How pathetic is that?
Well, after so many years, now I am proudly say that I have lots of friends in almost all town I have visited. Some are clients turned friends, some other are potential clients that also turned to be friends, some other are friends turned to be family in far away land. Yes, I enjoy that friendships.
I wrote about Qatar trip in my other blog. So I will write on something else here.
During my last trip to India, I was invited by one of my potential client-turned-friends for dinner. He invited me to Westin hotel Mumbai. It was a very nice hotel with modern ambiance and true to my taste - has a very nice wiener schnitzel!
I really regretted that I cancelled my plan to stay at the hotel and choose Orchid hotel at East Andheri area. It was so different and to be frank with you...I was tired with Orchid hotel and need something different. In short, I fell in love with Westin Mumbai. I could not wait until my next trip to Mumbai, and even better, I heard that Westin will open new hotel in Khandala, next to my favorite city in India, Pune. I really could not wait....
Busy with office and college (I am currently trying so hard to finish my MBA), I did not realize that it was time to go again. I left for Doha, Qatar on Oct. 6, a month after my trip to India. Not speaking at conference this time, instead I conducted a training on fuel quality and vehicle technology development. Yeah, I have been doing those things, traveling, speaking and conducting training for the past four years.
I was landed from Doha on Tuesday, when I need to fly (again) to Jakarta on Friday early morning. The original plan was to be back in Singapore on Monday night and fly again to Bangkok for another speaking engagement and meetings on Tuesday early morning! Gosh! I felt sick of Changi airport... going in and out for almost every month.
Business travel is not as luxury as it seems from the outside. Very often, we work 24 hours during traveling period. Some pre-arranged meeting, dinners and lunches with clients, speaking at the conference, etc. need to be attended. And I need to keep smiling during those times, does not matter what I feel or whether I am tired - the smile should already been a default in my face.
Whenever I had "me-time" during my travel, I spent it by working in my hotel room and ordering room service! How pathetic is that?
Well, after so many years, now I am proudly say that I have lots of friends in almost all town I have visited. Some are clients turned friends, some other are potential clients that also turned to be friends, some other are friends turned to be family in far away land. Yes, I enjoy that friendships.
I wrote about Qatar trip in my other blog. So I will write on something else here.
During my last trip to India, I was invited by one of my potential client-turned-friends for dinner. He invited me to Westin hotel Mumbai. It was a very nice hotel with modern ambiance and true to my taste - has a very nice wiener schnitzel!
I really regretted that I cancelled my plan to stay at the hotel and choose Orchid hotel at East Andheri area. It was so different and to be frank with you...I was tired with Orchid hotel and need something different. In short, I fell in love with Westin Mumbai. I could not wait until my next trip to Mumbai, and even better, I heard that Westin will open new hotel in Khandala, next to my favorite city in India, Pune. I really could not wait....
