Business Trips ~ Ain’t that Fun

aysabaw

‘I’m going to Singapore for a business trip.’

The immediate reaction to my statement is ‘Wow!’

My boss is a frequent traveler. He is out of town at least thrice a month. I thought he was having fun till I had to go for my own little business trip.

I was asked to go to our head office in Singapore and so, off I went.

Since I’m just a junior staff, my flight would be the cheapest of the options. We might all think that going for a business trip means you’ll also get a business class or first class flight right? How I wish. Ha ha.

So my departure from Dubai is at 03:30am. This departure time was actually horrible. I had a nap at 9:30 pm, woke up at 11pm, left home by 11:30pm and was in the airport since then till the time of departure. I almost wanted to lie down in the airport.

I was so happy the moment I boarded the plane as I could finally sleep then. But I was in and out of sleep. It was 6.5 hours of sleeping and waking in between. Half-awake while eating cold chicken sandwich while watching Leonardo di Caprio’s The Revenant (nice choice of movie. Watching a man getting ripped off by a grizzly bear while eating cold sandwhich. How appetizing!).

Expectation ~ image source: http://www.anpai-ltd.com 

Traveling: Expectation vs Reality

Reality ~ image: http://www.flyertalk.com

 

I reached Singapore at around 3pm. I walked out of the plane half asleep half zombie. I reached the hotel at almost 4pm. I had some time to freshen up, walk around, have a decent dinner and then I tried to lie down.

The next day, I went to our head office. I was half asleep the whole day. My body has not adjusted to the time difference. I woke up at 6:30am Singapore time which is still 2:30am Dubai time. I was able to successfully wake up but I was on zombie mode the whole day.

My boss laughed when I complained about the flight timing as I have always, ruthlessly booked his flights around early morning. And I would book crazy flights like Dubai to Madrid to Casablanca to Frankfurt or Dubai to Saudi to Dubai to Singapore to Bangkok to Vietnam.  Seriously! I felt bad! So all this time, my boss was having his horrible flight schedules and I was just happily booking the flights in the office.

I only had one direct 6.5-hour flight, not even a connecting flight and I’m almost a zombie.

Business trips can be considered as a privilege as long as it is funded by the company since you get a chance to travel to the company’s expense but really, this isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.

Published by aysabaw

Hi there! My name is Aysa! I am currently based in the Maldives, a free diver, a frustrated artist and writer and a lover of palm trees and ocean breeze.

80 Comments

  1. Count your blessings! Isn’t Changi Airport just absolutely wonderful? I wonder if it’s still as safe as when I landed years ago… I took a cab to my hotel — ALONE — and arrived without a hitch.

    I am luckier than you re business trips. I used to work for a computer company which MADE US TRAVEL FIRST CLASS! Management said we should be relaxed when we met the clients. Mind you, I wasn’t top brass; I wrote computer documentation for the automated systems which the firm sold to banks, insurance companies, etc.

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    1. heheh opo naman…thankful po ako sa opportunity…medyo hindi lang po yata ako handa at di ako makapag adjust agad he he…

      opo sobrang ganda po ng Changi Airport and safe…palakad lakad lang ako mag-isa dito kahit gabi

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          1. Ngumuya ka ng mansanas. Bisita lang naman diba? Konting tiis lang yan. Bawi ka ng tulog pagbalik sa Dubai. Yung hiya sa pagtulog? Wala ako iba pang payo dyan kundi “ayos lang yan. Maiintindihan nila yan.” Hahaha!

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          3. Hindi naman nakakahiyang matulog wag nga lang habang nagtratrabaho. Hahaha! Naalala ko tuloy yung kwento sakin na teacher na natulog sa klase. Ewan ko ba dun kung ano ginawa nun kinahapunan. Haha! Oo, nakakahiya nga yan. Na-imagine ko na in the context of teaching. Hahaha! Wicked joy talaga. Hay…

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          4. Hindi talaga nakakahiyang matulog sa hotel. Pero sa head office eh nakakahiya talaga lol

            Teacher na natulog sa klase? Hahaha pero maski nung estudyante ako…natutulog tlaga ako sa klase lol. Lalo na pag world history o kaya values educ hahahahahahah

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          5. Ayos lang na matulog ang estudyante, wag lang ang teacher. Haha. Naalala ko tuloy yung natulog ako sa klase sa kolehiyo. Ginising ako ng prof kasi nandun ako nakatulog sa mismong pinakaharap sa klase. Hahaha.

            Ngayon, gabi na sa Singapore. Tulog time na. Good night!

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          6. ha ha ha

            yun lang nakakahiya pag sa unahan ka pa nakaupo oh…buti na lang lagi akong last row. lol.

            di pako makatulog ha ha ha. dubai time pa rin ang body clock ko hahahaha

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          7. Yung nakatulog ako, parang microsleep lang yun tapos na-timing pa ni prof namin na sub kasi kinasal yung prof namin. Humanities prof naman siya so may class siya sa pagdisiplina sakin. Tinanong niya kung nakipag-inuman ba daw ako kagabi. Long hair ako nun kaya siguro kung anu ang impression sa’kin. Groggy pa ako kaya umoo na lang ako. Sabi niya na kung maayos daw ang tulog ko, edi hindi daw ako natutulog sa klase at ang tulog ko daw ay “tuloy, tuloy, tuloy” (tono ng Bonamine commercial). Nagpatawa pa at hindi naman ako napahiya. Haha!

            Dubai time? E’di matulog ka ng 8:30pm sa Dubai. Meaning mga 1am na dyan sa SG. Hahahaha!

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          8. hahahahah HUmanities pa talaga…nakakantok din yan…grabe naman siya…MArikina ka pa nanggagaling diba? dapat pinagtanggol mo ang iyong sarili na pagod ka sa byahe LOL

            hagard kaya byahe mula satin pa maynila no

            haller…kagabi nga napuyat nako dahil 1am nako dito nakatulog huhuhuhuhu

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          9. Hindi na ako umimik. Siya na lang kasi ang nagsasalita sa klase e. Ang nasambit ko na lang e, “something like that.” Marami akong sinasakyan papunta ng Recto. Isang trike, FX or jeep, LRT, then jeep or lakad pa. Pero mabilis ang biyahe ko, mga 45 minutes ang average. Ang subject namin nun e Rizal talaga. At hapon ang schedule. Mga 1:30pm or 3pm ata yun. Oras pa naman yun ng siesta ko yun kung walang laro ng DotA. Hahaha.

            1am ka na lang din matulog ulit. Wag mo na pilitin katawan mo, madagdagan lang ang stress mo kakaisip. Ako nagmumuni-muni na lang ako kapag hindi makatulog. Favorite past time ko naman yun e. Hahaha!

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          10. ha ha ha haoy bakit ambilis ng byahe mo. ako dyan lang sa Pureza bumababa, partida may LRT pa eh more than 1 hour pa rin ang byahe ko lol. kaya tagtag.

            hay nako eto nga at nagkakape pa hahaha…tama magmumuni muni na lang muna ako at magsusulat at magbabasa ng mga blogs lol

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          11. Minsan, sa mga comment boxes ako kumukuha ng inspirasyon sa pagsulat.

            Yung sa biyahe ko, wala ako problema sa papunta kasi pumipili ako ng schedule na wala sa rush hour tulad ng 1pm ang start ng klase. Partida regular yan, ‘di irreg. Ang nakakaasar lang talaga yung biyaheng pauwi lalo na dun sa Katips. Kaya minsan sa Cubao na lang ako bababa para may sure seats ako sa FX. Sa P.U.P. ka ba galing?

            Magaling, nagkakape kaya siguro ayaw ng katawan mong patulugin ka. Beri gud, beri gud! (Nanay Dionesia voice). Hahaha!

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          12. ha ha ha daya nakakapili ka pala ng sched? samin kasi parang high school. block section tapos 8am-5pm ah…minsan hanggang gabi pa

            uu sa PUP ako…

            hahahaha namimiss ko ang kape LOL

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          13. Officer ako ng org namin kaya ako yung bantay sa enrolment ng department namin saka isa sa mga taga-singil ng org fees namin. Pero walang kinalaman yun sa pagpili ng sked kasi officer o hindi, makakapili talaga kami ng sked kapag regular block kami at kung nag-enrol sa araw na yun. Advantage ko lang ay malalaman ko kung sino-sino yung nag-enroll sa mga blocks. In short, nag-stalk na ako sa iba kong kaklase. Hahaha!

            Ano brand ng kape mo? Masarap ba yan? May tsaa ka ba? Pahingi. Hahaha!

            Liked by 1 person

          15. Hindi naman. Perks lang yun. Hahaha!

            Masarap ba ang Malaysian tea? Bukod sa Lipton (na naghahalo ng kung anu-anong tea leaves at di malaman kung saan kinukuha), alam ko lang ay Vietnamese at Sri Lankan tea. Parang gusto ko tuloy ng Oolong tea. Hahaha! Napaisip tuloy ako, bakit ang tsaa sa Pilipinas ay salabat lang (ginger tea) kadalasan at walang industriya ng tea gardens? Pinapaisip kita para makatulog ka na. Wag lang sana maging pampanatili ng gising ang epekto. Hahaha!

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          16. hahahahah di ko alam dahil hindi ko naman tinitikman tong malaysian tea na ito. Di rin ako masyadong mahilig sa tea. Baka kaya walang tea sa Pinas eh dahil sa space or sa weather? at saka di naman kasi mahilig sa tea ang mga Pinoy diba? mas tayo sa kapeng barako ha ha

            wag mo kong pag-isipin LOL

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          2. hanggang Friday ako hahahaha…di naman sa social ah…pero parang Pinoy lang talaga ang gumagamit hahaha…syempre pag nakita kong naka selfie rod, tumatambay muna ako hanggang matapos ang picturan nila then papakinggan ko yung salita para malaman ko kung Pinoy nga LOL

            Liked by 1 person

          3. Observant eh. Mag selfie kana man tsaka post mo. Malapit lang Malaysia Jan. Puntahan muna hahahaga

            Liked by 1 person

          7. Hahaha maliit lang yan SG. Sabi ni ate ko, two days Kaya yang ikutin tapos one way lang sila.
            Merun Jan ung Sentara then Malaysia hahaha

            Liked by 1 person

  8. Wow!
    Thanks for letting me know about this. Although, I don’t see myself boarding a plane for a business trip in near future, I will recall your experience how painful it can be.

    P.S. I love my bed and my pillow!

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    Reply
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